Thanks for the help.My swan cctv unit was clicking like hard drive stuck or something like that and both power and stand by lights were on and the unit would not kick into life.I found another plug and used it and my unit works great now.Thanks
I'll give it a try. Power light is on and that's the only sign of life. UPDATE!!! By God it's working now!! I had another 12v wall wart in my box with the same plug and it's working again. I was sure I was going to have to replace the unit before I found your video!! Thanks a Million, Cheers!!!
Strange but it works, please like and subscribe, just for the numbers. The more comments on my videos the better, you may find plenty of interest in my playlists, see the video description, cheers
Thank you Andy, the power supply was the culprit on my system too. I really appreciate you making the effort and producing this video for our benefit. Thanks Mate!
Hi just found your video , my Swann system failed green power light on. But no blue light & the fan was not working , took your advice found a replacement power adapter plug it in, wow it burst into life . Thanks very much ! now working ok Top Guy cheers Peter
Peter, brilliant, it's counter intuitive but as you found the fix is quite simple once you know the trick. Have you seen the links in the video description? subscribed? cheers.
I had exactly the same problem, I firstly changed the main capacitor, no change fan worked lights on nothing else, changed power supply haypresto it worked! Thanks for info.
Andy: From a Yank (I mean Confederate): Much obliged for your timely and useful ‘fix’ for your Swann DVR. I was experiencing the same issue. 1st measured the output of the Power Supply, which indicated 12.4 vcd. Hmm I thought, now it’s time to open it up and do some more voltage checks. All showed good but . . . I failed to measure ‘draw-down’ (current). After seeing your video I opened and cut-into the power supply circuit and found what was supposed to be ~ 1.5 Amps was only read 0.4 Amps. Voilà!!! Many thanks for kick-starting my memory on amperage.
Great job figuring this out! Thank you so much for sharing! Mine is doing this weird thing where it keeps rebooting over and over again. It started doing it every so often and then it became more and more frequent as time went on. And now it reboots as soon as it starts up. Still trying to troubleshoot. But I'm glad you posted this and I will try using a different power supply. Like you said, what's the worst that could happen? It already doesn't work. LOL
@@TheInfoworks so just like you, I have a box of adapters from over the years and I managed to find one that match the volts and amps. And it worked to fix my problem too! Yaaaayyyyy! 👏🎉 I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new surveillance system. I'm so glad that I don't!
I'm gonna give this a try. My DVR has suddenly stopped working, so I opened it up and cleared all the dust out of it and thought this would fix it, but it didn't. All I'm getting from it is a pulsing fan and light and it just wont kick up into action. Hopefully this simple fix will do the trick. Thanks for the video either way.
Hi, I hope this fixes your problem, sound like it will. On mine it was the output capacitor in the power supply that caused the failure. Hope you have liked and subscribed. See my Fixing things playlist, cheers
Cheers Andy, For ps's for extended use indoors I drill extra holes in whatever is the optimum position ( vertical/ horizontal ) in the case for Max ventilation. But not exactly kid proof !
You would have to be careful doing this with those line-lump laptop style supplies. They are pretty packed and drilling into them would be likely to hit internal components! I have a problem like this currently. I have a transmitter for a radio station I manage that came with a fairly grunty SMPS laptop style supply. When I run the xmtr on 20 watts this supply gets very warm. Not what I would call hot, but rather warm and I don't like the idea of an FM transmitter running on this 24/7 as they pull full current all of the time. I reckon it will dry the caps out in time or maybe fry the mosfet. I'm wondering if supplying it with 120 VAC instead of our usual 230 VAC (as it's an international voltage SMPS) will lower the dissipation somewhat? Anyone have any thoughts on that?
xanataph yes drilling blind could be hazardous. I only do those which are going to have a load over long time periods AND always split the case before drilling This allows holes in the best places re: heat generating components and orientation of eventual use / position
@@pollywollydo That makes sense. However if I went to the point of cracking this one open I would re-case it in a much bigger housing and add a cooling fan. That is one of my options. Another is to get a different PSU, possibly a large linear one that I'll put together myself. Not worried about efficiency, it's more about long term reliability with a transmitter.
Fan is working but no power lights. Swapped to another DVR . It now works.!! Unfortunately the replacement DVR has only 4 input sockets (and 4 blanks(, whereas the Swan has 8.( only use 6 of them) ....could 2 from the Swan be removed and fitted to the new one.?
