Closed-circuit Television or what we know as CCTV is a surveillance system that uses a camera as an image-capturer which is then recorded and displayed on a monitor/screen.
The use of CCTV is generally in locations that require a high level of supervision such as banks, markets, parking lots, hotels and others to monitor the situation as well as serve as evidence if certain crimes occur.
The occurrence of a work function failure on CCTV such as a condition where the CCTV monitor cannot display an image indicates that there has been damage to CCTV components such as cameras, cable channels or even the monitor itself.
On this occasion, we will discuss some of the causes so that the images captured by the camera cannot be displayed on the monitor. However, it would be better if we identify the series of a CCTV system before entering the discussion section to facilitate the identification process.
Figure 1 is a hybrid CCTV series that can display images online and offline. The online image appearance in question is that users can view camera captures either in real-time or in the form of recordings from the devices they use from a very long distance.
Meanwhile, the offline image display in question is that the user can only view CCTV captured images only from the monitor connected to the CCTV channel as shown in Figure 1 in the red box with a dotted line.
For the use of CCTV in general, it is still dominated by offline CCTV, namely utilizing monitors and in CCTV series as a viewer of captured images.
1. Dead or Broken CCTV Cameras
The camera in a CCTV system is the part that plays a role in taking pictures or we can analogize it as the eye of CCTV.
Every event at a location will be identified like the human eye, only at a lower quality, ranging from 360 to 480 pixels.
The occurrence of damage to the camera resulted in CCTV not being able to take pictures of a location and display it on the monitor.
2. Broken Connecting Cable
In offline CCTV, there are 4 cable connections as shown in Figure 1. The first cable connection is the connection that connects CCTV to the power supply. Connection 2 is the connection that connects the CCTV with the DVR (Digital Video Recorder).
Connection 3 is the connection that connects the DVR to the monitor and connection 4 is the connection that connects the DVR to the power supply. Broadly speaking, it can be concluded that in CCTV circuits there are two types of cables, namely data cables and power cables, each of which has a vital function.
Disconnection in the data cable causes the recording cannot be distributed to the monitor. Meanwhile, the connection to the power cable causes the component to malfunction. Thus, if there is a disconnection in one of these connections, the image will not automatically appear on the monitor.
3. Power Supply Broken
Power supply is the part that distributes electricity to CCTV components such as DVR and cameras (see Figure 1). Damage to the power supply causes the camera and DVR to not receive electricity and fail to work.
Thus, the camera cannot capture images and the DVR cannot convert the analog signal generated by the camera into a digital signal so that it can be displayed on the monitor.
The power supply itself is an adapter from a 220-volt AC power source and is adjusted to the voltage requirements of each CCTV component, usually with a lower voltage.
4. Broken Connector Port
The connector port is the connection terminal for CCTV and DVR cables as shown in Figure 2. Damage to the port has an impact on the inability to flow electric current from the power supply to the camera and DVR. Thus, the two CCTV components will fail due to not receiving a power source.
5. DVR Malfunction
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is a component that functions as an analog to digital signal converter. The analog signal output from the camera cannot be directly displayed on the monitor, so there needs to be a change in shape.
Damage to the DVR has an impact on not converting the analog signal from the camera. Thus, the monitor cannot read the signal. As a result, the monitor will not display any image even though the camera can function properly.
6. Hard Disk or Storage Device Damage
In order for the images recorded by the camera to be viewed repeatedly, of course there is a need for data storage devices such as flash drives, memory cards or hard drives. In a CCTV system, the storage device used is a hard drive located in a DVR circuit as shown in Figure 3.
Damage to the storage device does not directly cause the image to not appear on the monitor, but causes the image that has been recorded by the camera at a certain time cannot be seen again.
In other words, the monitor will only display real-time camera captured images. This is really not effective, because the user may not be on the monitor all the time.
Thus the explanation regarding any things that cause CCTV monitors not to display any images. The damage that occurs to the CCTV components should be consulted directly with the experts so as not to cause further problems.