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EZVIZ H8C Crashes Network When Active Defence (Siren & Light) is Triggered?

Alex_SA

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Hi all,

Hope you are very well.

I am looking for some advice in troubleshooting an issue that I am having which is rendering my IP cameras somewhat useless. I have reached out to EZVIZ but they don't have any guidance on the issue and are sending me down long "check this, check that" checklist which I have done several times.

It is the sort of issue that someone technically minded who works with IP cameras on a regular basis has probably experiences before and has a simple cause and equally simple path to resolve.

I have purchased and installed 2 EZVIZ H8C PTZ IP cameras at my property. Due to the location of the cameras, I have connected them via a cabled (CAT5e) connection to my Ubiquiti AirCube WiFi Router (see example here: https://www.takealot.com/ubiquiti-aircube-isp-wifi-router-no-poe-included/PLID91762321).

Both cameras are independently powered through a 12V / 1Amp cable which runs from an electrical multistrip connected to a single plug point to each of the cameras. Due to the location of the cameras, I bought 2 x 30m 12v/1A extender power cables, but the cameras are only around 8m away from the router and so I have rolled the unused cable into a neat (not too tight) bundle and they sit on the ground near the router.

I have installed trunking from where the router sits all the way through to the cameras and have placed both the cat5e and the 12v power cables into this trunking running to the 2 cameras.

The cameras work absolutely perfectly in every sense (live video feed, PTZ, smartAI human tracking, 2 way talkthrough, etc.) apart from 1 function.

The cameras come with what is called "AI-Powered Human Shape Detection" effectively meaning that the cameras are able to distinguish human shapes and track them when they appear in the field of view. In addition, the camera has the ability to set a schedule in which if human detection is noticed, within your preferred schedule, the camera will make an audible siren noise and will activate a floodlight on the camera, called "
Active Defense with Siren and Strobe Light".

Outside of the schedule that I have set-up for this audible siren and floodlight to show, the independent functionality works without issue. Human tracking works flawlessly and I can see the camera following people around while they walk in the field of view. I can activate the siren remotely without an issue. I can also activate the floodlight remotely without any issue. All of these actions are carried out through the EZVIZ mobile app.

The issue with the camera occurs when a human is detected within the "armed" audible alarm schedule. As soon as a human is detected while the schedule is armed, the camera will start the process of following the human figure and activating the floodlight, shortly followed by activating the siren. The siren will sound for approximately one or two seconds and then while monitoring remotely through the EZVIZ application, the on-screen image will freeze and will be lost for around 30-45 seconds. Often, the next message in the app will be that the camera is offline and shortly after this, the video will return with it obvious that the camera looks to be going though a reset, with it spinning 360' looking like it is going through a reboot sequence.

In person, the alarm will sound a 2 second shrill blast but then also cut off and terminate following the human figure.

Having observed the real-time throughput on the router, I can see that the upload and download bandwidth drops to 0 as this occurs, making it look like the actions of the camera have had an affect on the router and have somehow disabled the router, although the router never turns off (as confirmed by the ISP who have informed me that the router uptime for the last 3 weeks is 100%). I have increased the connection speed from 4Mbps to 25Mbps and none of these actions has had any effect. At any one point the maximum upload/ download on the connection is around 5-6Mbps. Importantly to note, the connectivity to my router is through a "wireless fibre" solution, where an antenna on my roof points to a central antenna in the town where I live, which is connected through fibre.

I am not sure what is causing this "shut-down" of the camera/router - whether it is a connectivity issue or whether it could be a power issue? This model of camera cannot accommodate PoE and so having a cabled connection is the only option to power the cameras. The hardware and software used is all up to date.

If anyone has any insight as to what may be causing this problem it would be highly appreciated.

If more information is needed, please advise and I will provide what I can.

Thanks

Alex
 
Hi @Alex_SA

We don't have any experience with this particular EZVIZ model but looking at camera specs and the power and network information you've provided above I don't think either of those are the problem.

We have seen similar issues before with PTZ models from other brands where they have locked up or the live view has frozen when the camera tries to do multiple things simultaneously.

In most of those cases, the issue was usually related to some kind of software issue that could only be fixed with new firmware, all we can suggest is to keep poking EZVIZ about the issue and ask if they can look into releasing a patch/fixed firmware.
 