Frank, so a power supply change didn't work for you. Don't know about the camera input swap, maybe swap the whole board, but maybe that is where the fault is. Experiment only will tell, cheers
Switched mode power supplies - a triumph of efficiency over reliability, don't you think Andy? I also have a box of old (mainly _regulated_ linear, not smps) plug top power supplies for re-purposing in situations like this. Cheers, Dave
@@TheInfoworks The nice thing about re-purposing SMPS wall warts is that usually they are very well regulated - 12 volts *is* 12 volts - so it's no issue to switch to one that is capable of a higher current. With iron-core wall warts you have to be more careful as they usually aren't regulated and their voltage rating is only nominal. So, if you use one that is rated significantly higher in current than the original, the voltage will be higher too. Which may or may not matter depending on the device it's powering. You can also use this to your advantage in reverse. Say you need a 9 volt 500 mA wall wart and all you have is a 6 volt 1000 mA unit, it will probably work just fine. All this of course only applies to *unregulated* wall warts but the ones that come OEM are usually as such or even just AC in some cases.
Hi, yes the non regulated units can have a high open circuit voltage. With original unit I think it was a bit small as it had to power the hard drive also, cheers
@@xanataph I don't really count linear _unregulated_ psus here - they are a menace, and I label them up as such - I still keep them with the regulated ones though, as the internal transformer might come in handy some day, and they are still useful if you are certain there is a regulator downstream somewhere in your powered device :o)
Regulated iron cores are normally aftermarket items rather than OEM supplied, so they tend to be rarer in the junk collections. The unregulated ones are OK if you know what you're doing and know there is regulation in the device you are powering as you say.
Andy, my computer does not detect the mouse, the monitor shuts down about every minute and then boots back up. No camera icon is on the monitor, but you can see movement for a few seconds and then the movement stops ( looks like the cameras freeze up but should not be all the cameras) then it shuts down and reboots, and everything starts all over again. Any Ideas ? Will make a donation.
Hi, have you changed the power supplies or used the correct method to shut down and re-boot? According to the manual the system requires a re-boot at regular intervals. Cheers
It could well be Andy that as the replacement power supply is of greater capacity that the problem is still on the main board,I see three electrolytics on top of the board and tere is bound to be a whole clutch of surface mount ones on the underside of the board around the main processor for bypass purposes any one of those could be going short and overloading the smaller power supply, guess time will tell. Would not put too much trust in a HDD that is more than few years old either.
Hi, that scenario may well be the case, however there is a cooling fan, where as the power supply is sealed so prone to heat. Only time will tell, cheers
@@tasmedic Yes, if it was easier to insert an ammeter in series with the supply that would be a good way too. If it's a reasonable consumption then you *know* you're in the clear.
@@TheInfoworks I had to reset the machine last week by opening case and pressing the black button. Looking at the inside can you swap out the hd and replace with solid state?
Pretty simple diagnoses. It didn't have enough juice to kick start the HDD. Or the voltage would drop when it tried to spin up. PC's will do the same thing.
Hi, confusing to start with but the output cap in the power supply was the problem. The idea of the video was to show people that sometimes the fix is that easy but not obvious, cheers
That is exactly what my problem was! Thanks a million!
Yes the power supplies are too small and get hot, which does the output smoothing capacitors. Hence there is some output. Subscribed? cheers
Thanks for the help.My swan cctv unit was clicking like hard drive stuck or something like that and both power and stand by lights were on and the unit would not kick into life.I found another plug and used it and my unit works great now.Thanks
Brilliant news, well done, cheers
I'll give it a try. Power light is on and that's the only sign of life. UPDATE!!! By God it's working now!! I had another 12v wall wart in my box with the same plug and it's working again. I was sure I was going to have to replace the unit before I found your video!! Thanks a Million, Cheers!!!
Strange but it works, please like and subscribe, just for the numbers. The more comments on my videos the better, you may find plenty of interest in my playlists, see the video description, cheers
Thank you Andy, the power supply was the culprit on my system too. I really appreciate you making the effort and producing this video for our benefit. Thanks Mate!
Nik, thanks for the message, pleased you fixed your unit, loads more fix it videos, subscribed? Cheers
Hi just found your video , my Swann system failed green power light on. But no blue light & the fan was not working , took your advice found a replacement power adapter plug it in, wow it burst into life . Thanks very much ! now working ok Top Guy cheers Peter
Peter, brilliant, it's counter intuitive but as you found the fix is quite simple once you know the trick. Have you seen the links in the video description? subscribed? cheers.
I had exactly the same problem, I firstly changed the main capacitor, no change fan worked lights on nothing else, changed power supply haypresto it worked! Thanks for info.
Martin, that's grand, surprising isn't it. hope you have liked and subscribed, cheers
Thanks a lot. never would of thought it was the power supply.
