timelinex Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 I have a DS2 door station with camera/keypad for my gate and it's just been an overall disappointing experience.The primary issue I have is that when I get a call from the door station and pick it up, there is a good chance that the entire mechanism will crash while the video is loading. I don't have strangers go to my gate alot, but when they do, it's very important for me to be able to communicate with them. Out of the last 4 times I used the door station, it crashed twice. Anyone else have a buggy experience like this? To best describe what happens: 1. I receive the call 2. I pick it up using my android intercom anywhere 3. the call seems to be loading but it just doesn't load. Even waiting a minute, just nothing happens inside intercom anywhere. 4. I end up exiting out of the app, and going back in. Now I find that the doorstation is grayed out and I can't access it period. 5. I can't remember if it starts responding again eventually or not. But it definitely doesn't for atleast a few minutes. (after the guest has obviously left). After this happened the first few times, I added a custom button to my C4 app screen to restart the doorstation. This allows me to enter back into it. I'm not positive, but it seems like it might happen when reception on my phone may not be 100%. That's not for sure though and just a guess. I have a Cat5e cable going to the doorstation, so internet going to it is fine. I also have the DS camera recording on my NVR and as far as I know it doesn't have any issues with that (although I don't know exactly what happens to the recording when I am having this issue). Anyone experience similar things? Any way to fix this? Any way to have the DS recover automatically when in a frozen state? Any other ideas? It's devastating when this happens as whenever someone rings my DS, it's important, and they usually leave before I can get it back and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 I had similar experiences on some versions of OS2 but have had absolutely no’s issues on OS3. That said, I am on iOS not Android. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Version of c4? Version of DS2 driver? Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 From your numerous posts lately with problems, I’d really start looking at your network. all of these problems can stem from network issues. whats your network setup? msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 19 hours ago, timelinex said: I have a Cat5e cable going to the doorstation, so internet going to it is fine. ? how does that mean your network/internet is fine. I would concur with lippavisual above, you need to check your network msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 On 7/26/2019 at 2:31 PM, chopedogg88 said: Version of c4? Version of DS2 driver? Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk C4: 2.10.5 DS2 Firmware Version 2.19.5.28.12 On 7/27/2019 at 8:32 AM, lippavisual said: From your numerous posts lately with problems, I’d really start looking at your network. all of these problems can stem from network issues. whats your network setup? On 7/27/2019 at 9:39 AM, Cyknight said: ? how does that mean your network/internet is fine. I would concur with lippavisual above, you need to check your network You guys might be onto something. I assumed the connection is good because the connection is hardwired and my NVR doesn't have any issues recording video from the keypad. I can also use C4 to open the gate at any time. Unlike wireless systems, I would think hardwire connections are less intermittent and more on/off. However....When I logged in to check my driver and firmware version, I updated the driver to the newest version and that started a whole update issue. The new driver tried updating the keypad firmware but would continually fail out. It completely bogged down my system and restoring a backup wouldn't put back the old version of the driver. After an hour or two of diagnosing I was able to bandaid this by manually editing the driver.xml and changing the "firmware version" it was checking my keypad to upgrade to. So now my system is stable and it doesn't try to upgrade. But why couldn't it update? I investigated further and I think there is some kind of connectivity issue. When I login to the DoorStations web gui, it works slow and every 10 seconds or so I get a "connection disconnected, trying to reconnect" type message. It reconnects. Works for a short period of time and then does it again. What are the options here? I figure either: My cat cable or some connection in between is bad, or the keypad is failing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 you should be on 2.10.6. No reason to be on 2.10.5 - lots of bug fixes in 2.10.6 timelinex 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 Just now, msgreenf said: you should be on 2.10.6. No reason to be on 2.10.5 - lots of bug fixes in 2.10.6 This would not affect the connection issues encountered through the Web Gui of the door station though, right? I put off upgrading as everything else has been working good and I was planning on upgrading to 3 when people confirmed it's stable and I got a spare few hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 Have you tried connecting the DS2 directly to the poe source (switch?) with a short pre-made cat5/6?Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 Just had a customer who insisted he had a bad DS2 and turned out it was just the wire... Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Yeah, if you’ve got conduit and can pull another cable I’d run a CAT6e and see if that improves things. Pulling it off and testing with a short pre-made cable as suggested above would confirm if the cable is the issue or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 3 hours ago, chopedogg88 said: Have you tried connecting the DS2 directly to the poe source (switch?) with a short pre-made cat5/6? Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk OK, so I tested the connection from the POE to the junction box a few feet away from my keypad. My LAN tool tells me all 8 strands are good. I haven't tested the CAT from the junction box to the keypad itself (10ft of cable or so) because it took a good hour to get the keypad into the box it sits in last time. It's quite the hassle. That also means I haven't tested using a short CAT from the POE either. I will do this as a last check if I run out of other ideas. Here is whats so confusing. At the current time here are my 2 issues that hint at possible network issues: 1. I can't use intercom anywhere to connect to the keypad anymore. I tried 20 times over an hour and 19 of those times it rang for a minute and said call couldn't go through. One of the times it did connect. 2. The web gui is very slow and disconnects every ~10 seconds. On the other hand, here are things that are telling me it is not a network issue: 1. Using c4 app I can open the gate manually using the relay. reliably and instant. 2. The motion sensor relay on the c4 app responds quickly and fires when there is motion. 3. MOST IMPORTANT: My NVR is hooked up to record the keypad camera. I can connect to the live feed through my NVR of my keypad, without fail, and I have watched it for a few minutes at a time and it doesn't skip a beat. It's obvious that the network is good enough to run the camera/audio Every part of the keypad responds great and is working, on an individual level (open/close response, motion sensor, camera, microphone, etc). So wouldn't that rule out network issues? But through the gui and intercom anywhere is where the issue is happening. Any ideas? EDIT: I pinged the local doorstation IP using command prompt and after several times, 1/4 of the packets timeout. So there is consistently a 25% loss. What gives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Network issues. I'd take the hour to rule out the cable from the j-box to the DS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 13 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said: Network issues. I'd take the hour to rule out the cable from the j-box to the DS. I was afraid someone would say that! OK, that is what I will do. So I am checking both the cable and also trying to connect it with a shorter cable to the POE. Another data point is that I have it setup that every time there is a motion it will email me screenshots. I just checked and it has successfully emailed me screenshots everyday. So obviously its working! I guess maybe it's possible that the network isn't 100% and intercom everywhere just does a bad job of dealing with packet loss compared to the other avenues. I'll take out the keypad either this Wednesday or weekend. Open for any other suggestions in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 9 hours ago, timelinex said: This would not affect the connection issues encountered through the Web Gui of the door station though, right? I put off upgrading as everything else has been working good and I was planning on upgrading to 3 when people confirmed it's stable and I got a spare few hours. I would just upgrade to OS3 and then check again OS3 improved everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 6 hours ago, Gary Leeds UK said: I would just upgrade to OS3 and then check again OS3 improved everything The DS2 won’t update because the connection fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Woops - Should read all the Thread I`m going with Faulty Cable - Then Faulty POE - Faulty Unit In that order Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 How long is the cable out to your DS2?? Is it more than 315'?? Distance can be a factor as well. Splices along the wire path aren't going to help any of your problems either. Solid cable runs would be preferred. Terminated into a patch panel or jack at the head end is fine, RJ45 direct clip into the DS2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 2 hours ago, lippavisual said: How long is the cable out to your DS2?? Is it more than 315'?? Distance can be a factor as well. Splices along the wire path aren't going to help any of your problems either. Solid cable runs would be preferred. Terminated into a patch panel or jack at the head end is fine, RJ45 direct clip into the DS2. It's probably around 300ft or so from the media room (hard to know exactly.) That includes atleast 2 splices. For months the intercom DID work just fine though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Where are these splices located? In the ground, mounted in a box on a wall? A Fluke tester or similar will tell you exactly how long the run is, if you or your dealer have that available. It will also tell you what the problem is with the cable and roughly where it is. This would be my suggestion, before going on wild goose chase. Bad termination/ intermittent continuity sounds like your problem. Notice what I put in BOLD. Can work sometimes and sometimes not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 best solution: rewire with fiber. 300ft with splices is a terrible idea. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 In my estimation that would either be impractical or ridiculously expensive. Most of the wire is in conduit underground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Hey timelinex how did you do your 2 splices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timelinex Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 19 minutes ago, Cartnj said: Hey timelinex how did you do your 2 splices? 1 of the splices is an IDC junction Box type thing and the second I am not 100% sure, but I believe it is the same way (I can check though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakblak Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 @timelinex, I wrote the Intercom Anywhere app for iOS and work closely with the engineer that wrote it for Android and I'm sure he'd be interested in this problem. Would you mind clearing the logs within the Intercom Anywhere app, reproducing the problem, then gathering the logs and sending them to me in a PM? We may not be able to fix it, but we might be able to point you in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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