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Author Topic: Dominant Camera  (Read 8227 times)

rhunt

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Dominant Camera
« on: November 26, 2006, 11:17:57 AM »

I am having an issue with what I've seen called here as "dominant camera".  I never seem to be able to shut off the camera that I am not veiwing.  I have made dummy modules and according to AHP the camera is shutting off and on, but when viewing on multi camera view I can be viewing a "noisy" picture of one cam while another is selected.  I then look in AHP and the "offending" cam is showing as off.   

The most "offensive" cam seems to be the one with pan/tilt.

I had an wireless xcam2 color on a pan and tilt that was working fine alone.  I get a bit of noise, but run a wireless router and just havent gotten to that part yet heh.  The noise is not bad and I will mess with that in the final tweakings.

I liked the color cam a lot but wanted a bit better low light viewing so I just bought 3 of the wiresless  xx20a's.

I have had them all on c16-20  originally, but am having issues switching between them.  I then tried switching to e1-4 and again one always seems to stay broadcasting.  I have used the hardward in Auto as well as manually selecting all the house codes I have things on... all with the same result.  If I unplug a camera the remaining one works fine.

Any help would be great.. I see a number of posts saying they see the same thing, but no resolution so far!

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KDR

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Re: Dominant Camera
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2006, 11:51:33 AM »

I had a similar problem with a Ninja just this morning. Found that the house/unit code set on the power wart was set wrong. Had it plugged into an outlet upside down and set the codes as if it was right side up.  Had checked it a couple of times before I found it. (last time had my glasses on)

Double check your power supply house unit code settings.

Also if you have all your cameras setup in a single room and have one that won't turn off, try clicking on the "Turn all units off in the(your room name)" at the top right of your window. The cams and ninjas respond to all units off. Then select a different cam to see if it now works. If the problem cam is still on try the following...

Get an extension cord and plug the power wart into it. Plug the extension cord into another outlet on another circuit. It is possible that due to noise or phase problems that the power wart is not getting the PLC commands to turn off. Let us know what you find.



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rhunt

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Re: Dominant Camera
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2006, 08:00:52 PM »

Well the jury is still out.. but I did make some headway on this crazy stuff.  My issues today have been mainly noise related with a handfull of AHP software oddities.

First it seems to take AHP a bit of time to actually be able to figure out all the camera's..  I had tried some things with no result and came to the forums for a bit out of desperation.  After about 15 minutes I retried the cams and everything was fine.  /twitch

Most of my issues seem to be related to line noise coming from numerous locations:

1) Xbox - HUGE noise generator that was hard to figure out with my kids moving it all over the house.
2) plasma TV
3) electronic rack (home theater)
4) 4 PC's
5) 2 standard tv's and a rear projection

These are just some of the ones I've found ruining my day so far.  I bought 2 plug in noise filters with my last order (which they do not offer online by the way) and found out they are like $25-$30 each which seemed spendy if you ask me.  Now it seems everything that gets plugged in is going to need a filter.. that is going to be 100's of dollars in just filters.   Is this something everyone see's? 

I also am having huge issues with the limited range of the 15a.  I can't monitor hardly any of my door/window sensors unless I put them all in one room..  which kind of seems pointless.  I also can't seem to get solid connectivity with remotes either.  Most of the suggestions include moving the 15a further from the PC.  My question is how can you do this while still using the PC for control?  Do I need to run a 2nd 15a as a receiver?

I also tried using a Tranciever (tm751) which seemed to work a little but struggles with the Macro's I try and trigger.  A bit unreliable.

I even bought the x10 RF Repeater thinking it would help me with my RF issues..  this didn't seem to boost anything at all except the ones that were working before..  and making them send double signals.

All this starts screaming even MORE noise issues.  I also bought a Passive Phase coupler which I will try and install the next day or so and see if maybe it will increase my x10 signal above the noise threshhold.

Haven't given up, but dang this gets frustrating.
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KDR

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Re: Dominant Camera
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2006, 06:36:32 AM »

rhunt

Yep noise is a big issue with X10 and over looked by most people.

To move the CM15A a bit further away you could try an USB extension cable, say a 10 footer. You can do a search on the boards here and find some posts about it.

Game Cube did me in when we got one. Had to put a filter on it. Depending on the current load they make 5 amp, 10 amp and 15 amp filters. Go here http://www.automatedoutlet.com and do a search for "filters". It will bring up about 3 pages of stuff you can look at. A little better price on a few of them. I use a 15 amp filter that feeds my UPS system because those a real big signal sucker as well.
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