IP camera not showing now

[Ironside]

Last year I purchased one of those little bird box cameras. There is no model name on it but it is an H264. It appears to use the same format as my existing Hikvision IP cameras because it works perfectly okay when plugged into my DVR along with the other Hikvision cameras. The camera has been connected to a POE adapter for the last 12 months. I then discovered that I wouldn't be able to share the footage publicly if the camera went into the DVR. So I swapped it back to the adapter and now the IP camera is not working and I can't see it within my router. I have got SADP installed and I can see the camera listed, although the information it provides is very limited. It gives me the status which is active, an IP address and port number. I've tried different LAN cables and I've tried connecting the camera directly into my BT Smart Hub but nothing will work.

I'm hoping somebody can shed some light on what is wrong.

 

[Kyle]

Hi @Ironside

How is the camera connected to your network? I.e. what is the POE adapter plugged in to?
How do you normally view your camera feeds? Through a browser or iVMS-4200?
Would you be able to share screenshots of what you see in SADP when the camera is connected to the adapter, ideally of the camera settings, DVR settings and device list please?
If connecting it directly to your Smart Hub you will need to connect a 12V power supply separately as the router's ports aren't PoE

 

[Ironside]

I have been using a program called IP camera viewer 4.09. It doesn't normally have any problem in finding the IP camera. However, ever since I plugged the IP camera into my HiLook DVR and then back into my POE adapter I can't get the camera to work. I plugged the camera back into the DVR last night and it's working perfectly okay. I put it back into the adapter this morning, no picture. I'm no computer expert but I'm wondering if the DVR has somehow messed around with the IP address.If you look at the screenshot both the DVR and the camera appeared to be on the same port. I'm sure this isn't right

I've included a screenshot as requested

 

[Dan]

Hi @Ironside

The problem is that when you connect the device remotely to PoE switch the camera is on your local network but as you can see from the above screenshot your camera is still using a subnet IP address (192.168.254.xxx) which cannot be accessed from your local network range. (192.168.1.xxx)

You need to select the device in SADP by ticking the box on the left, then tick Enable DHCP on the right and enter the admin password before clicking Modify. Once it says that modification is successful you should see the IP address of the device change to match the network range and if it does then you can untick DHCP and click modify again. (doing this makes IP address fixed and stops it changing using DHCP when the device reboots or shuts down)

 

[Ironside]

Okay, I tried doing that but there are a couple of problems. Firstly, I'm not able to check the box next to enable DHCP, and I have no idea what the password is of my camera because it was just one of those little bird box cameras that appear to be an H 264.

 

[Dan]

If the camera was brand new when you first connected it your NVR then it is likely that the camera was given the same password as the NVR. If it won't let you use DHCP then you will have to manually change the IP address and gateway of the camera to match your local network, if you have a PC you can follow our guide on how to find your local network's gateway address and also how to check if an IP address is free to use on your local network.

 

[Ironside]

Okay, I've finally managed to reset the password on my DVR. Is this problem I'm having with the camera something I can sort out within the menu in the DVR?

 

[Ironside]

I've done the command prompt, however, how would I go about changing the IP address of the camera but I can't see in the IP viewer?

 

[Ironside]

I've given up trying to change the IP on this camera so I put it back into my DVR so at least I can watch the birds nesting in the box. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to share the footage publicly if the camera is going into a DVR, is that correct?

 

[Dan]

Hi @Ironside

You won't be able to share the individual camera feeds of cameras that are directly connected. If you reconnect the camera to your local network using a PoE Injector or Switch and you can see it SADP you should be able to manually change the IP address in SADP using the password it was assigned when you first plugged it into the DVR. (This will be the old DVR password, not the new one you have just set) If you change the cameras IP address to one that is within your local range (e.g. 192.168.1.200 / 192.168.1.180 / etc...) and then you can enter that new IP address into a browser to login to the device.

If you don't know the old DVR password and thus don't know the password to change the cameras IP address your only option would be to find a way to hard reset that camera back to factory settings, doing this should default the camera to inactive and give it a generic IP address on your local range. (This option will only be possible if the camera supports a hard reset button)

 

[Ironside]

Unfortunately, I can't remember the password I used when I first set up the DVR. Basically, when I first got the DVR we plugged into the mains to test it with the cameras so it wasn't until about one month later until it was installed properly. There are only two or three passwords that I use on a regular basis and none of these would work so I had to get myself a new password which is now working. So I don't think I'm going to be able to do anything with this camera.

The camera is one of those little spy type cameras, it doesn't have any bells or whistles and it didn't come with a manual. I don't know whether it's got a reset on it and I can't check because I have a pair of blue tits making a nest in the box as I speak and I don't want to disturb them.

I think I'm gonna have to resign myself to the fact that I'm not going to be able to stream the camera footage online this year from this particular camera. I'm hopefully going to get another box and camera next week if possible so hopefully, it's not too late for the birds to nest in that box.

HD IP Bird Box Camera