Bad Switch?

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Thixotropic
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Bad Switch?

Post by Thixotropic »

I use a BV-Tech 18 Port PoE Switch and I suspect it's dying, causing some of my cameras to constantly disconnect and reconnect. But I'm not 100% sure.

I have two hard-wired Microseven wide-angle cameras, and they've started to drop in and out. I've moved the cameras to different ports but still see the same thing. The other cameras aren't doing this, and that's what makes me wonder if it's really the switch.

The Amazon reviews for the switch have a lot of similar stories, however- it starts failing after the warranty period expires. Lots of the reviews mention this.

The thing is, none of the other cameras seem to drop in and out. The chance of both of the Microseven cameras failing simultaneously seems unlikely (but not impossible). Maybe it's the connectors, which seems a little more likely, but again, failing at the same time seems peculiar.

The switch is really the only common component and since the other cameras seem to be stable, I have to suspect the switch. The network layout is pretty simple (see my super-detailed diagram below, lol). At this point I can't really see what it could be besides the switch, but if it is the switch, why aren't other cameras dropping in and out too?

The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the network is being dragged down or saturated by my son playing some online stuff, but that seems unlikely to me. Again, why would only those cameras be affected?
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Blue Iris 5.x x64 | Windows 10 Pro x64 | 16GB RAM | i7-7700 3.6 GHz | 1TB HDD | 2TB RAID NAS | 9 Cameras | Almost Dual NIC | 2KVA UPS
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TimG
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by TimG »

Hiya,

1. The diagram is showing the BI5 pc with two NICs, and the cameras on a different subnet to the router. Did you get it working ?
2. Where would your son's pc be on this diagram ? Plugged in to the router ?
3. It is possible that these two cameras are drawing more power than the others, or just that they show up the failing ethernet quicker than the others. Since you already suspect the PoE switch, I suggest slaving a new one in and moving just those two cameras on to it.
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Thixotropic
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Thixotropic »

TimG wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 6:46 pm 1. The diagram is showing the BI5 pc with two NICs, and the cameras on a different subnet to the router. Did you get it working ?
2. Where would your son's pc be on this diagram ? Plugged in to the router ?
Crap, I couldn't even lay out a simple diagram right, lol. It was a brain-cramp.

No, I don't have two NICs.* The switch goes directly to the router and the NAS is plugged into the switch. Thank you for catching that. Maybe it's time I retire and just sit on the porch in a rocking chair, grousing about the good ol' days. :(

My son's PC is plugged into the switch.

Today, both cameras have been rock solid, at least for the last 8 hours since I reset the log. That also makes it harder to pin down because it's intermittent. It'll be fine for some time, then go bonkers for a while.

Here's a corrected diagram, probably:
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*Well, I do have two NICs, but one is sitting in a drawer (see diagram). Maybe someday....
Blue Iris 5.x x64 | Windows 10 Pro x64 | 16GB RAM | i7-7700 3.6 GHz | 1TB HDD | 2TB RAID NAS | 9 Cameras | Almost Dual NIC | 2KVA UPS
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TimG
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by TimG »

OK, that makes sense :lol:

So what happens if you Ping the cameras from the BI5 pc? For example, my Dahua is at static IP 10.0.0.2 so if I open a command prompt and write:

Ping 10.0.0.2

The healthy output from that is:

Pinging 10.0.0.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms


So try it now, and then again later when you have issues. See if any losses or delays start to happen.
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Matts1984
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Matts1984 »

ping 10.0.0.2 -t

It will run continuous until you stop it. All day if you want it to. When you stop it you should still see ping statistics.... in this setup you should see zero/0/nil/no Loss and the time should be very low (it's ok if it's occasionally NOT <1 ms).

The results are another piece to the puzzle but don't necessarily mean anything concrete. Lost pings could be a switch issue, it could be failing cameras, it could be network congestion (doubt it), it could be some process/thingy running on the cameras (or server) that consume so much processing that it's temporarily unable to respond to pings.

But.... it's painless and free to try!
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Thixotropic
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Thixotropic »

Definitely not a power issue due to the load- the switch, cameras and NAS only draw about 20 watts according to the UPS load meter.

However....I spoke with the the manufacturer and they confirmed (read: admitted) that the switch does routinely fail 12 to 18 months after purchase, and it's due to a crappy power supply inside the switch (there's no external supply). I'm almost tempted to find out what it runs on and splice my own power supply in there. Almost.

They don't do any repairs (WTF?) and their only suggestion was to buy another one. Supposedly they have a newer model that doesn't suffer from this issue. Seriously, just buy another one? MMmmmmm, I don't think so.

I'm hard-pressed to drop money on anything they sell, to be frank. So, it's probably time to buy a better grade of switch.

