Move Hikvision cameras from NVR to regular POE switch?

[pdampier]

I want to relocate my Hikvision K Series NVR from our main room to a home office (noise reasons - the NVR is noisy!). Currently I have 6 Hikvision POE cameras directly attached to the NVR (using same admin passwords as NVR etc).

Can I simply plug those cameras into a POE switch in the same location, then move the NVR to the home office and plug it back into the home LAN? Will it automatically pick up the cameras on the LAN again or do I need to re-set them up so the NVR finds them?

 

[Kyle]

Hi pdampier, it's doable but not as straightforward as just plugging them into a POE switch and relocating the NVR. When you plug a camera directly into the NVR, as you have in your current setup, the camera's plug and play feature means that the NVR will automatically be assigned an open IP address on your network. So, if using a POE switch you will need to manually set the IP addresses of the cameras in order to pick them up on the NVR.

You'll need to do as follows:

1. Set up your system as you've described.
   
   
2. Download (if you haven't already) and open the latest version of Hikvision's SADP tool, which will scan for any available Hikvision devices on your network. You'll be able to identify the individual devices under the 'Device Type' column.
   
   
3. Find and make a note of your router and PC's IP addresses, these guides will show you how to do so if you're unsure:
   - How To find your router and PC's IP address using a Windows PC
   - How To find your router and Mac's IP address using a Mac
   
   
4. Open SADP again, and change the IP addresses for the cameras to an available port within your gateway range (e.g. 192.168.1.XXX). You also need to ensure IPv4 Gateway field for each device is set to the same as that of your router. To ensure that you're assigning the device to an available port, make sure that the final set of digits ('.XXX') in the IP address is unique to the rest of those listed in SADP. You can also select Enable DHCP here which will automatically assign the device to an available port, and then disable DHCP again once the port has been assigned.
   
   
5. Boot up your NVR and navigate to Camera in the menu. Change the Adding Method to Manual. Edit the IP Camera Address of each available channel to match those you assigned to each of your cameras in SADP. Click OK and, after a few seconds, the cameras should appear as active within each assigned channel.

Hope this helps!

 

[pdampier]

Great thanks that makes total sense. I'll adjust my DHCP server to just start handing out IP's from 192.168.11 onwards and then it gives me 6+ statics I can assign to the cameras.

Or if I left the cameras on DHCP does the NVR handle that fine? i.e. could I just leave my current DHCP server to hand out changing IP's in the local LAN range and its all fine or is static needed?

 

[Kyle]

No problem. You will need to assign them to the static addresses, just because leaving DHCP on means the cameras will be assigned a different address should any of them power cycle, reboot or undergo a firmware update. Assigning them to statics will mean you don't have to go through the NVR's camera setup process (step 5 of my last post) or assigning them back to their previous addresses every time this happens.

 

[pdampier]

One additional question on this. I have a single GigE (CAT6) ethernet cable to run office where the NVR would sit. I would have 6 x 8MP H.265 Hikvision Turret cameras recording to that NVR 24/7. How much of the 1 gig bandwidth will that be using approx. I also run my main PC and Synology server off the same trunk so don't want to saturate it. I know it won't be close to doing that but what should I expect to lose?

 

[Kyle]

Here's the link to the bandwidth calculator that I used, if your cameras offer H.265+ compression then this will reduce the bandwidth further. You might also want to adjust the FPS used in this calculation, I've just guessed at the max. If have set the camera frame rates to their maximum then reducing this setting will reduce bandwidth use - we normally recommend 15fps as it still gives a smooth recording.

 

[New2CCTV]

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for the details above.

I am trying to move my camera from NVR connection to connecting via a POE. I am comfortable with the steps above but, wanted to check if the camera once connected via POE would keep recording for the same location or space within the harddrive/NVR ?

For example my front door camera is right now connected to NVR directly. I now want to connect it via an external POE switch but, I want the recording to be continuous from yesterday and today/tomorrow onwards once it moves to poe switch ?

How do I make sure that the change doesn't create a new recording channel ? and that it continues where it left before camera was disconnected from NVR.

Hope I am making my query clear.
Thank you

 

[Kyle]

No problem - you should just be able to reconnect the camera to the same channel and the recording will continue - the key thing is to keep it on that same channel.

You will, of course, have a gap in the footage where you have swapped over the connection and altered the IP address of the camera to match your LAN's range.

Sometimes moving the cameras from an NVR to a switch can cause settings to change slightly, so I would double-check that the recording schedule is still correct after moving the camera over too.

 

[New2CCTV]

Thank you Kyle,
Hope this ("the key thing is to keep it on that same channel") is not too difficult to do.

 

[Kyle]

It shouldn't be

Once the camera is on the switch, it will be connected to your router / local network range, so you will need to alter the network settings to match this - this guide covers how to do this:

How-to: - Part 3: How do I find my Hikvision device and edit its network settings?

You probably want to be able to view your camera feeds remotely wherever you are; either in a web browser, the iVMS-4200 software, or the Hik-Connect mobile app. All IP CCTV devices communicate over your LAN (local network) and have a unique location on the network. So, you will need to be able...

www.use-ip.co.uk

Then, to keep the camera on the same channel, just click the "edit" icon on the camera management page for said channel and use the "manual" option rather than "Plug & Play", which is explained in this guide:

How-to: - Part 4: How do I add a Hikvision device to my NVR?

There are a couple of methods for getting your IP camera connected and recording to your NVR: Plug and Play - This is the most popular and simplest method for smaller setups, as all you need to do is plug your camera straight into the PoE ports in a Hikvision NVR. The NVR will then do the rest...

www.use-ip.co.uk

 

[Ultra4]

Support here is outstanding, thank you all so much.