fattony

June 29, 2021

Hi

looking for recommendations for a Cat 5 tester, I’m not looking for a cheap LED flash through, I want to know the cable length, ideally if there is a break in the cable etc.

I saw there are testers which will flash the port they are plugged into, that would be an added benefit.

Main reason for looking is I have an Avigilon system where 2 cameras are offline, no led on the Ethernet port at the camera, IT have upgraded some equipment and I’m wondering if not all ports are configured correctly, problem is I don’t know where it’s connected to in the switch

thanks

June 3, 2020

Ideal world yes, I’ve since found out a backup would be pointless as the system is so old that the database couldn’t be imported into the latest version of software ACT winlite 2.5

Could you advise on the GDPR stance on a company making a backup and taking that with them? I presume the backup should be left on site

June 3, 2020

I would have thought a backup is good practice, I have a client who is kicking off because his access control PC has died and we Don’t hold a back up but your comment makes me wonder if GDPR comes into play here?

I have looked before but is there a check list for maintenance requirements for access control, this is what I ask the guys to do

Check voltage on lock output

check backup battery

check functions of door ie RTE, BG Reader

check lock is secure

Check software is recording transactions

Am I missing anything?

thanks

June 3, 2020

Hi

on a access control maintenance is it just good practice to backup the database or is it a requirement from the likes of SSIAB etc?

Appreciate that the backup would be 6 months old but it’s better than nothing

thanks

May 18, 2020

Hahaha!

i won’t be changing it, we maintain the building (inherited) and the camera went down, ex employee took it down, quit the next day and the new guy gets the joy of putting it back, all at my cost as previous ‘security engineer’ thought he could just change it for a 5mp hik analogue

April 24, 2020

Website link would be great if possible

April 24, 2020

Hi

im wondering if there are model maintenance forms for cctv and access Control, we just have a text box and I want to ensure we tick all the right boxes, I want to go 3rd party accredited within the next 2 years so this is just a step towards that.

Fire alarm regulations have all the required maintenance model forms so I presume security has the same

thanks

April 17, 2020

I’ve got the ACT Gold, not sure which model it is, I’ll have a look and see if it has a model number

April 17, 2020

Hi

i called Kentec today as I wanted to check the power supply was ok to charge the size of the batteries as after 1 year my ACT battery tester tells me they have failed (considerably)

The guy I spoke to who was a previous service engineer for contract fire said he had been advised by ACT that the units are only calibrated upto 12Ah and the best way to test them is to measure the current being drawn, if the battery is failing the current will be hundreds of mA opposed to the trickle charge

Firstly has anyone heard this from ACT before?

On my next panel I tried it, little Sita 200plus had 2.8Ah batteries in it (never achieving 24 hour standby) and I measured 9mA going into it and the ACT measured 1.42Ah which fails on their chart.

Do you use a ACT tester or measure the current?

What I’m trying to avoid is failing the batteries too early and ensuring they are failed so 1 day / week or months after my service the panel doesn’t show a battery fault

Thanks

April 4, 2020

There is a balcony just below it, yes it is an analogue dvr.

I’m assuming I can’t just swap it for something like a hik or dahua and axis would be too high spec, maybe I need to have a look through the Alien website to see what they offer.

i think these are called body or box cameras, if so are they a standard fit in the existing housing or would this be a new housing?

thanks

April 4, 2020

Hi

i have a client who has a Alien Mega Hero Dvr, it’s running some external 230v cameras with a floodlight mounted above the camera (see picture attached)

one of the cameras is faulty and I need to propose a suitable replacement, I’ve attempted to contact Alien but no answer, I was going to call them on Monday but thought I’d ask on here first

Thanks

March 10, 2020

Hi

i need to meet with a IT guy next week to work out what ports are for security and label them.

is there a labeller which anyone can recommend for patch panels, I’m not convinced a standard dymo will cut it

thanks

March 6, 2020

Thank you, I will advise them to update their signage

In exceptional circumstances where audio recording is being used, this should be stated explicitly and prominently. It should also be clearly stated if audio recording is used for a different or further purpose than visual recording.

