Security Camera, Repair and Troubleshooting Tips

Security cameras are a great asset to any business or home, but it is a technology that few know much about outside of the industry. In fact, If we're going to be perfectly honest, few in the industry know very much about them. Sure most installers can do a halfway descent job installing them, but few really understand the technology behind them, and why a specific camera is perfect for one location, but leaves much to be desired in another location. But I digress, what you're interested in is how to keep those blasted things running, and so I've put together a few tips to help you do just that.

I've seen techs just try one thing after another basically throwing mud on the wall to see what sticks, but this approach is both costly to you, because it is time consuming,(techs aren't cheap) and ineffective. A better approach is to break the system down to its most basic elements, and then troubleshoot each element of the system until you find the specific area that is causing the problem. I recently helped a ghost hunter with his camera set-up. (I know, cool right!) He was preparing to record a haunting, but since he didn't use his cameras on a regular basis, he had made some minor mistake in his set up,(Either that or his poltergeist was camera shy) and he could only see one camera on his four camera system. Following is the procedure we followed to solve his ghoulish problem, and oh by the way, he had some pretty cool images on camera that might make you rethink your opinion of those manifestations, that haunt the night.

Step one of our ghost busting is to isolate the problem: After making a preliminary check to see that each camera had power (by the light on the transformer), and that the transformer met the proper specs, the next step is to see if each camera had video. Obviously the camera that showed up on the screen was working but the next step was to isolate one of the other three cameras to see what was going on with an individual camera. Take a small monitor with a video input and hook the camera directly into the monitor. Do not use the existing cable because you are checking to see if there is a problem with the cable. Since the problem affected three cameras the chance that each cable was defective was unlikely, but you have to isolate the problem by eliminating the obvious. We had a picture, so the next step is to move the test monitor down and incorporate the existing cable. If we hadn't had a picture while taking our video feed directly from the cameras, it would have told us there was likely a power problem or defective cameras.

To test for proper power I would have taken a voltage meter and tested to see that I was getting full power from the transformer. If I was not getting enough power the camera would not turn on. This is common with cameras that use infra-red, when the IR lights turn on, if your power supply is not adequate, the camera will turn off. Many times an installer will use a transformer designed for one camera and use a splitter to run multiple cameras. When the IR lights turns on, all of the cameras are pulling more power, which can cause the cameras to shut down. Sometimes just one camera will shut down because it is at the end of the line. If you have the power you need,(usually around one amp per camera), and the camera still doesn't work then you've isolated the camera as the problem.

If I was getting full power at the camera, but no picture, the last thing I could try would be to reboot the camera by "pulling the plug" so to speak and then after a few seconds restoring power to the camera. Believe it or not this has worked for me in the past. Usually from the result of a power surge or loss of power causing the camera to freeze up. A security camera has many of the same elements of a computer and rebooting helps it to correct itself. If I still had no video at the camera, then the camera is dead. Possibly a faulty cord, but not repairable in the field.

Now that I have resolved the camera is working and the cable is not defective I have isolated the problem somewhere between the DVR and the monitor. The next phantom to look for would be in the monitor. To find this apparition you need to isolate the monitor and take it out of the equation. The first thing to do here is check the cable configuration. Most DVRs have three cable hookups, VGA output, Video Out, Spot Video Out. Your VGA output allows you to use a computer monitor to capture the image. Since VGA monitors are built to be on all the time for computer use, they are built to last, and are your best choice for a video monitor. On a VGA monitor, if your not getting an image and you're plugged into the DVR, then you have narrowed it down to the monitor. Since this ghost hunter's problem was only one camera showing up on his screen, this is not a likely problem. There is one connection that can cause this problem and that is if the cable is plugged into the "spot" video out instead of the "video out" jack. The video "spot" jack is meant for just monitoring one camera for various reasons. This was our specter's secret. Not being familiar with the DVR our Ghost Hunter had plugged his monitor into the "Spot" jack. By changing the connection everything worked as it should have. If the monitor had not been working at all the next step would have been to test the monitor to see if it was working at all by feeding in another signal such as a test screen from a test unit. Of course if the monitor hadn't been showing anything this would have been the first area I would have isolated.

What if the monitor was hooked up correctly and working properly, then you've narrowed it down to the DVR. Likely a software conflict. If you can't find the problem in the software most DVRs have an option to put all the settings back to factory default. This would undo something you might have done and solve the problem.