powerbox pro/ waiting for load log message / NVR out

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi,

I connected the Powerbox pro to the NVR out and I have the following situation:

cam1: 1mt cable cat 8 to the powerbox (eth2)
cam2: 40 mt cable cat 8 to the powerbox passing through two junction boxes (eth 3)
power box pro: connected to the NVR with a 10 mt cable passing through 1 junction box

cam 1 connects perfectly on eth 2 after the message waiting for load i’m getting power on connection and cam 1 works perfectly.
cam 2 connects getting message on eth 3 waiting for load and hangs never changing or powering on cam 2

if i put the cam 2 cable to eth 4 or 5 the ports , they dont change status in the logs…

connecting the cam 2 directly to the NVR works perfectly!!

up until yesterday there was no junction box between the Powerbox pro and the NVR and both cam 1 & cam2 werer working perfectly!!! now i need the junction box to extend the cables into my new rack system

any ideas whta could be the actual problem besides the obviopus junction boxes and long cabling?

2

Well, you don’t have extremely long cables, 40 m max?

You can try the built -in RoS cable checker, cannot say if it is available on the powerbox[1], though it is not an exact measure instrument it may point out the issue and the distance from the port.

/interface ethernet cable-test ether2

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/8323191/Ethernet

or via winbox under interfaces ethernet, select the interface and you have a cable test button.

It is entirely possible that link is fine but PoE is not, but if it is a physical issue also link should be down.


[1] probably it isn’t but you have other Mikrotik devices available, don’t you?

3

ok did the cable test on the ethernet port,

I’m getting status: no link

cable pairs:
open
open
open
shorted

with values that continue to change:

so thats 5 meters cable from junction box to the powerbox
a cable from the junction box to the nvr works perfectly , so is it the cable? fromn the junction box to the power box? but how could this have been damaged? it’s prasctically new!!

4

Unfortunately I cannot see how your cables are arranged, but if you try with another (tempoorary) cable and it works, then it is the cable.
Since the cable test (even if as said it is not a precise instrument) can be run with just a device on one side, you can move the device at the other end of the cable and test it form there, if the cable is 40 m and from one side it sees a short at 5 m and from the other side it sees a short at 35 m, it should be telling.

5

i’m getting a cable tomorrow and will test,

it sees the short at 48-49 m

from box2 to nvr perfect!

the architecture

cam-5 mt-box 1 -30mt - box 2 - 5 mt - powerbox

the only thing that changed between config 1 and config 2 is that in config 2 there is now a junction box between the NVR out and the PoE in to the Power box pro!

6

I would have expected an error of 5-10% or so, maybe 15% in the distance, 48/35 is more like 40%.
Maybe that 30 MT cable is one of those newish thinner ones that probably is characterized by a slightly higher resistance.
You can still test from the cam side the stretch 5m+box1+30m up to box2 (disconnecting the last 5 m cable), then test the same stretch from box2 side and finally test this last 5 m cable by itself.
It Is entirely possible that the issue Is in keystones/sockets/whatever in box2.

7

but that setup was working perfectly yesterday , the only change that happened was:

powerbox (eth1)- 8 mt cable -box 3- 1mt cable - nvr

previously it was: powerbox (eth1)- 8 mt cable - nvr

somehow the junction box 3 is having an effect on the power box , could it be? that it was the straw that broke thew camels back? in the sense that , this new setup cuased the power box not to have enough power to manage the other cam? sounds impossible doesn’t it.. but in brainstorming anything goes

8

Well, before I was thinking that I wasn’t capable of understanding your cabling setup, now I am definitely sure that you simply cannot describe It, It seems like It Is a moving target.
Post a meaningful sketch of the layout if you need suggestions, this way It Is only lost time.

9

I created the diagram not sure how to upload here..

10

There’s an attachments part below the text box where you write.

You can just drop your image there :slight_smile:

11

hi, here is the diagram attached
Immagine3.png

12

Ok, there are three branches or lines from the PowerBox Pro:

  1. 40 m long CAM1-5m-box1-30m-box2-5m-Powerbox
  2. 1 m long CAM2-1m-Powerbox
  3. 9 m long NVR-1m -box3-8m-Powerbox

#1 doesn’t work
#2 works just fine
#3 works just fine

What was working yesterday, or even one minute ago is not that much relevant, things break, contacts cease to make contact, voodoo :open_mouth: subverts the normal laws of physics at any time, usually without any forewarning.

