Subscriber Discussion

Pelco S6230 Environmental UPOE - Anyone Have This Working With Cisco Switches?

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 01, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Does anyone have a Pelco S6230 Environmental PTZ working with Cisco Switches and UPOE?  I have switches capable of providing 60W of power but when the selector is moved to 'HPOE' on the camera which should power the heater, the port either goes into fault or simply doesn't recognize a POE device attached.

Thanks!

U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 01, 2019

UPoE is a proprietary Cisco protocol and the camera does not know how to negotiate the power it requires in the same way as a regular PoE connection. Basically both devices do not know how to communicate to each other and the power drops. 

Pelco would need to rewrite the camera firmware to accept UPoE or you need to prevent UPOE from kicking in on the switch. 

(1)
BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 01, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Understood regarding the proprietary nature.  I guess I was curious if anyone had made it work regardless of that. 

For example, we make Axis Q60 cameras work by issuing 'power inline four-pair force' on the switch.  This of course doesn't help in my current situation

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 01, 2019

Unfortunately Four-pair power has never worked for me in my UPoE cases. It came down to either Cisco somehow implementing PoE + communication on the switch or the camera manufacture to add in UPoE negotiation. 

We ended up replacing the switches on one site and at another site we had to keep camera power under 30W (which worked for them)

 

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 01, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Bummer if that's the case here.  We'll have to get some injectors for the PTZs since we need the heaters.

U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 02, 2019
IPVMU Certified

I’m guessing that since you are forcing the 4 wire power at the switch, and it apparently runs the camera before you move the selector to hpoe, that the power is being provided.

The camera uses 60 watts with the heater, according to the spec, and the switch provides just 60 as well.  Is it possible that the inrush current is faulting the switch?

can you check the log to see what it says on fail?

also to note, the hpoe adapter recommended for the camera can provide 90w.

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 04, 2019
IPVMU Certified

We aren't seeing IMAX errors like you would see if the inrush was causing the fault. Honestly, I didn't see much at all. I'm working on getting a setup on my bench to test in my office.

Regardless of the camera staying on when we move the switch (which it does), after the camera is set for HPOE, if I shut / no shut the port it doesn't even recognize it as a POE device. Sort of like it's not even trying to negotiate anymore.

U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 04, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Regardless of the camera staying on when we move the switch (which it does), after the camera is set for HPOE, if I shut / no shut the port it doesn't even recognize it as a POE device. Sort of like it's not even trying to negotiate anymore.

Wait, the camera stays on, even though the port faults?

 

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 04, 2019
IPVMU Certified

Yes.  It makes no sense.

If I have the back box hanging and connected while the switch is in the POE+ position and then move the switch to the HPOE position, you smell the heater turn on and the fan keeps running.  Once you snap the dome into the back box, one of two things happens.

1.  Port indicates 'fault' and camera turns off.  (Expected result of fault status)

2.  Port indicates 'fault' but fan and heater keep running.  In this scenario, I don't even see any draw on the switch POE at this point.  Obviously there is draw of course.

In either state, if I shut / no shut the port, the POE negotiation doesn't happen and the port stays dark if the switch is in the HPOE position.

U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 04, 2019

Do you happen to have a PoE Power tester? I would be curious to see what it shows when the camera is in that state. 

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 04, 2019
IPVMU Certified

I do not but a quick Google makes them look pretty cool.  I'll petition to get one.

U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 04, 2019
IPVMU Certified

...you smell the heater turn on and the fan keeps running.

Can the heater be disabled somehow so it doesn’t turn on when you move the selector to HPOE?

 

U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 04, 2019

Correct, you will not see much going on in the logs anywhere. The switch sends out one discovery packet for UPoE (you should see it in a mirrored port wireshark) and then all communication gets dropped and port resets before anything has had a chance to respond.

RY
Rob Yockey
Feb 05, 2019

Please pose your question regarding Pelco products and services to the Pelco Support webpage:  pelco.com/support.

Robert Yockey - Pelco product line manager for positioning cameras

U
Undisclosed #3
Feb 06, 2019

IEEE 802.3bt

 

802.3bt was ratified in September, and published just last week. Hopefully we won't have to deal with these issues in near future.

U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 06, 2019
IPVMU Certified

To their credit, Pelco’s HPoE is already based on 802.3bt.  Cisco, on the other hand, has a history of sluggish adoption of the PoE standards, as they have had several incarnations of their own home grown implementations.

BM
Brian Maxwell
Feb 06, 2019
IPVMU Certified

I'll be on site again next week it seems and have a bunch of test scenarios I'll run through.  Pelco support has given me ideas but they don't have equipment to test with apparently.  Couldn't find bench equipment to test in my office.  I'll return and post any results.

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