Fault-finding
Several cameras dropped out at once
Cameras failing as a group share a failed component: the multi-way power supply feeding them, the PoE switch, or the recorder. One camera failing is a camera fault; four failing together never is. Note exactly which cameras dropped and whether it happened at dusk — both facts point straight at the culprit.
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Map the failed group to what feeds it
List the dead channels and work out what they share. Four analogue cameras on one 12V multi-output supply die together the instant that supply fails, while cameras on the other supply carry on untouched. On an IP system, everything hanging off one PoE switch drops when the switch does. The pattern of who failed together is the diagnosis — write it down before you start swapping parts.
Suspect dusk and the power budget
Cameras that vanish at nightfall and return by morning are drawing more current than the supply or switch can deliver once the infra-red LEDs light up. A PoE switch near its wattage ceiling behaves exactly this way — flawless all day, dropping ports at maghrib. The fix is a supply or switch with genuine headroom, not replacement cameras, and it is worth confirming before adding any more load.
Only then look at the recorder and its power
If every camera is down and the recorder is unresponsive too, test its power adaptor and the UPS socket it shares. After load-shedding, a UPS that failed to switch back leaves everything downstream dark while the rest of the premises runs normally. Recorders themselves fail far less often than the cheap adaptors and power strips around them, so eliminate those before booking a replacement recorder.
Why did half my cameras go off at the same time?
Why does it only happen at night?
Infra-red multiplies each camera's power draw, so anything marginal in the supply chain gives up exactly at dusk. Group dropouts after dark are a power-budget symptom nearly every time.
Could load-shedding have caused this?
Indirectly, yes. Outages kill cheap adaptors and stress UPS units, and a shared adaptor that died during a cut takes its whole group down with it. A UPS on the recorder and supplies is the durable fix.
Rather have it done?
Security camera repair covers black screens, recorders that stopped writing, lost phone access after an internet change, and footage that will not play back. Most faults trace to power, connectors or settings rather than a dead camera. Callout in Islamabad or Rawalpindi starts at PKR 3,000, with the full fix priced before any work.
Security camera repair in Islamabad — prices and scope