Surprising isn't it, more fix videos where this came from and more in the pipeline, cheers
Thank you very much for your help I replaced the power cord and everything is back thanks mate you are a genius
Thanks for the appreciation and comment, great you could fix it. I hope you have liked and subscribed, cheers
having a similar issue, PWR light keeps flashing but sounds like your fix will work! Thanks a lot for this vid
Cheers
Hi Andy I had the same problem, I replaced the Power supply with a heavier rating and problem is solved thanks mate. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Grand, another saved, the video is doing its job, hope you subscribed, cheers
Andy: From a Yank (I mean Confederate): Much obliged for your timely and useful ‘fix’ for your Swann DVR. I was experiencing the same issue. 1st measured the output of the Power Supply, which indicated 12.4 vcd.
Hmm I thought, now it’s time to open it up and do some more voltage checks. All showed good but . . . I failed to measure ‘draw-down’ (current). After seeing your video I opened and cut-into the power supply circuit and found what was supposed to be ~ 1.5 Amps was only read 0.4 Amps. Voilà!!!
Many thanks for kick-starting my memory on amperage.
Hi, grand, another unit saved, yes I'm from England, cheers
Had issues with mine watch your post working a treat big thanks your a ⭐️ regards Shaun and Debbie ❤️
Cheers
Great job figuring this out! Thank you so much for sharing! Mine is doing this weird thing where it keeps rebooting over and over again. It started doing it every so often and then it became more and more frequent as time went on. And now it reboots as soon as it starts up. Still trying to troubleshoot. But I'm glad you posted this and I will try using a different power supply. Like you said, what's the worst that could happen? It already doesn't work. LOL
Thanks for the comment, and may the electricity gods be with you, subscribed? cheers
@@TheInfoworks so just like you, I have a box of adapters from over the years and I managed to find one that match the volts and amps. And it worked to fix my problem too! Yaaaayyyyy! 👏🎉 I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new surveillance system. I'm so glad that I don't!
@@powerofknowledge7771 Splendid and thanks for the news, cheers
@@TheInfoworks You're the reason I was able to fix it so easily, so thank YOU!!!
You are the man! Had same issue, fixed it by swapping power supply
Grand, another fixed, strange things, hope you will subscribe, cheers
@@TheInfoworks subscribed!, Cheers
I'm gonna give this a try. My DVR has suddenly stopped working, so I opened it up and cleared all the dust out of it and thought this would fix it, but it didn't. All I'm getting from it is a pulsing fan and light and it just wont kick up into action. Hopefully this simple fix will do the trick. Thanks for the video either way.
Hi, I hope this fixes your problem, sound like it will. On mine it was the output capacitor in the power supply that caused the failure. Hope you have liked and subscribed. See my Fixing things playlist, cheers
@@TheInfoworks It worked, thank you very much. Already subbed to you as soon as I watched your video. Cheers!
splendid on both counts, cheers
Great trouble shooting! My brother had the same issue and just replaced the power supply and it worked. His is a different brand DVR though.
George, so it's a common fault, under specification on the power supplies, down to a cost not up to a standard, cheers
I cannot thank you enough - was not able to determine the cause of the flash. Replaced the Pwer Supply and Bam !! - all sorted.
Brilliant, another unit saved, you could buy me a beer through my Paypal if you wish, cheers
Useful video Andy !
Thanks, bit of a brain twister but easy to fix, cheers
God bless you I’ve solved my problem , thanks to your video 🍀🍀🍀🍀👍👌
Cheers
Cheers Andy, For ps's for extended use indoors I drill extra holes in whatever is the optimum position ( vertical/ horizontal ) in the case for Max ventilation. But not exactly kid proof !
Yes, heat is the killer when ventialtion is poor, cheers
You would have to be careful doing this with those line-lump laptop style supplies. They are pretty packed and drilling into them would be likely to hit internal components!
I have a problem like this currently. I have a transmitter for a radio station I manage that came with a fairly grunty SMPS laptop style supply. When I run the xmtr on 20 watts this supply gets very warm. Not what I would call hot, but rather warm and I don't like the idea of an FM transmitter running on this 24/7 as they pull full current all of the time.
I reckon it will dry the caps out in time or maybe fry the mosfet. I'm wondering if supplying it with 120 VAC instead of our usual 230 VAC (as it's an international voltage SMPS) will lower the dissipation somewhat? Anyone have any thoughts on that?
xanataph yes drilling blind could be hazardous. I only do those which are going to have a load over long time periods AND always split the case before drilling This allows holes in the best places re: heat generating components and orientation of eventual use / position
@@pollywollydo That makes sense. However if I went to the point of cracking this one open I would re-case it in a much bigger housing and add a cooling fan. That is one of my options. Another is to get a different PSU, possibly a large linear one that I'll put together myself. Not worried about efficiency, it's more about long term reliability with a transmitter.