If they decide they don’t want the feature it can be disabled, at the moment they do want it

March 6, 2020

Just now, al-yeti said:

You don't have to disable it unless they want you to

I agree, the paperwork states audio is recording but I need to follow this up with what they need to do to be legsl

March 6, 2020

I agree it’s the cheap end of the market but this tat is pretty good tat in my opinion, happy to be educated

March 6, 2020

Thanks James,

I’ll do some research into ico but if it’s ok I’ll advise them to update their signage, if not I’ll go and disable it, more than happy to tell them I’m wrong and shouldn’t have left it

March 6, 2020

that doesn’t help me as it implies with the correct signage you can record audio?

March 6, 2020

I haven’t been caught recording audio, I wanted to ask the legal status of this.

Read my posts, I’m by no means a pro, not claiming to be just want to advise the client the right thing so no one is surprised when they view playback

thanks

March 6, 2020

Hi

Ive been working with some Dauha IP cameras and realised quite last minute that they are recording audio as well as video.

The building is a multi tenanted building with the cameras in landlord areas, the client requested the audio was recorded as it may be handy at some point.

Im not sure what the legal aspect is for this, should I advise they need to update their signage or is this 100% illegal and should be disabled, if so I’m surprised that it comes enabled by default

thanks

February 19, 2020

I have a fairly old galaxy 96 which I’d like to download, would I need to use galaxy gold or rss?

i just want to ensure I have the right software

thanks

August 21, 2019

I spoke to their IT guys as I wondered about too much power being drawn from a switch but they monitor power which isnt event close to the limit - I presume the same for bandwidth but impossible to say as we can't access the cameras to check settings but its a good shout

August 21, 2019

I went to this site today to have a nose at it, 25 cameras wired into 2 server rooms and were setup on their own subnet 10.9.240 but for some reason I found a camera at 192.168.0, this one had dropped off and needed a reboot, site did say that all cameras randomly drop off and have done since they were installed (not by us) after a reboot they start working which could I guess be firmware if they are on their own subnet (no possible ip conflict etc)

Unfortunately no one on site know the login details for the other 24 cameras so I presume its a case of reset each camera and start again updating firmware as you go, not really my issue we dont maintain it so up to them

August 20, 2019

Thanks, I've been doing some youtube on networking and its becoming clearer,

Say you have a dedicated router (I imagine this would apply for residential systems)

1) Plug the nvr into the router and enable dhcp to get a ip address, then disable it so that ip address becomes locked to the nvr

2) Plug the cameras into the router and same again enable dchp to get a ip address then disable it

3) With laptop connected to the same router we can connect to the camera via web browser & ip address to edit the settings of the camera

Assuming I'm right on this so far, scale this up to a commercial building where they could have different subnet settings, I imaging there would tend to be a IT company involved so you could ask to connect to the existing switch or they may prefer you fit your own switch (presume you guys have done both at some point) now with a large IT structure they may use different subnet for different equipement and may say all cctv needs to be 255.255.200.0 for example and voip phones take 255.255.195.0, ground floor IT is 255.255.210.0

Does that ever happen as it could eliminate ip conflicts as from what I understand a IP address 192.168.1.1 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 cant talk to a IP address 192.168.1.1 with a subnet of 255.255.1.0

So in a long winded way if I'm correct I guess I'm asking if you cant have a dedicated switch would it be wise to request a dedicated subnet so nothing IT do should effect the IP address of the cameras?

Apologies for the long post a few things clicked into place (I think after watching some youtube)

August 20, 2019

Hi

I half understand the IP but I know it’s way more complex than what limited info I know and I want to understand it better, is there a course I could attend?

My understanding is that the NVR is given a IP address, when a camera is plugged into it the NVR gives each camera a unique IP address, we can log into each camera via a web browser and edit the settings of the cameras.

A while ago I installed a number of cameras and each one I setup on my laptop giving it a IP address (issued by IT) subnet mask etc and plugged it into the network, everything worked fine

Sometimes I see companies install their own network for CCTV bypassing any possible IT issues, what’s the best practice here?

A couple of weeks we diagnosed a Axis IP camera as faulty, it was replaced and worked for about 24 hours then just dropped off line, our IP guy is on holiday so muggins will attend and reboot the camera hopefully getting it back on line but what would make it drop off?

it seems like you need to do a course in networking and fully understand IP address, subnet and dns?

Appreciate any help you can give

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