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Troubleshooting a PoE Reset Error on a VMAX IP Plus

Updated

Troubleshooting PoE Reset Errors on a VMAX® IP Plus™

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Affected Roles:  Administrator

Complexity:  Medium

Last Edit:  August 16, 2024

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PoE Reset Error

If you are encountering an issue where a VMAX® IP Plus™ is experiencing video loss with connected cameras and are encountering a PoE Reset error, the issue may be caused by a collection of connected IP cameras exceeding the bandwidth limits due to an abnormally high bitrate setting on one or more cameras.

This article will outline the recommended troubleshooting steps for the PoE Reset Error of a VMAX IP Plus.

 

Supported/Affected Devices:

  • VMAX® IP Plus™ Series

 

Possible Causes

Cycling the PoE port connections for the malfunctioning camera connection(s) will restart the camera(s) and refresh the connection to the recording unit. 

However, if this does not resolve the issue, possible causes include:

  • Outdated IP Camera firmware
  • Outdated VMAX IP Plus firmware
  • Collection of connected devices exceeds throughput limits (80mbps / 160mbps)
  • Network traffic issues impacting camera streams
  • Bad cable connection at either the camera-end or PoE-end
  • Defective PoE port

 

**NOTE:  The troubleshooting below should be performed at the VMAX IP Plus hardware itself.  Please be sure to have a display monitor and USB mouse connected to the system before proceeding.

 

Troubleshooting a PoE Reset Error

Checking System Status

  1. Confirm that the IP Camera Firmware and NVR Firmware are both up-to-date.

 

  1. At the NVR, log in locally as the admin user.
    • Default User:  admin
    • Default Password: 

Once logged in, right-click in the Live Viewing area and select “Setup” then select “System”.

 

  1. Click the “System Status” button. 
  2. The System Status window will show an inventory count of how many cameras are connected to the NVR, their PoE status, and network connection status.  Make sure that all cameras are accounted for.

VMAX IP Plus - Information Menu

 

Checking PoE Status

  1. Next, let’s check the current network PoE statuses.

Select the “Network” menu from the Setup Menu, then locate and click on the “Status” button.

The Network Status window will provide an inventory count of how many cameras are connected to the NVR including if the connection is by PoE or by LAN connection. 

Use this information to determine if the integrated PoE switch is detecting the camera correctly.

VMAX IP Plus - Network Menu

 

  1. The settings in the Network Status menu are used by the recorder to determine the network speeds (10Mbps or 100Mbps) of each port in the PoE switch.  Users can check the status of the cameras that are connected directly to the integrated PoE switch and reset all PoE connections and cameras from this menu as needed.

Since the camera is experiencing a long ping delay and connectivity issues, use the dropdown menus to select the target PoE port and change the PoE to use a “Type-H” mode.

 

**NOTE:  It is not recommended to have all ports set to “Type-H”.  This option is not available on VMAX IP Plus 16-channel models.  Additionally, 16-channel models are all uniformly set to work at a maximum speed of 100Mbps.

 

VMAX IP Plus - PoE Port Modes

 

Checking Bitrate Settings

  1. Next, it is recommended to check the camera’s Primary and Secondary camera profile settings.

From the Setup Menu, select the “Record” menu, then click on the “Camera Management” tab.  At the bottom, click the “Advanced” button.

In the Advanced Camera Management menu, click the “Setup” button that is next to the target camera.

VMAX IP Plus - Advanced Camera Management Menu

 

  1. The IP Camera Setup menu will display.

Click the “Get Stream” button, then click the “Setup” button for the REC. Stream (primary stream).

Adjust the REC. Stream Bitrate setting to be between 3000~5000 Kbps, then click the “Apply” button.

Next, click the “Setup” button for the 2nd Stream.

Adjust the 2nd Stream settings to:

  • Bitrate:  between 300~800Kbps
  • Frames Per Second:  between 7FPS~25FPS
  • GOP:  20 (default)

 

**IMPORTANT:  Do not set the bitrate setting of the 2nd Stream to be higher than the bitrate stream of the REC. Stream.  This will cause significant video and connectivity issues for the video channel.

VMAX IP Plus - Changing IP Camera Stream Settings

 

  1. Below you will find a table of suggested bandwidth settings, depending on the camera’s native resolutions. 

Keep in mind that “Bitrate” refers to the amount of data that’s being used to send a particular stream. The higher the that the Bitrate setting is, the better quality the video will be, but this may create traffic issues or exceed the NVRs limitations as well.

Each scenario is different but most of the negative results are due to exceeding bandwidth limitations of the recorder and using unnecessary bandwidth (too high) or major pixelated of the video if set to low.  Adjust the bitrate settings as you deem necessary.

 

Megapixel / Resolution

Suggested

 

5MP (2560x1920)

4096 - 5120

 

4MP (2560x1440)

3072 - 4096

 

3MP (2048x1536)

3072

 

2MP (1920x1080)

2048

 

1MP (1280x720)

1024

 

704X480

  768

640x480

  512

640x360

  512

480X240

  512

320x240

  256
       

 

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