Caution about installing mini PTZ

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Revo2Maxx
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Caution about installing mini PTZ

Post by Revo2Maxx »

So I know this is different camera maker and the Mini PTZ from Amcrest may not even have this issue. However I thought I would mention this before someone else has the issue that could be avoided.

So I have a Mini ptz that is kind of built like 866 from looks. Had this camera installed since 2018 on my remote location over 1800 miles away. It's POE AI and had it connected to nvr so didn't add micro SD. This had a slot that may be like others from Amcrest where the cage top moves you lift and lay in the card close and slide to latch.. well never added card and to be honest haven't even used the system but 2 times since installed. When my son was there last week there was someone knocking on windows so he panned the camera around to see who it was and camera died. So had him pack and ship it to me. Either over time or since installed it seems the Micro sd slot cage touched the tilt motor and shorted out the camera.

So far found some damaged parts protection diode and one of the Bridge Rectifiers are dead also thought I would mention if you have been in your camera and don't see gel packs don't assume there isn't any this one had 2 in the very hard to remove camera body and I have some Dahua cameras that had them under the PCB where no one would look normally.

Have to remove whole system from body so had to remove camera from cage to remove cable from camera board and reason I found this 2 packs. I will have my son go look at the other 3 I have installed at the barn have him add some tack tape to cage to keep them closed.

First picture shows with part already removed it was jammed into the tilt motor 2nd picture shows how it was found however its just laying there as I had already removed the jam
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Pogo
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

Post by Pogo »

Wow. That's pretty wild.

Is that a Dahua? And do you work on cameras?
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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Also to be honest the cost of this camera and that of 866 if it dies just round file it. I am invested into repairing this but my time is worth more then repairing it. So now at this point I will add in a new micro slot as well. This install I to this body wasn't designed to get removed for repairs pan bearing is pressed onto shift had to use my RC bearing puller to remove it from body and PCB has hole not slotted.
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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Well found biggest part of the failure its a QFN package 36 pin quad Dmos full bridge PWM motor driver along with other parts. This will be fun lol
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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@Pogo Sorry didn't see your message. I was on my phone when I was posting as my monitor for the forum was covered with my work. This isn't a Dahua camera it is a Hikvision camera. About repairs I do repair my own cameras because most times trying to do it for others isn't practical with all the parts being from another country it takes to much time to get replacement parts. I will admit with this being a Hikvision camera it is a little easier to get replacement parts as most times they are marked with parts that i can find on Amazon or other areas from USA supplier. When I repair my Dahua or Dahua OEM cameras there are parts that are not marked and without Schematics to know what the parts are or what they should be 2 things have to happen. 1 I have to have another camera or I have to find someone that is willing to dive into theirs to give me working data off the PCB so I can either find the part by looking up different IC that have the same value sets as the working unit.

I had a camera from Dahua that died when I let one of my friends use it that sat for 6 months while i scratched my head trying to figure out what fried because again with out Schematics it isn't easy to buy replacement parts.. All common issues was not the issue with the camera so that is why it sat longer then I care to admit lol. Again it was mine so time don't really matter. I have plenty of cameras..

Like right now one of my places on the West coast all my cameras went off line at the same time that was connected to my Amcrest 4216E-AI NVR POE ports. 2 cameras died, one I have fixed 85% (it is POE however it now only works using 12v) It has some parts that I don't know what they should be. Another one is over 400 new and I found some of the issues with it however it has a special power board so I can't find any that I can take data from to repair it. So it sits waiting for me to get lucky to find one that works but has bad camera as this camera is a 4mp AI with zoom so isn't just one that is cheap enough for me to round file.. Because of the type of install it is. I did connect my camera module to another Dahua 4mp system and the camera is still in good working order. However because of the functions of the camera I was only able to test the camera module as I don't want to hold on to it if the camera is also bad. It is still good so it sits while I wait for a good power board. Thought I had one that could work however the board connection is just pins and the pin out didn't match the cable of the other so the 2 boards while they look close they are not so i can't make a repair off that board because it might be wrong and in the end I don't want to kill the camera that is still good at this time.. IF any of that made sense lol It does to me lol..

