CCTV Repairs And Maintenance: Keep Every Camera Recording

Installing CCTV is the start, not the end. Cameras sit outside in sun, dust and Highveld storms, recorders run day and night, and cables get knocked, chewed and corroded. Any one of these can stop a camera recording without anyone noticing, and the usual moment people discover it is the morning after a break-in, when they go to pull the footage. Regular maintenance is what keeps the system you paid for doing its job.

Why CCTV maintenance matters

• Faults are silent. A camera that has lost its picture, a recorder with a failed hard drive or a lens that has drifted out of focus gives no warning. A routine check finds it before you need the footage.
• Small faults are cheap. A loose connector or a tired power supply costs little to fix. Left alone, the same fault can damage a camera or the recorder.
• Footage has to be usable. Footage is only evidence if faces and number plates can be seen. Dirty lenses, poor night vision and cameras knocked off their angle all quietly reduce what you capture.
• The equipment lasts longer. Clean, well-ventilated equipment on a stable power supply runs for years longer than a system that is left to look after itself.

What a CCTV service visit checks

A proper service follows a checklist, so nothing is missed and you can see what was done. On a typical visit we check:

1. Every camera's picture, day and night: focus, angle and field of view against what the camera is meant to cover.
2. Lenses and housings: cleaned, with spider webs, dust and water marks removed, and seals checked so moisture cannot get in.
3. Night vision: the infrared lights working and not reflecting off a nearby wall, wet glass or a spider web.
4. The recorder: that every channel is recording, the hard drive is healthy, the recording schedule and retention period are right, and the date and time are correct, which matters if footage goes to the police.
5. Cables and connectors: loose, corroded or damaged connections, cables pulled tight by cable ties, and runs exposed to sun or animals.
6. Power: the power supplies, their spare capacity and ventilation, and the battery backup or UPS that keeps the system running in load shedding.
7. Remote viewing and software: the phone app connecting, firmware up to date, and default passwords changed.

Any fault found is noted and either fixed on the spot or quoted in writing, so you know the state of the system after every visit.

How often to have CCTV serviced

For most homes, a service once or twice a year is enough. Business premises, complexes and estates, where cameras cover gates, parking and common areas, are better checked more often, because more cameras mean more that can go wrong and the footage matters to more people. For body corporates and managing agents, a scheduled maintenance contract takes care of this on a fixed fee, with one contractor responsible for every camera on the property.

The faults we see most

• Cables and connectors. The most common repair. Connectors work loose or corrode, and cables are damaged by weather, building work, gardeners and rodents. On cameras that pan and tilt, the same cables also carry the control signals, so a cable fault can stop a camera moving as well as seeing.
• Power supplies. An overloaded or overheating power supply makes pictures flicker, drop out or fail at night when the infrared lights switch on. Power supplies should have spare capacity and good ventilation, and should not share a circuit with motors, pumps or compressors.
• Recorder hard drives. Drives in a recorder write around the clock and eventually wear out. A failed drive means nothing has been recorded, even though the live picture still looks fine. See our guide to digital video recorders for how recorders work.
• Load shedding damage. Repeated power cuts and surges damage power supplies, recorders and cameras. A UPS or battery backup with surge protection prevents most of it.
• Weather and sun. Lightning surges, water in a housing and cameras baking in direct sun all shorten their life. A sun shield or a better housing often solves a camera that keeps failing.
• Cameras moved or blocked. A camera nudged a few centimetres, or a tree that has grown in front of it, can be the difference between seeing a face and missing it.

What you can check yourself

Between services, a few simple checks catch most problems early:

• Look at every camera on the monitor or app once a week, by day and at night.
• Play back a few minutes of recording from each camera, not only the live view. This is the only way to know it is actually recording.
• Wipe outdoor lenses gently with a soft lens cloth and lens cleaner. Never use abrasive cloths or household cleaners, which scratch the glass and its coatings.
• Clear spider webs and cut back plants growing into a camera's view.
• Make sure the recorder sits somewhere cool and ventilated, not in a closed cupboard, and that its fan is running.

Leave anything inside the housings, the wiring and the power supplies to a technician. Opening a camera or disturbing connections often causes the very fault you were trying to avoid.

Repair or replace?

Most faults are repairable: a connector, a power supply, a hard drive or a single camera. When several cameras are failing, the recorder is very old, or the system is an old analogue one that gives poor pictures, upgrading can cost little more than a string of repairs and gives far better footage. Our guide to analogue and IP cameras explains the difference, and what a CCTV system costs covers the price of a new one. A good technician should tell you honestly which route makes sense, and put the options in writing.

Choosing a company to repair or maintain your CCTV

1. Check their reputation. Read reviews and ask whether they look after properties like yours.
2. Ask whether they repair systems they did not install. The original installer knows how the system was put in, but a good company can work on any system.
3. Get the quote in writing, with the fault, the parts and the labour listed. Compare like with like.
4. Ask about the guarantee. Repair work should be guaranteed in writing. Ours is guaranteed for 24 months.
5. Check they understand power and electrics, not only cameras. Many CCTV faults are really power faults.

Avoid the cheapest quote that does not say what is included, and anyone who wants to replace the whole system before they have found the fault. See our CCTV installation and repairs for the systems we install and maintain.

If a camera has stopped recording, the picture is poor at night, or the system has simply not been checked in a while, we can service it, find the fault and quote any repair in writing. Call Tyson on 071 846 7554 or request a free written quote.