I would assume that if the Powerbox can power the CAM2, it can power also CAM1, so let’s for the moment exclude #2 and #3 above from the checks.
If you want to make sure-sure that this hypothesis of not enough power is not the case, simply disconnect CAM2, and connect line #1 to the same port where CAM2 was. The difference in length (40 m vs. 1 m) might cause - in the worst case - a voltage drop of 1 Volt @48V or 2V@24V and - assuming a 15W draw, an increase in power needed of 0.30-1.50W, nothing that should create issues:
http://poe-world.com/Calculator/

You tried the cable test from the powerbox (or another Mikrotik device?) on line #1 and it gave you a short at 5 m.
Then you tried from the other side of line #1 and you got a short at 48-49 m.
I wouldn’t trust too much the accuracy of these measurements, but if a short is sensed on that line, it is likely that there is actually a short and that the Powerbox PoE mechanism senses it as well and does not provide power to the line.

Then which other tests did you make?

Test the single stretches of cables making line #1:
1.a 5 m
1.b 30 m
1.c 5 m

13

Immagine4.png

  1. I had connected a different cable from box 2 to the Power box and still got the same problem alluding to the fact that the cable may not have been the problem
  2. I had done of course already as you suggest to disconnect cam 2 and check if the power box would power cam 1 but nothing!!
  3. this diagram shows the current situation at the moment basically I’m using the same cable that was previously connected to the power box now am connecting it to box 3 and then to the NVR and as expected works perfectly verifying that the original 5 mt cable is perfectly functional
14

Ethernet cables (actually their plugs RJ-45) don’t work as you might think.
In theory they are all the same, in practice it is common enough that a plug works in a socket but doesn’t in another.
So you haven’t (yet) proved much.
It is also not clear in your last post/report WHICH device is providing the PoE.
Maybe the NVR?
Then it could well be that the NVR uses Mode A (pairs 1.2 and 3,6) whilst the Power Box uses Mode B (pairs 4,5 and 7,8).
If the camera is connecitng at 100Mb it will anyway use for data only 1,2,3,6 so it may work just fine on half the wires.

15

yes the NVR is supplying the power

16

Then the mode A vs. Mode B would explain everything.

The camera very likely is:

  1. PoE 802.3af
  2. with an ethernet port 10/100 Mb

By definition in 802.3af/at a PD (the camera in this case) MUST accept PoE power BOTH as Mode A (pairs 1.2 and 3,6) AND Mode B (pairs 4,5 and 7,8).

Still by definition in 802.3af/at the PSE (the NVR in this case) is the one that decides whether to supply power as Mode A OR as Mode B.

The data in 10 and 100 Mb ethernet use ONLY the first two pairs (pairs 1.2 and 3,6).

The Powerbox (being a Mikrotik) surely provides power as Mode B, and when it is the PSE it has the “right” to choose the mode and thus provide power on 4,5 and 7,8.

The NVR instead very likely provides power as Mode A on pairs 1,2 and 3,6.

So, if the power is supplied by the NVR everything works because both data and power go through the first two pairs (that are good).

When the power is supplied by the Powerbox, it finds something wrong in the connection and it doesn’t provide power.

This something wrong is evidently on one of the two “other” pairs (4,5 or 7,8), which would be coherent from the cable-test giving you a short on what (presumably) is last pair.

So the issue is likely either in the 5 m cable connected to box2 or in box2 itself or however in one of the elements in the line #1.

At the moment we can explain the behaviour without needing to reference voodoo or cosmic rays.

17

Hi Guru,

I’m guessing that there is something wrong with one of the female to female elements. I’ll bet you if I change them the Power box will power the camera!!!:

https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005006532881465.html?src=google&pdp_npi=4%40dis!EUR!3.07!3.07!!!!!%40!12000037556849092!ppc!!!&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=742-864-1166&isdl=y&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&aff_platform=google&aff_short_key=UneMJZVf&gclsrc=aw.ds&&albagn=888888&&ds_e_adid=&ds_e_matchtype=&ds_e_device=c&ds_e_network=x&ds_e_product_group_id=&ds_e_product_id=it1005006532881465&ds_e_product_merchant_id=109366698&ds_e_product_country=IT&ds_e_product_language=it&ds_e_product_channel=online&ds_e_product_store_id=&ds_url_v=2&albcp=22118443566&albag=&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22128437173&gclid=CjwKCAjwz_bABhAGEiwAm-P8YWTzsagDRynw1hxC3EUk21k72Pr3ycvaYf3vmDfcT2_ba-bnWa2ZLBoCmsUQAvD_BwE

anyhow for now I’m leaving the system as is.. lessons learned for next time..

Thanks!