Thanks for that now working again 👍🏻
Splendid, please subscribe, cheers
i had the same thing going on , thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment, cheers
Fan is working but no power lights.
Swapped to another DVR .
It now works.!!
Unfortunately the replacement DVR has only 4 input sockets (and 4 blanks(, whereas the Swan has 8.( only use 6 of them)
....could 2 from the Swan be removed and fitted to the new one.?
Frank, so a power supply change didn't work for you. Don't know about the camera input swap, maybe swap the whole board, but maybe that is where the fault is. Experiment only will tell, cheers
Switched mode power supplies - a triumph of efficiency over reliability, don't you think Andy?
I also have a box of old (mainly _regulated_ linear, not smps) plug top power supplies for re-purposing in situations like this. Cheers, Dave
Dave, this is the crux of saving equipment, what to keep and what to recycle. How many spare washing machines is too many? Cheers
@@TheInfoworks The nice thing about re-purposing SMPS wall warts is that usually they are very well regulated - 12 volts *is* 12 volts - so it's no issue to switch to one that is capable of a higher current. With iron-core wall warts you have to be more careful as they usually aren't regulated and their voltage rating is only nominal.
So, if you use one that is rated significantly higher in current than the original, the voltage will be higher too. Which may or may not matter depending on the device it's powering. You can also use this to your advantage in reverse. Say you need a 9 volt 500 mA wall wart and all you have is a 6 volt 1000 mA unit, it will probably work just fine.
All this of course only applies to *unregulated* wall warts but the ones that come OEM are usually as such or even just AC in some cases.
Hi, yes the non regulated units can have a high open circuit voltage. With original unit I think it was a bit small as it had to power the hard drive also, cheers
@@xanataph I don't really count linear _unregulated_ psus here - they are a menace, and I label them up as such - I still keep them with the regulated ones though, as the internal transformer might come in handy some day, and they are still useful if you are certain there is a regulator downstream somewhere in your powered device :o)
Regulated iron cores are normally aftermarket items rather than OEM supplied, so they tend to be rarer in the junk collections. The unregulated ones are OK if you know what you're doing and know there is regulation in the device you are powering as you say.
Thanks for the info, it work for me to
Splendid, another unit fixed, hope you have subscribed and liked, cheers
Andy, my computer does not detect the mouse, the monitor shuts down about every minute and then boots back up. No camera icon is on the monitor, but you can see movement for a few seconds and then the movement stops ( looks like the cameras freeze up but should not be all the cameras) then it shuts down and reboots, and everything starts all over again. Any Ideas ? Will make a donation.
Hi, have you changed the power supplies or used the correct method to shut down and re-boot? According to the manual the system requires a re-boot at regular intervals. Cheers
David, thanks for the donation, much appreciated, hope you can repair your unit, cancelled the request to tidy up things, all the best, cheers
Well done!
Cheers, took some thinking time.
It could well be Andy that as the replacement power supply is of greater capacity that the problem is still on the main board,I see three electrolytics on top of the board and tere is bound to be a whole clutch of surface mount ones on the underside of the board around the main processor for bypass purposes any one of those could be going short and overloading the smaller power supply, guess time will tell. Would not put too much trust in a HDD that is more than few years old either.
Best thing would be to test the old SMPS on a dummy load that draws a similar current.
Hi, that scenario may well be the case, however there is a cooling fan, where as the power supply is sealed so prone to heat. Only time will tell, cheers
I agree with xantaph.
You could also check the consumption of the equipment against the rating on it's plate.
@@tasmedic Yes, if it was easier to insert an ammeter in series with the supply that would be a good way too. If it's a reasonable consumption then you *know* you're in the clear.
mine went today Andy just noticed at 10pm
Was it the power supply?
@@TheInfoworks yes it certainly was! Luckliy had a spare 12v supply in my spares box happy days!!
@@TheInfoworks I had to reset the machine last week by opening case and pressing the black button. Looking at the inside can you swap out the hd and replace with solid state?
Trevor, I hope you are enjoying my other fix it videos, cheers
I'm thinking so, but what would be the benefit? cheers
Pretty simple diagnoses. It didn't have enough juice to kick start the HDD. Or the voltage would drop when it tried to spin up. PC's will do the same thing.
Hi, confusing to start with but the output cap in the power supply was the problem. The idea of the video was to show people that sometimes the fix is that easy but not obvious, cheers
Blue light don't want to turn on please help me
Try a different power supply