Any suggestions on brands or models? I need a minimum of 12 ports, preferably 16.
Blue Iris 5.x x64 | Windows 10 Pro x64 | 16GB RAM | i7-7700 3.6 GHz | 1TB HDD | 2TB RAID NAS | 9 Cameras | Almost Dual NIC | 2KVA UPS
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TimG
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by TimG »

HP 2530 POE+ switch, managed to snag one on FB for the princely sum of £20 collected plus around £10-15 in petrol
Crikey, I just looked on Ebay and they are a lot more than that normally. I'm going to need something like that when I move house since I have that box of Dahua ptz's. Hmm...
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Thixotropic
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Thixotropic »

After a bit of escalation (and a heartfelt promise to burn them to the ground in the Amazon comments section), the seller agreed to do an out-of-warranty no-cost replacement.

I'm still going to look for a better replacement switch and at this point I can't recommend BV-Tech gear under any circumstances (unless you get it for free).
Blue Iris 5.x x64 | Windows 10 Pro x64 | 16GB RAM | i7-7700 3.6 GHz | 1TB HDD | 2TB RAID NAS | 9 Cameras | Almost Dual NIC | 2KVA UPS
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Thixotropic
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Thixotropic »

IAmATeaf wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 9:24 pm When I got my TrendNet POE switch I was tempted by BV-Tech as the specs and price meant that I could get it new for the around the same price as my second hand TrendNet but I read a lot of reviews about failures, especially ports failing after only a few months of use so opted for the second hand TrendNet in the end.
Yep, I should have read deeper into the comments, that's my bad for not doing so. Usually price isn't a limiting factor for me (within reason) but at the same time I don't like to spend unnecessarily so I look for the best price/performance I can. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

In hindsight I should have just bought a better brand like Netgear, Trendnet, or HP, but sometimes you don't know until after the fact.
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Matts1984
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Re: Bad Switch?

Post by Matts1984 »

I'm using Ubiquiti products personally and overall I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with the hardware. Especially if you want to explore getting into some fun, more advanced networking concepts - without being a CLI guru (it's 99.5% all GUI based), I'd generally recommend them. Some of the hardware can be a bit pricey, it's a prosumer/low commercial grade product that attempts to compete with the likes of Cisco while being FAR cheaper than them. I currently am running:

24port Gen1 Switch
16port Gen1 PoE 150W Switch
8port PoE powered Switch (can also be powered via USB)
5port PoE powered Switch (also USB option - called the "Flex Mini"
plus two old, now EoL access points - stable but I'm probably looking to upgrade in the future

I definitely didn't buy all of this at the same time, it's been a slow build over the years. The hardware, other than one time the 8port needing a hard reboot - and some quirks with the "Flex Mini", has been rock solid for me. It gives me the option to easily do vlans, port aggregation, link monitoring, Guest WiFi portals (you can even configure to require payment, lol), PoE power monitoring, etc. My current PoE load is 27.17W, though some of my cameras are temporarily adapter powered until they are more permanently mounted.

The only real discussion point in my ~6 years experience with them is the Network Controller (interestingly found out this morning renamed to "Network Application"). It's completely free software that can run on pretty much anything. They do offer "Cloud Key" hardware appliances that can do it, it could run on a RaspberryPi, or in my case it's quite easy to just run the application in Windows on my BI server (takes VERY little resources). That is the great part, it's pretty attractive in appearance, runs for free, etc. The downside is over the last couple of years Ubiquiti has become increasingly progressive in their software lifecycles (rapid though not 'Ken' rapid) and often times promote versions to Stable while the beta forums are full of reported issues - though these are in corners that don't affect me. They've made a push to update the UI in ways that many aren't happy with - over simplification and a dumbing down of the advanced capabilities. I'm still running on a stable but older version of the controller but by devices are on the latest firmware.

Overall, I DO like their product and imagine I won't go anywhere else anytime soon. I will probably upgrade my APs before the end of the year with new Ubiquiti products and not vendor hop, but I do wish they'd get a better vision/direction on their controller.... sorry, now it's an "application".

Below is a sample of some of the information I can see in the controller. I did look it up and the 16port PoE switch I have runs about $300.... so while feature rich, it's WAY more expensive than the bargain IAmATeaf got. I've seen it for about half that used on EB but it is what it is. I originally bought in so I could do the advanced stuff and have it all controlled through one single interface (kinda like having all my cameras go to one unified server/controller)!
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Blue Iris 5.8.8.x | Server 2022 VM | Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz - 12 Cores | 12GB RAM | 7TB RAID | Sophos UTM WAF | 4x SV3C 5MP Bullet A | 1x SV3C 5MP PTZ HX | 1x SV3C 5MP Bullet HX | 1x SV3C 5MP Dome HX | 2x Amcrest 5MP Bullet
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