IP2M-841EW Drops connection every 5 minutes or so . . .

[JosephBlough]

IP2M-841EW Drops connection every 5 minutes or so. Since receiving the camera this morning, I have upgraded the firmware from 17R to 18R and I have hard reset the camera by holding down the light on the back of the camera for 10 seconds.

In Google Chrome, the connection just freezes. In IE, I get a message "Resources are limited. . . ." On my iPhone, the connection freezes and then turns black with a button to refresh the camera, shows a 'Failed to Connect' message on the bottom of the video. Please advise.

Sincerely,

Joseph Blough

[Melvin]

Hello JosephBlough ,

What is the length of the cable connected to it? CAn you try connecting a different cable and also check with a different port on the router/switch?

[JosephBlough]

Melvin, thank you for your prompt response. I am running about 60 ft of ethernet from the camera to the router. In the vein of increasing bandwidth, as inferred from your comment, I have made some changes to my setup that appear to have fixed the problem.

1. I removed all generic Cat 5 cables (2) and replaced them with either Cat 5e or Cat 6. FWIW, the main camera cable runs into the back of a Cat 5e wall jack. I connect cables to the POE injector and to the router.
2. The cable was connected to the router via a NetGear Gigabit switch. I have since routed the camera directly into the router from the Amcrest Ethernet Injector.

There is a good bit of slack in the ethernet cable running from the camera to a Cat 5e wall jack. I was thinking of removing some of that, however I don't think 60 ft of Cat 5e ethernet is a particularly long run. If the problem recurred it would be a weak link or the camera itself.

One thing I've noticed is the Kbps in the top left of the picture screen. Either I didn't notice it earlier, or it wasn't showing. It is running about 500 Kbps on Sub Stream and 4000 Kbps on Main Stream. I am going to keep it on Main Stream for the sake of properly testing the camera. I will apprise you of my results. Thank you.

[JosephBlough]

No go. I am back to where I started. When I originally changed/rerouted the cables and kept streaming on Main, the camera ran for about an hour without mishap. I configured the camera and kept an eye on it in the background. Gradually, the camera dropped connections frequently. Sometimes it disconnected within one minute of being reconnected.

The camera runs a little on the warm side, so I suspended the camera with a longer bolt to create more space around the camera. The camera hangs down from the ceiling. Before it was flush, now it has an inch of open air to help it dissipate the heat. Still, no solution.

I have an IP2M-841B that performs flawlessly and gave me the confidence to purchase the IP2M-841EW. I know Amcrest can create compelling products. If the POE is a problematic camera, just tell me and we can save each other's time. I will not hold it against Amcrest for not being perfect and I will even be grateful that they were forthcoming with me as difficult as it is to do. Awaiting your advisement. : -)

[JosephBlough]

More information. I reset the camera before going to bed. The next day, I expected it to be disconnected but it was active when I checked it in the morning. I left the house and throughout the day, I would check the camera from my iPhone and to my surprise it was still active. Later in the afternoon, at around 4, the camera disconnected.

Could this be something related to heat? While the camera is an indoor camera, I have the camera located outdoors in a portico. It is not exposed to rain, sleet, direct sunlight or anything other than ambient temperature in the shade. The camera should work fine under these circumstances. The high here in Atlanta on Sunday was around 94 F (35 C).

While I think it would be overkill, would a Cat 6 cable help? Have any other users reported better results with heavier cables? Please advise. Thank you.

[Mildew]

I don't think it's the heat. I'v had three cameras exposed to heat (100 degrees, high humidity) for more than a year with no problems.
What are your video settings (Camera/Video)?

[JosephBlough]

Mildew, thanks for your input. Don't know exactly what camera/video settings you are looking for, but I'll do my best. I am attaching the camera upside down from the ceiling of my front door portico. Aside from flipping the camera view for the purpose of seeing the image right side up, I am sticking with the defaults. For the purpose of stress testing the camera, I am running on the Main stream at around 4000 Kbps. Can't think of any settings I have changed from the norm. I am using a 32 GB SD card for storage and am powering/viewing the camera over 60 ft of Cat5e cable. The cable runs to a Cat5e ethernet jack. On the other side of the jack, I've plugged a Cat5e cable running to an Amcrest POE Injector. From the injector, I connect a Cat6 cable to the router.

Right now, I have the camera in the house connected to a Cat5e cable directly to the POE injector. If it fails here, then I am sending it back. If it doesn't fail here in 24 hours or so then, I am willing to toy with running a Cat6 the entire distance to the POE Injector. Maybe I'll circumvent the Cat5e ethernet jack and just run the camera Cat5e cable directly to the POE injector. I don't know. Just because it runs in ideal conditions in my basement, doesn't mean I've done something wrong. I am open to suggestions anybody may have to run this camera reliably. Again, thanks for your feedback. Suggestions?

Sincerely,

Joseph Blough

[Melvin]

Hello JosephBlough ,

So please let us know how it goes after direct connection to router via injector. Also once the camera fails does a power recycle of the camera fixes the issue?

Since the camera works for a good period of time and then disconnects, it might not be just the cable. Its also possible the injector or the camera is at fault.

[JosephBlough]

Melvin, the camera has been running almost 24 hours in my basement via a 5 ft Cat5e plugged into the POE injector without mishap. I suspect the weak link in my prior setup was the ethernet jack to ethernet cable so I am going to mitigate that by putting an ethernet terminal on the camera cable and plugging it directly into the POE injector. I will apprise you of my results by tomorrow at the latest. Thank you for your continued attention to this matter.

[JosephBlough]

Kaput. The camera crashed twice in less than 24 hours. Would love to get some input from Amcrest. Is this more of a power issue or a communication issue? I mean if I put the power source (POE injector) closer to the camera, would this help? Alternatively, is this more of an ethernet communication issue where the bits and bytes get garbled and the camera goes stupid? I'm sure it is one or the other and not both.

To refresh your memory, the POE injector is right next to my router in the house. I have a short (3 ft) ethernet cable between the POE injector and the router. If I put the POE injector 14 feet from the camera will this help?

I want to keep my trial and error testing to a bare minimum so I am looking to the manufacturer of the product to guide me. Thank you.