When a camera is offline, you will not be able to view recorded video and may not be able to see your camera live on any monitors on location, if it is connected to the Solink system.

Here are some signs that you camera has gone offline:

The Solink Support team is ready to help. Our team works with your location(s) to troubleshoot camera issues so that you can get back to recording as soon as possible. To do this, we check the following, based on your camera type:

Solink Support will be able to identify if your cameras are IP (digital). For IP cameras, they will generally only have one cable coming out of the camera, which is an Ethernet cable. IP cameras optimize connection by both getting power (Power over Ethernet, or POE for short) and transmitting data (sending data to the Solink system) over a single cable. A typical IP camera and Ethernet connection looks like this:

An Ethernet cable’s end looks like this:

Each camera will have an Ethernet cable that connects into a POE switch. In most environments, the switch will look similar to the following:

An easy trick to find the POE switch at your location - our QNAP recording device is normally connected to the switch through one of our network ports. Solink Support can assist with telling you which one that is. Simply trace the cable from our QNAP device to this switch.

Once you have found the POE switch, ensure that:

If everything is connected tightly and all cables have lights, you can attempt to restart the POE switch. Sometimes, a camera may become “frozen” and need a physical reboot. Note: If you know which cable goes to the specific camera you need to troubleshoot, you can unplug and replug the cable. This does the same thing as rebooting the switch. Rebooting the POE Switch will cause all cameras to go offline for a short period of time, until it powers back up fully.

If the camera still does not come back online after a physical reboot, it is possible that there is an issue at the camera’s end - either the cable is broken between the switch and the camera, the cable is unplugged at the camera side, or the camera itself has physical damage or defects. Solink Support can assist with confirming this.

Solink Support will be able to identify if your cameras are analog. For analog cameras, they will generally have two (or three) cables coming out of them - one for power, one for video signal, and one (optional) for audio signal. The different cables look similar to the following:

(Reference: lorextechnology.com)

If your cameras are analog, Solink supplies an analog encoder to your location. This device converts the old analog signal into digital so that we can record it properly on our system. A standard encoder looks like the following:

The encoder will have your analog cameras’ video cables connected to the rear side.

The power cables for your analog cameras are usually wired to a CCTV power supply box, or are plugged into a UPS. Below is an example of a CCTV power supply box:

If an analog camera is offline, you will either see “NO VIDEO” on the Solink interface (and Live Monitor, if applicable), or a black screen for some models. In this case, you will want to check the following:

If all cables are tightly connected and power seems to be working for all cameras, it may require an on-site technician. It is possible that the cabling, cable ends (BNC), power supply, or the camera itself has an issue or defect. Solink Support can assist with confirming that this is the case.

Solink Support can help to confirm that there are no issues with the Solink interface itself that would cause a camera to stop recording. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time to confirm if there are any issues with the Solink platform.