Alert Security Systems

[Ski & Glee]

I am working with 3 different logitech master systems and 2 of them require hand holding in the form of rebooting the cameras to get them to show up online even though the logitech commander can see them.  This is great if Commander sees them but I also have cameras that do not show up online or in commander so I can not do anything remotely to cause them to come back online.  Running powerline diagnostics shows the powerline device is detected but no camera. 

If you can detect the powerline device and can determine that they are up to date with the firmware then you can reset/reboot them remotely.  i.e. force a firmware upload to them.  This would be equivalent to unplugging them and replugging them back in which is obviously what I'd do if I were at the property. 

Please implement this so that those of us that must manage these systems remotely can handle as many problems as possible without being there.  Even if you can not put it in the Commander software expediently, how about putting it in the beta of the powerline diagnostics tool?

Thanks,

Rick

[BeastCompany]

Hello Ski & Glee,

 How do you have your camera(s) hooked up? Are you using POE or the standard HomePlug?

 If you are using HomePlug, do you happen to by any chance have the camera(s) in a GFI circuit? This includes the power supply for the Camera(s) and the Network Adapter. Also, what do you get for the Powerline/bandwidth Test readings?

 If unplugging and re-plugging the camera aid in resolving the connectivity issue, there must be some kind of network traffic that might be hindering the traffic flow.

 Would you be able to manually open ports UDP 1900 and TCP 1935, TCP 1936 on your Router. If you happen to have a firewall on your router, I would also recommend that you enable an exception to manually allow the camera(s) to communicate with the network without interference.

 If you are using POE, try to see if you can swap the ports on your POE switch and manually confine the ports to the Mac Address of the Camera via Port Forwarding.

 From your description, it appears that the Camera(s) are able to communicate with the Commander, but has difficulty getting out.

 If you have access to your Commander and can Remote Desktop, have you attempted to reboot the Camera via the commander?

[Ski & Glee]

Not on GFCI circuit and I have 1 camera in 2 different locations right now that is not seen by the commander or on the website but when I run diagnostic powerline test, it says that a powerline device is detected but no camera.  If I were at either property, I would go unplug the camera and plug it back in and I'm sure that would solve the problem.  I am using the home plug, not POE as it is not an option to run POE cables at the properties.

Since Commander can not see the cameras, you can not issue a reboot command.  I think this is silly since it can see the powerline device, get the powerline number (in the 80's last time I checked) and it will tell me the powerline device is up to date if I try to update the device so I know it can communicate in some way.  I also know that if the powerline firmware was out of date, it would pop up a message saying it was out of date and would I like to update the firmware?  This means it can effectively reboot the powerline device if it has the means to upload to firmware to it.

As for the ports, I do not have anything enabled or disabled but the other 5 cameras have no issues so I am 100% sure that fiddling with the ports will not solve anything.

I'm really surprised no one from logitech will comment on this even if it's to say "no comment".

Rick

[BeastCompany]

Hello Rick,

 Did you say that these problematic camera's were giving you Powerline Performance of 80? If you think about it, that's only 40% of the total value. The Maximum value is 200 and I am well aware that you would be knowing this.

 Is this Problematic camera on a different circuit compared to the Commander itself. These camera(s) have a hard time jumping circuits so a small power flicker will throw these guys off and if they are on two different circuits, would take a bit of work to get them back online.

 You had also mentioned that you are not in that location so its twice as hard to aid and come up with a resolution.  Did you try to swap the Camera(s) around.

 I am pretty confident that something is not right in your circuit. Its like inserting the key in your door and turning it. If the door opens, then you know it works. If it doesn't that you know its the key and not the door.

 It is also plausible that there might be a small glitch with the router. Would you or have you attempted to remotely access the Computer and perhaps reboot the router to which these problematic Camera(s) are connected to?

 If the Camera cannot be seen on the Commander, there are only three immediate possibilites. (Anti virus/Firewall, Router, Circuit).  I understand that they were working at one point so we will bypass the Anti virus/Firewall. this would leave us with the router/Circuit.

[Ski & Glee]

lol, thanks for the suggestions but I have tried all these and yes, rebooted the router and these cameras do work at their current locations, current circuits, current everything.  Yes, 80 is completely fine.  Would you believe at one location I have a camera at 13 powerline performance that works fine? 

Bottom line:  add ability to reset powerline device through either the commander software or the powerline utility diagnostic software tool.  End of discussion.  All other remedies suggested require going to the property and trying other things.  If I were at the property I would just unplug and replug the camera and watch it work its magic.  That means current circuit, current powerline performance, current router firewall etc etc etc all work fine.  This isn't just one property, it's 2 different properties and I have a 3rd property that has no issues so I know how to work these systems.

Rick

[F4U_Corsair]

Hi Rick, I logged it with the dev team.  Next time you see this can you grab a log file for us before you correct the problem and then one after?

[Ski & Glee]

Ok, I'll do that next trip to either property.

Please let me know if the dev team will add the ability to reboot a powerline device either by forcing a firmware upload or by presumably an API to powercycle/reboot device.

Thanks,

Rick

[Antti]

Ability to reboot powerline adapter would be essential!

I have a Logitech Alert system at my family's summer house. It keeps on going offline all the time and I have to unplug/plug powerline adapter manually to get camera back online. Powerline strength seems to be okay, however in the countryside power network surely is not as stabile as in urban areas - wonder if Logitech Alert is too sensitive for inconsistent power supply? After unplugging/plugging Alert works just fine for a while until it goes offline again. Last time Alert stayed online for less than one day. This is extremely frustrating. if I could reboot adapter remotely I wouldn't have to drive 100 kilometers in order to boot powerline adapter manually. I am going to setup a timer to unplug adapter twice every day so that I don't have to do unplugging myself. Even better would be if Logitech Alert could reboot itself automatically when Alert system goes offline.

[Ski & Glee]

I have this problem again at a property 6 hours away that I installed for a client. 

Running powerline diags in Commander shows the little blue info icon and hovering the mouse over it says "Power camera supply detected but no camera detected.  Check device connections and retest".  Powerline performance is 18 which I know is on the low end but I assure you it works even at 18.

Running the Logitech Powerline Networking Utility shows the device and all other devices have a TEI of 01-06 except the device that is not detected, it has a TEI of 40.  Obviously if I were there, I'd go unplug the camera and plug it back in and it would correct the TEI and allow the camera to be found again.  However, I am not there and I can not run there whenever this happens.

If the software can test the powerline performance and detect there is a powerline device there then it needs to be able to reboot that device.  Currently, you can not reboot or reset the camera because it's not detected!  I know that when a new powerline firmware is available, it can connect to the device and send the firmware to it.  If that's the case then it has the ability to reboot the device even if it means resending the firmware again.

I really hate to tell the client that his camera doesn't work because he has to go unplug it and plug it back in.

Please help by adding a reboot powerline device feature to the Commander or the powerline network utility.

Rick

[jnoring]

Ski,

Quick question--do you know if you had any power outages at that remote property?