CCTV Repairs and System Upgrades in Logan

Start with what you are seeing

Tell us the symptoms and we can usually narrow it down before arriving.

The app says the device is offline, but the recorder is still showing cameras on the TV. The cameras are fine. Something between the recorder and the internet changed, usually a new modem or NBN connection.

One camera shows “no video”. Often a cable joint that has let moisture in, a damaged cable, or a single failed camera.

Every camera is out at once. Usually the recorder’s PoE power supply, a failed network switch, or the recorder itself.

The recorder beeps and playback has gaps. The hard drive is failing. Drives that record nonstop wear out, often after four to five years.

The picture is fuzzy at night. Spider webs across the lens, a camera that has drifted on its bracket, or infrared lights that have worn out.

How repairs are handled

Each part of the system is tested on site: the cameras, the cables, the switch, the recorder and the network. Then you get a straight answer about what failed and what it costs to fix. If repairing an old system would cost close to what a new one would, we say so and price both.

We work on systems we did not install. If a brand only works through its own cloud app, there can be limits on what can be changed, and we tell you that at the start.

Upgrading from analogue

A lot of systems installed ten or more years ago are analogue: coaxial cable, a DVR and cameras that recorded at 720p or less. By today’s standards, faces are a blur and number plates are unreadable.

There are two upgrade paths. Keeping the existing coax and swapping in HD-over-coax cameras and a matching recorder is the cheaper option, and the picture improves a lot. Replacing the coax with Cat6 and moving to network cameras costs more, but it unlocks 4K, colour night vision, person and vehicle detection and active deterrence. The quote shows both side by side.

Storm and flood damage

Lightning can damage cameras and recorders through long cable runs, and parts of Logan near the Logan and Albert rivers have flooded in the past. After storm or flood damage, we test every component, replace what has failed, and can add surge protection or move the recorder somewhere higher while we are there.

Questions people ask

Do you charge to diagnose a fault?

The repair quote includes finding the fault. Tell us what is happening when you call and we can often narrow it down before we arrive.

My cameras record but the app shows nothing. Why?

The recording side is working and the connection to your phone is not. It nearly always follows a new modem, a new internet provider or a new phone, and it is fixed at the router and in the app.

Can I keep my old cameras and just replace the recorder?

Sometimes. If the cameras are network cameras that support ONVIF, a new recorder can often use them. Old analogue cameras need an HD-over-coax recorder or need replacing.