Subscriber Discussion

Anyone Losing Camera Equipment Due To The Extreme 'Polar Vortex' Cold Weather?

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Greg Levorchick
Jan 31, 2019

I'm in San Diego, so I can't complain.  But I'm curious if anyone has been experiencing equipment shutdowns, failures or other issues relating to the cold winter weather.  If so (or not), I'd be curious what devices are installed.  We have a client-site in MN and the cameras were reading -38 yesterday morning and just kept humming along.

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Meghan Uhl
Jan 31, 2019

Great question and this is an awesome opportunity to run some real world "weather" tests.  John H. what if you were to ask readers to share manf/model/location and notes re: how their system is holding up.  If enough people responded would that be sufficient info to do a decent evaluation report on performance versus specs?  It would be interesting I think.  Too bad we didn't have a month or so to plan it huh?  

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Meghan Uhl
Jan 31, 2019

PS:  I'm in Arizona and completely dumbfounded as to how any human can live in that cold so this is particularly interesting to me.

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Daniel S-T
Jan 31, 2019

Living in an area that frequently makes the news for being "Colder than Mars", I am completely dumbfounded as to how any human can live in an environment so hot, like Arizona ;)

I guess you get used to it, learn how to dress properly, have heat sources nearby. Jumping from one heated environment to another.

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jan 31, 2019

Living where it’s warm is simple. 

Just remember one simple phrase...

you never have to shovel heat”

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Daniel S-T
Jan 31, 2019

Some icing and fogging issues, but we have not had any problems with our outdoor cameras or access readers.

We have put off all outdoor work though, until it warms up.

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U
Undisclosed #1
Jan 31, 2019
IPVMU Certified

so far so good ;)

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Ethan Ace
Jan 31, 2019

I've got several outdoor cameras mounted, and we have a few up outside the building here. It wasn't -37, but it was a few degrees below zero for sure. So far, no issues on any camera. I expected at least one of them to ice up a little, but nope.

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Rob Kilpatrick
Jan 31, 2019
IPVM • IPVMU Certified

Related: We did a test on the impact of cold weather on some common Axis and Hikvision cameras last year. Temperatures dropping to 0° F and snow/rain were causing issues such as camera lockup or random reboots, in one case a Hikvision camera completely failed. 

Cold Weather Dome Test

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Daniel S-T
Jan 31, 2019

Strange, I put some three Hik Vision domes at a house for a friend of my moms, about five years ago. They're all still running fine. -20 to -25 C is like our average winter temps. With many days dipping well below -30

Have another (wbox version) on a pole at mom's place for about a year and a bit now with no issues. Arial cable too.

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Greg Levorchick
Jan 31, 2019

The cameras we have at this site are Mobotix M15D-Sec models, located in mid-Minnesota at a lakefront property.

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Brandon Frazier
Feb 01, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Crosslake is one of my favorite places on this planet! 

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Clint Hays
Feb 01, 2019

I do love Mobotix for making the sensor and lens the CPUs heatsink. It makes for a great de-icer and defogger.

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UE
Undisclosed End User #3
Feb 01, 2019

-37...typical winter day in Winnipeg, last year I was doing a site inspection in -55. Got some Pelco, their old and suspect wiring had more to do with degraded feed. The Panasonic IP’s have been decent and failures seem sporadic at 5yrs old. Also some new Axis Q and P series, no issues what so ever. Good network switch in a NEMA housing with heaters...even had wireless for a bit. If you plan for the extreme, routine will be a cake walk. 

That said, the Axis Q shake feature doesn’t seem to work with wet snow...thinking of putting a hydrophobic coating on the dome of a cheaper unit in the fall and see how it stands up.

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Daniel S-T
Feb 01, 2019

Good day, fellow Winnipegger, lol.

That coating doesn't sound like a bad idea. We have issues with some of our domes getting real dirty.

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UE
Undisclosed End User #4
Feb 01, 2019

I can second the Axis Q and P series. Have around 800 of them in Minneapolis, not a single failure so far.

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Steve Keller
Feb 01, 2019

We run I3 International equipment and some Samsung/Hanwha equipment and it was -37 here in Fargo ND and we didn't have any problems with ours.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Feb 01, 2019

I was in Des Moines, IA this week with Hanwha, and didn't hear any complaints (about the cameras) from the dealers I was working with.  It was in -10 ~ -30 range as well.

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Meghan Uhl
Feb 01, 2019

Good news for the camera industry, it sounds like for the most part they're all performing pretty well in ridiculously low temps.  

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #5
Feb 01, 2019

I wonder if the cold ratings take into consideration the internal heat generated by the cameras themselves?  IP cameras seem to generate much more internal heat than older analog cameras, and perhaps this is why most of the posts report few problems in extreme cold. 

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U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 02, 2019
IPVMU Certified

IP cameras seem to generate much more internal heat than older analog cameras...

True, but this can be a problem as well.  The extreme thermal stresses that occur when a quickly heating a board in freezing temps can take their toll.

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AB
Alexander Bakke
Feb 01, 2019

If nothing else is specified, I consider the temperature rating to be the cold start temperature. Cameras that are running aren't likely to reach really low internal temperatures.

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Tom Sharples
Mar 06, 2019

We have a bunch of Mobotix M-15's in Canada at the MetroVancouver dams and even a few in YellowKnife. No problems so far.

DR
Dennis Ruban
Mar 07, 2019

I'm in Canada. I have my CCTV systems in Alberta, BC, and Saskatchewan. It's typical for us to have down to -45F during the winter time.

I have never had issues with the outdoor cameras yet, everything works fine even without heaters. Most of the installed cameras are Hikvision.

UE
Undisclosed End User #7
Mar 07, 2019

All our cameras come with heaters built into them. I rarely lose an actual camera due to cold weather. If I lose a camera its typically water got into my conduit and broke the line. Occasionally moisture in the form of frost will develop on the RJ45 and i will lose a camera by corrosion that way. We lose more cameras to snow plows and crashing vehicles in the winter time then anything else, and i have 5,000 cameras running in those conditions.

UE
Undisclosed End User #8
Mar 08, 2019

No permanent loses. We hit -30°F a few times in the Minneapolis, MN area this winter. I run all Axis equipment and only had one M5525-E shut down overnight. The next morning it was back up and running. To be fair it was installed on the wind facing side of the building. All other Q, M, P and F series Axis cameras stayed running throughout the cold spell.

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