In short yes I repair Electronics and I have been doing so for over 40 years. Repairing cameras today isn't really needed as much as it used to be with some of my older PTZ cameras. I say this because some of my older PTZ cameras cost over 1000 when I bought them. I have already had to repair a couple of my 37x Ptz auto tracking cameras that cost almost double that when new. The cost to repair was less then 20 dollars. So that is one reason I repair my own devices as I would rather pay 20 then replace for 2k. Just have to wait at times for the parts that can take 20 to 90 days to source.
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

Post by Pogo »

Thanks for the response. And yes, it all makes sense to me too. LOL

And my question wasn't posed very well. Of course you work on cameras -- obviously. The question should have been, "Do you repair cameras for other people?" By your response above, I'll guess your answer would be, "I barely have time to repair my own, let alone do repair work for other people!"

I ask because I have a NIB Dahua that was bad out of the box and may be worth the effort to fix if I can find a power board or someone to troubleshoot the one from the camera. It powered up and looked great for about 2 minutes and died. I can disconnect everything from the power board and it still brings down the other three legs of a 4 way DC power supply. Nothing smoked or obviously damaged is visable to the eye. Probably a 10 cent part shorting to ground or something else very simple designed to protect everything else.

Maybe there is an Amcrest equivalent of the camera? It's a 2MP HDCVI Varifocal Model A21CM0Z with motorized lens.

(I haven't figure out how to upload a photo here yet.)
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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With it being a CVI I am going to guess that you will want to look over the cameras Protection Diode.

See with most cameras there is going to be a power protection diode and also a Video Protection diode. When they die there is no visual sign of death they are just bad.

What is weird is that you only had it working for a short time unless I mis understood this. Anyway testing the diode, find the bad one and remove it and test the camera again without it (Don't use it in that way for long time) however if removed and tested it will (Or should) show video.

While it isn't the idea that I work on my own and don't have the time to work on others. It is that the time of return for such a repair is not something someone wants to wait in..

So With that said. I have in the past had a couple of TVI cameras that died. Not protection diode in this case as they are first things I check. However before diving to deep I was able to take one of my other TVI cameras that was also Zoom, took the 10x camera board and tested to make sure the camera was not the fault. Camera was able to work on other zoom dome however just wasn't able to test lens for zoom because the 2 were different formats. However because they had the same type of camera board connector I was able to test it. After that I was able to repair it. I just had to find out what the regulator was that had burned up. So I took the value from the dome camera and replaced that bullet 10x with like value and a new capacitor that was also dead as well. That camera I use on my Amcrest DVR and have had it in place without fail for a couple of years after repair. After It died I used a 4x zoom in the place of while I was repairing it..
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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On your Edit of broke Photo, Click on Full Editor, and then click add, Then choose the image you want to upload under 2mb was in place not sure it still is. Once you do that after your text or where ever you put the link in your replies your image will or should show up as it will be uploaded to the server and linked to it..
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

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Thought I would mention to the readers that are looking to repair IP cameras that are POE or Dual Voltage types. Seeing this is in the IP camera thread area. I thought I might want to clear up something that Dual/Multi power camera will run into. I mean for people that know how to test a bad diode might find what they think is a bad Diode in these POE cameras that really isn't a bad diode at all, that is because a Diode without a line on it or multi lines on it if they are SMD diodes. If they have CA on the diode package it is a bi direction diode and can't be tested like a normal diode can. So finding one of them that shows no diode action when testing that is because it won't and can't assume that is bad because both Directions tested OL on a meter. They have to be tested using AC. Now same type package SMD diode with multi lines on them will test like a normal diode would and if it shows no sign of damage but when tested in both directions tested out OL then it is for sure dead.. Don't assume that all dead diodes die open because they don't but that should already be known if doing board level repairs anyway.

My post above about them owning a CVI camera it would have a normal uni direction diode and one way will act as a diode and other way will conduct as normal type does.
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Re: Caution about installing mini PTZ

Post by Pogo »

Good information for both types of cameras. I especially appreciate your CVI response and am awaiting a newer test lead/probe kit for my meter which only has the big clunky probes.

It would be great if only a diode is bad! But if so, it may simply have been doing its job of protecting other components from themselves if they are also bad. It should be limited to the power board though, since simply connecting it by itself to a normal 4 way 12v power splitter shuts down the whole splitter. 'Course that could just be a bad diode shorting it all down I suppose.

Anyway, thanks again. I intend to pull the cam off the shelf and start diode hunting at the earliest opportunity.
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