X10 Community Forum
📸Cameras & Camera Software => Legacy non Wi-Fi X10 Cameras => Camera General Discussion => Wireless Cameras(non IP) => Topic started by: Drifter on December 12, 2009, 06:46:23 PM
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I wasn't sure if this has already been discussed but I would not be sure even what to search for. I have a 4 camera system with 4 motion sensors a TM751 transceiver module, a VR31A audio/video receiver, UX23A whole house VCR controller and CR12A remote. This has been up and running now for about 6 months and has been functioning fine. All of a sudden the camera, all of them depending on which one I have active, turns off without me doing anyhting. Then in a few seconds it will turn back on again. This cycle keeps repeating and my sanity is now in question. It is as if I'm pushing the on/off button on the remote, which I'm not. I tried a new TM751 but has not had any affect. The transceiver and the cameras power supplies are all on the same pole of the fuse box. Any suggestions as to a possible cure would be much appreciated. Thanks
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Since cameras are turned on and off in a group of four. 1-4;5-8;9-12 or 13-16.
Are the motion sensors all set to the same group of four? As the cameras addresses?
Motion sensors also have a Dusk Dawn feature that sends an On at Dusk and an Off at Dawn. To the motion address +one unit code. This maybe messing up the cameras. There aren't any lights on the same addresses also are there?
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Brian, The cameras are set to E1, 2 ,3, 4 and the motion sensors are set to the same 4 addresses. The on at dusk and off at dawn feature has never been changed and should be still at the factory default of detecting motion at all times and does not turn Unit Code+1 on at dusk and off at dawn. I will check though tomorrow. This is happening at all times of the day from bright and sunny to dead of night. There are no lights on the system at all I strictly have it set up for video surveillance outside. Is there ant chance that weak batteries may be sending an errant signal to the transceiver? I'm baffled but do appreciate your help.
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You have the MS16A Active Eye where you can choose the Dusk Dawn enabled or disabled.
You may want to check the batteries in the motion sensors. When they get weak some have reported strange commands being sent.
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Brian thanks for the help. I decided to tape up the photocell just to be on the sfe side and I don't use that feature anyways. While I was opening them I thought I'd check to make sure they were on the correct house and unit codes. Lo' and behold 2 of them were back to A1 instead of E1 and E2. I remember these 2 fell a while ago and I can only assume that it jarred the batteries enough to tempoarily break the connection and thereby sending them back to their default codes. I set them back to the correct codes and taped up the photocell in all of them. I have replaced them now, more securely and so far have not had them same problem I described in the original post. I will wait a day though and see what happens to make sure. I will report back so as to close this loop. Thanks again for your help. John
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OK Hope the problem is gone.
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Well unfortunately the problem still remains. The cameras are set at E1, E2, E3 and E4. The motion sensors are set 2 at E1, E3 and E4. I have 2 motion sensors set on the same code because the area I want covered is to large for 1 to completely cover. Should that be a problem? There is a lot of movement that the motiion sensors are catching because of the wind moving things around and during this the cameras will switch back and forth to the area that is moving. After this has been going on for a few minutes the cameras will shut off as if I pushed the off button on the remote. Sometimes a few moments later they will switch back on again, other times I actually have to push one of the buttons on the remote to get it to come on. One other note, even when this happens and the cameras don't come back on again by themselves what I have noticed is that as sooon as motion is detected again the camera will switch back on and begin recording. After this it seems to turn back off again. I seen this in person and when reviewing the tape upon arrival at home.
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One other thing I forgot to mention is that although there is not a motion sensor asigned to camera E2 sometimes the VCR will start recording on camera E2.?
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What normally turns on the E2 camera?
If something is sending an E2 On then your E1;E3 and E4 cameras will turn off.
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The only thing that turns on the E2 camera is if I manually switch to it with remote. That camera looks up the road and because of the distance involved the delay between when the motion sees something and turns on the camera and starts the VCR recording makes it impracticle for that location. That one is just used when I'm home. None of the motion sensors are set to E2. Does having 2 of the motion sensors on E1 cause a problem that you are aware of?