Hi @Alex_SA

We don't have any experience with this particular EZVIZ model but looking at camera specs and the power and network information you've provided above I don't think either of those are the problem.

We have seen similar issues before with PTZ models from other brands where they have locked up or the live view has frozen when the camera tries to do multiple things simultaneously.

In most of those cases, the issue was usually related to some kind of software issue that could only be fixed with new firmware, all we can suggest is to keep poking EZVIZ about the issue and ask if they can look into releasing a patch/fixed firmware.
Thanks so much for the guidance Dan, I will definitely follow up with EZVIZ - I asked them if they have had any other users experience and report this issue and their answer was "No, it is a very uncommon issue", there also doesn't seem to be any mention of the issue online. Will keep poking!
 
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@Alex_SA,
as a temporary workaround to reduce processor load, have you tried.....

firmware upgrade / downgrade.
reduce video resolution / bit rate / frame rate
change video codec / disable audio / change h264 profile
Have you checked the system logs for watchdog / kernel crashes?

David
 
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Reactions: Dan
@Alex_SA,
as a temporary workaround to reduce processor load, have you tried.....

firmware upgrade / downgrade.
reduce video resolution / bit rate / frame rate
change video codec / disable audio / change h264 profile
Have you checked the system logs for watchdog / kernel crashes?

David
Thanks so much David, I will try these suggestions and see if there is any impact.
 
have you tried a new / different power supply?

David
Not yet.

Unfortunately the cameras are installed at my father in-laws house, which is about 2 hours away from where I live, so I am needing to head out that way again to make some changes and test further. Trying an alternative and possibly higher ampage power cable was on my list of things to try.

I have been told by an installer that perhaps I need to try a higher amperage power cable as perhaps the energy draw of the camera considering the length of the extender cable I am using is insufficient. This doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me as the spec sheet for the camera says MAX 12 Watts, and the power supply is 12V, so I can only imagine that the max amperage could be 1Amp.

This area of expertise is not my forté so at the moment I am trying to gain any understanding on possible causes and if anyone else has experienced something similair, to understand what I can try to remedy the issue.

Unfortunately the function which is not working is the main purpose for buying the cameras, as my parents-in-law live in a town which experiences a lot of petty theft of which they were recently victims, so it is a bit frustrating to not be able to get this working.
 
Due to the location of the cameras, I bought 2 x 30m 12v/1A extender power cables, but the cameras are only around 8m away from the router and so I have rolled the unused cable into a neat (not too tight) bundle and they sit on the ground near the router.
I have installed trunking from where the router sits all the way through to the cameras and have placed both the cat5e and the 12v power cables into this trunking running to the 2 cameras.
Outside of the schedule that I have set-up for this audible siren and floodlight to show, the independent functionality works without issue.

Hi @Alex_SA ... It seems like a power related issue to me... you say even when you activate the floodlight remotely all is ok... but when the audible siren and floodlight come on the camera is rebooting (drawing the most power) ... I would test the cameras without the extender power cables... use a regular a/c extension cord for the 8-meter run and test the cameras that way...
 
@Alex_SA,
The extender cable will have resistance and will lower the voltage at the camera connector. The motors, siren, and lights increase current draw lowering the voltage until the camera powers down. Current draw falls, voltage increases and camera powers on.

As @johnfitzy says, move the mains socket nearer to the camera. If you have to use the dc extender cable, post a picture of the camera power supply rating label.

David
 
Thanks John and David. That makes a lot of sense and would definitely explain why the culmination of events causes the shutdown. As soon as I get back to the property I will try a normal extension cable to test whether it is in fact a power issue. Will respond here as soon as I’ve had a chance to test - likely a week or two
 
I always wished Edison had won that battle with Tesla... AC is more economical over long distances, but DC is so much easier to understand :)
when large homes were being powered with dc, they quickly realised that large conductors were needed over short distances. AC was the way to go, pushing power at high voltages (300kV ish).
 
@David @johnfitzy Thanks a lot for your recommendations and guidance. I shortened the power cables from 30m to 8m and the cameras are now working 100%. The length of the cables, all bundled up was obviously causing too high of a resistance to get all 3 functions to work concurrently. Really appreciate your assistance.
 
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