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Affected Roles: Administrator
Complexity: Medium
Last Edit: May 20, 2020
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By default, the VMAX A1 Plus supports coaxial communication with the camera through its UTC (Up-the-Coax) feature. However, when connecting a legacy PTZ camera with the VMAX A1 Plus, use of an RS-485 setup for communication is required.
This article will outline how to connect a legacy PTZ camera to the VMAX A1 Plus with a pair of Cat5 wiring, as well as how to configure the VMAX A1 Plus for PTZ control.
Note: For this article, we will be using a DW-PTZ39X analog PTZ camera.
To connect the PTZ camera with the DVR:
It is important to remember which wires are connected to the positive (+) and negative (-) polarities of the RS-485 terminal.
Make sure to match the wire polarity (+ and -) of the connection in the camera’s RS-485 terminal.
By default, most Digital Watchdog legacy PTZ cameras will use Pelco-D and a baudrate of 9600 BPS.
If you are using a third-party camera, please contact the manufacturer for more information.
Select the correct Protocol, Baudrate, and Address of the camera.
Click Save to apply the settings.
Alternatively, when in Live Mode, select the PTZ camera channel, right-click with the mouse, then select Control.
If the camera fails to move, check the RS-485 connections at both ends and make sure that the polarity (+ and -) is aligned correctly. If there is more than one PTZ camera connected to the DVR, make sure that the cameras are assigned to different Dome IDs and Addresses.