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.... a VR31A audio/video receiver, ... This has been up and running now for about 6 months and has been functioning fine. All of a sudden the camera, all of them depending on which one I have active, turns off without me doing anyhting. Then in a few seconds it will turn back on again. This cycle keeps repeating
That to me... sounds like signal drift.. from your cameras to the VR31A audio/video receiver. When the RF signal gets low... the TV's screen will go black/blank. It could be that a high wind has giggled the camera's antenna's.... or even just the person that dusts around the VR31A has moved it.
We just had a time change... that's a great time to check battery's (spring and fall)! If the motion sensor battery's get low/down... a really cool night... could cause the setting to drop/change.
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Dave the screen doesn't go black or blank what happens is that I get static just as if I had pressed the off button on the remote. Sometimes it will come back on by itself and other times I have to actrually press the appropriate camera button on the remote. If I'm not home and this occurs it will just record the static for the alloted amount of time. When this happens and then something, me, passes in front of one of the motion sensors the camera will turn back on again. As I mentioned earlier I have 2 motion sensors both set to E1 that cover a larger overlapping zone. Could this be the problem that as something passes from a zone covered by one of these motiion sensors into the the other zone covered by the other motion sensor with the same house and unit code it's sending mixed signals and shutting the camera off?
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Does having 2 of the motion sensors on E1 cause a problem that you are aware of?
FWIW $0.02
I don't want to steal Dave X10's thunder, he is the camera expert. I have no cameras so this is pure speculation, but I think you identified your problem.
E1a and E1b cover a large area. If movement triggers E1a, E1a will send an E1 ON, turning on the E1 camera. Now the movement goes from E1a area to E1b area and E1b sends an ON. This ON will have no effect. After the programmed time on time is reached (1 minute?) by E1a, it will send an OFF. E1 camera will shut off. E1b may still see movement but will not re-transmit ON signals. X10 inhibits the motion sensors from re-transmitting the ON signal for some prescribed period of time to prevent a motion sensor from flooding the line with successive ONs as it sees continual movement. After this delay is satisfied, E1b may re-transmit an ON which will now re-activate the E1 camera. If this describes your problem the only way (I know) to solve is to use the CM15A with flags to activate the camera and do not have multiple motion sensors on the same address.
I will go back to sleep now.
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...I don't want to steal Dave X10's thunder....
Don't worry about my thunder... the main thing is Drifter's setup... and I think YOU have a good idea.
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I will remove one of the motion detectors that cover the large area I mentioned and see if only having 1 covering that area makes a difference in regards to what I'm experiencing. I will let you know after seeing what happens on Saturday. Thanks
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Well unfortunately it didn't completely solve the problem. It is definitely better, as in it's not happening as frequently, however, it still does happen. One other thing I may have neglected to mention that may have some relevance is that when motion is detected and the VCR starts recording it very seldom will run thru the normal cycle of recording and then stopping and still have an image on the monitor. What normally happens is that it will start recording then during the recording time the camera will turn off. Sometimes it will come back on on its own. Other times unless I am am there it will continue to record static then will stop recording and the monitor will continue to show static until motion is detected again and then the camera will turn back on. I almost think I should set up the system again, resynchronize the motion sensors and the VCR commander with each other. It's strange though that it has been set up and functioning normally for the last 3 months and then for no reason I can figure out it started doing this.
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Well I finally figured out what the problem is. There isn't one, the problem is my mind. My misinterpretation of the motion sensor instructions led to my misunderstanding. When I read that after motion is detected by the sensor an on command is sent to start recording after the motion sensor delay time is reached an off signal is sent. I thought the off signal was a signal to stop recording. This is not the case it's an off signal to that camera. The VCR commander has a default time of 5 minutes recording. I can change the time frame which the motion sensor sends the off signal but it will at some point thereby turning that camera off. While I would think it would be more effective if it sent only a signal to stop recording I understand that it can't because on multiple camera systems in needs to be able to switch to another camera to record from if necessary. The guy at X10 did say though that when I start using the software that I have I can avoid this by setting the unit codes on the motion sensors to ones that are different than the cameras unit codes. My fault for not comprehending the instructions correctly. Once the after Christmas sales start I'm going to get a new laptop to use for the software and cameras and then this problem I'm having will be no more. Thanks for all your help.