Prior to engaging with the error-specific troubleshooting procedures outlined in this article, we recommend conducting a few initial checks. These general assessments may not only help resolve minor issues immediately but also provide valuable context for further problem-solving efforts.

Note: It can take several minutes for Spot to discover all cameras in the network. Try refreshing the page after a couple of minutes to see if any additional cameras are found.

Preliminary Checks

Network Configuration Check

1. Verify Camera and Spot Appliance IP addresses: Ensure both the camera and the Spot Appliance reside on the same network. Compare their IP addresses to check for alignment. More on this here.

2. Check Network Accessibility: If your cameras are in different networks, buildings, VLANs, Subnets, or locations, ensure that they are routable from the Spot Appliance.

3. Inspect Network Load: Be aware that if the Spot Appliance is not in the same network/subnet/broadcast domain as the cameras, streaming video will go through the gateway or router, which may cause performance issues due to constant load.

Power Supply Check

1. Check Power Source: Cameras typically receive power via Power over Ethernet (PoE) or a DC adapter. Confirm your switch is PoE capable, a PoE injector is in place, or a DC adapter is connected to the camera. More on this here.

2. Investigate Link Activity Lights: If you don't see link activity lights on the switch port or PoE injector where the camera is connected, there might be a physical issue interrupting power.

Camera Isolation Check

1. Verify Switch Port Isolation: If the Spot Appliance can't ping or see the cameras connected to the same switch, check if port isolation is enabled on the switch. This feature prevents devices from communicating with each other and might be enabled by default on some switches. More on this here.

Spot Appliance Check

Spot Support can help with verifying these. More info here.

1. Confirm System Time: If this is a new installation and no devices are discovered at all, the system time on the Spot Appliance could be incorrect, causing communication issues with the Dashboard.

2. Ensure Firmware is Up-to-Date: The Spot Appliance's Firmware could be outdated, causing issues with device discovery. 

Camera in a Different Network/Subnet/VLAN

Overview

There may be a camera network that the Spot Appliance isn't connected to or a camera that is in a different building, network, VLAN, Subnet, location, or across the internet.

Verifying and Resolving

If you know the IP address of the camera and find the IP addresses of the Spot Appliance, you can compare them to see if they are in the same network.

The best way to resolve the cameras and appliance being in different networks, if possible, is to plug the appliance into the camera network or add a VLAN to the appliance. The appliance can then discover the cameras and pull the streams directly from the camera network.

Note: If the Spot Appliance is not in the same network/subnet/broadcast domain as the cameras, the video will be streamed through the gateway or router. This will put a constant load on the router and could cause performance issues. 

The other way is as long as the cameras are routable from the appliance, they can be manually added by clicking the Add a device button on the Cameras configuration page > Enter the necessary information (IP address, credentials, RTSP path) > Click Authenticate.

Note: Connecting the appliance to the camera network is the preferred and best way to resolve this. Example network topologies can be found here: Recommended Network Topologies

Camera is not receiving power

Overview

Cameras usually receive power through PoE (Power over Ethernet), but can also sometimes receive it through a DC adapter. For the cameras to receive PoE, either the switch needs to be PoE capable, or a PoE injector needs to be between the switch and the camera.

Verifying and Resolving

Check the switch port (or PoE injector) where the camera is connected. Are there link activity lights? If not, there could be a physical issue preventing it. 

• Verify the switch is PoE capable, there is a PoE injector, or that there is a DC adapter connected to the camera
• Take the problem camera and swap it with a known working camera to see if it comes online.
  • If the problem camera comes online with the new connection, and the known working camera has issues when connected to the problem camera's original connection, the switchport and cable are the suspects.
  • If the issue follows the problem camera, the camera may have gone bad.
• To check if the switchport or cable is the issue, take the affected camera to the switch and connect it with a shorter known working cable. If possible, try to use the same switch port the camera was originally connected to. This allows for the port and cable to be tested separately for further verification of it being a cable or port issue.
  • If the camera comes online and works without issue, the cable is the main suspect, and swapping it out would be the fix.
  • If the camera is still offline or intermittently offline with the new cable, try connecting the camera to a different known working switch port. If it comes online ok, this points to a port issue.

Switch Port Isolation

Overview

Port isolation is a function some switches have that prevents devices from communicating with each other. Some switches have port isolation turned on by default. If the Spot appliance and the cameras are connected to the same switch, and the appliance can't ping the cameras or see them, this may be the case.

Verifying and Resolving

The easiest way to verify is by checking the switch's configuration or looking it up on the internet to see if the switch model has port isolation turned on by default. Managed switches should have an option to disable it, unmanaged switches will need some other action (moving devices to different ports).

If it isn't possible to check if the switch has port isolation turned on due to it being an unmanaged switch, physically looking at the ports on the switch may indicate if it has it or not. Specifically, if there are designated uplink ports on the switch (usually on the right side of the switch), port isolation may be on by default. Moving the appliance to an uplink port or to an upstream device connected through the uplink port may allow the appliance to communicate with the cameras.

Appliance System Time Incorrect/Firmware

Overview

If this is a new installation and no devices are being discovered at all, it could be the Spot Appliance's Firmware is out of date, or the system time is incorrect (this would cause verification issues with Dashboard communication). 

Verifying and Resolving

If you suspect this is the issue, try rebooting the Spot Appliance. If there's no change, please reach out to Spot Support. 

We hope this article was useful to you, please leave us a comment or feedback as it will help us improve our customer support center.