How To Make A IP Camera Tester?

[abrogard]

I have a Dahua IP camera and I had a lot of trouble getting it to work. I thought it was broken. It is with a tech right now and it looks like it is working fine actually.

But I couldn't see it on my LAN. I couldn't connect with it. Couldn't find it with IP scanners and such.

And here's the point: neither the vendor nor a tech could tell me something to do to definitively test if it was working or not.

And right now he's testing it on his LAN, not with any special testing rig.

So I wonder just how easy would it be to build something that would plug into the IP camera's Ethernet output and know that it was apparently working fine? Just from voltage testing even, without a video.

Or would it even be simple to convert something - smartphones? - so's the output from the camera could display on them?

Just anything. You see the thing doesn't even have a LED to indicate it is powered up. So my first hassle started right there - I was sure it wasn't even getting powered up.

 

[kellys_eye]

Is it a POE device or powered independently?

 

[Ian]

If someone else has it working (using a PSU), then I'd think it's more than likely a network configuration issue. Is it set to obtain an IP address automatically via DHCP? If so, do you have an option on your router to show all allocated IP addresses (along with host name, for ease).

As @kellys_eye mentioned: if it's a POE device then I guess the technician is using his own switch/injector - so this is the something to consider checking at your end.

If the camera has an auto-focus lens, you may hear this "twitch" on power up. Alternatively, does the camera have IR LEDs or surface mount LEDs within the unit? These may allow you to see if it's getting power, if you open it up.