Alert Security Systems

[Paroxysm3]

Latest update:

CAM 1:  The factory CAM2 card installed in CAM1 failed within 36 hours.  While it would not reformat in camera, it needed no formatting at all in my PC or laptop.  Good as is!  I've reinstalled the original CAM1 card (reformatted from NTFS to FAT). that would only reformat in my Canon camera.  It has been running fine as a ReadyBoost drive.

SD 2: I will run it and see if it has any issues. 

[swift4165]

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akgem1 wrote:

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You may have a good point there with the longevity of the connectors, but I will respectfully disagree with your assessment of that causing the SD card failures after only one year (or less) of use. I've been running 3 outdoors cameras (700e) for a year now. Two of these cameras are installed inside, and the third one is outside. The camera that is installed outside is the only camera that has not experienced a single failure, SD card related or otherwise. Coincidentally, that's the only camera that's running a 3-rd party SD card from day one. The other two cameras installed inside (in perfect environmental conditions you may say), have both been running stock SD cards, and both have experience complete SD card failures. As such, I'm not convinced that the weather could be blamed on these SD card issues, not in most of these cases anyways.

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I've been having the same issue as everyone else, I have a 6 camera setup with all the cameras outside installed under the building eves, before the software update this month I had 4 out of 6 cameras working with no SD card issues, the other two cameras did but I was hoping that the software update would fix that.  So after I updated the software and went through the process of rebooting and resetting the cameras via the Commander software, I could only get 2 SD cards working out of the 6.  Cameras are all "working" fine, with each providing good video feed but 4 of them for some reason can not reformat the SD cards.  They are all using the stock SD cards that came with the cameras and I was hoping that swapping them out with higher quality ones (samsung, class 10, lifetime warranty) would fix this but I am worried about compatiability.  Can you tell us what type of SD card you used that has been working for you reliably?

Thanks

[akgem1]

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swift4165 wrote:

[...]Can you tell us what type of SD card you used that has been working for you reliably?

Thanks

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I use Kingston 16Gb Class 4 card in my outdoor camera. I don't think a Class 10 card is nessesary in these cameras, but it certainly won't hurt. I've had good experience with Kingston cards and have at least a dozen of them in different sizes. I also use SanDisk cards and haven't had any issues with them, either. I try to stay with these two brands for the most part, and both also have lifetime warranty.

[UselessS]

Keep in mind that the most common fix is to power-off the camera and simply reseat the SD card.  If it is a connection issue, it won't really matter what SD card you have in there.  Now I have only had this happen once in 10 months with multiple cameras...and the problem did not return...others obviously see this more often, and many others never see the issue at all.

I've got 5 cameras with ADATA 16gb ( 3 class 4, 2 class 6 ), and one with ADATA 32gb class 4...I replaced the originals simply due to needing the capacity when away from home for long periods.  As akgem1 said, class 10 is overkill...but certainly won't hurt <g>  I certainly can't tell any difference between the class 4 & 6...the originals are likely not even class 4.

As for using WD40 to clean the contacts, that is not something I would do...even keepng fingerprints off the contacts is desireable due to body oils ( not to mention static charge ).  Many years ago ( well before PCs ) we built minicomputers...and cleaned the board contacts with a "pink pearl" eraser then wiped with clean lint-free cloth.  The SD cards are very low voltage/current...so not sure what WD40 will do over time.

[toppro]

Cat and/or Trevor:

Recently, a few weeks ago, one of my cameras stopped recording.   I checked the SD card on the software and it was had an explanation point on it so I reformatted it -- and it started recording again.   About two weeks after that, same problem, reformatted and it came back up again - third time this happened I had to get out the ladder and climb up to the roof line and changed the SD card to a new one - worked fine, again for about two weeks, then same problem - reformatted AGAIN and it worked.   Now, this morning yet (again, about a week or two) it is down - reformatted once again and it seems to be working... so I don't think it's the card, but it may be the hardware itself - I have six cameras and none of the others are doing this, so wondering, is there a known issue and is there a solution on my end?  Or do I have a defective SD "SLOT"?  

[akgem1]

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toppro wrote:

Cat and/or Trevor:

Recently, a few weeks ago, one of my cameras stopped recording.   I checked the SD card on the software and it was had an explanation point on it so I reformatted it -- and it started recording again.   About two weeks after that, same problem, reformatted and it came back up again - third time this happened I had to get out the ladder and climb up to the roof line and changed the SD card to a new one - worked fine, again for about two weeks, then same problem - reformatted AGAIN and it worked.   Now, this morning yet (again, about a week or two) it is down - reformatted once again and it seems to be working... so I don't think it's the card, but it may be the hardware itself - I have six cameras and none of the others are doing this, so wondering, is there a known issue and is there a solution on my end?  Or do I have a defective SD "SLOT"?  

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My suggestion would be to trash that card and put a new card in that camera. I bet your problem will go away completely. I had exactly the same issues with mine, and the frequency of failures kept increasing until one day the card couldn't even be read or formatted in the PC. I put a new card in that same camera and haven't had a problem since.

[toppro]

I mentiioned in my post that I did put a new card in however it is still doing it.   

[UselessS]

I think it would be good to try to differentiate between a connection issue vs. a corruption issue. 

If you can't even see the SD card when it happens, then Alert Commander obviously can't even reformat.  If reseating brings it back...or if you take it out and verify all files are OK on a PC, then it sounds like a connection issue...which may need a camera replacement.

If the SD card is getting corrupted ( takes a reformat to fix ), then the problem is a bit different...though a replacement may still be needed if it keeps repeating.

I'm mostly trying to understand the subtle difference in symptoms here...so others can differentiate when they may see the issue(s)

Obviously, if reseating, removing, inserting with camera power on, this can corrupt the SD card...so I had to add this somewhat obvious qualifier to the above <g>

[Kiruban]

Dear toppro,

 Thank you for that information. I see that you are only having this SD Card problem with one of your Camera and the rest are all working just fine.

 Would you be able to provide me with a little more information in regards to this one specific Camera :

 1, Is this Camera updated with the current firmware?

 2, Have you attempted to move this camera closer to the Commander to see if distance might be a factor.

 3, What is the Powerline perfomance/ Bandwidth for this particular Camera?

 4, Have you attempted to swap out the SD Card with another Working Camera to ensure that the Problem is being caused by the Camera and not the SD Card.

 Let us know and we will be more than happy to assist.

[toppro]

1.  Yes - and I double checked and it confirmed everything is up to date.

2.  No way I can do that - it is in fact the 2nd closest camera to my router (25')  I have 4 other cameras ranging from 50' to over 200' away and they are working just fine (so far)

3.  See below (note: under ERROR TEST I am getting a "Failed" message for latest software updates however all my powerlines and cameras say they are up to date - please explain this)

4.  Yes, as I stated, I climbed up a ladder and changed it to a brand new card (Logitech supplied) from a spare camera I have never even used, still in the box.

CAMERA 1 is the camera with the SD issue:

NOT SURE WHAT THIS MEANS??