Specifications

CCTV UPS TROUBLE SHOOTING TIPS.
Many CCTV
Closed Circuit Television systems use a UPS Un-interruptible
Power Supply to provide guaranteed continuous power to operate a surveillance
system. The UPS also provides down stream voltage regulation that protects
equipment in the event of under or over voltage swings that occur during “brown-
outs” or brief power outages. The UPS will also protect equipment from voltage
surges or spikes coming from the Main Power Line. Using a UPS to power your
CCTV system is a good idea if you have a budget for it.
SYMPTOMS.
Have you ever had interference in your CCTV monitor that exhibited dozens
of narrow vertical lines either black or white, and as thin as a pencil line. They
may be staggered or jagged from the top of the screen to the bottom and may
even dance side to side slightly while standing in one place or move across the
screen slowly from side to side. If the lines stand still and dance around one spot
your cameras are line locked, but if they slowly move across the screen then your
cameras are not line locked. If you have this kind of interference on your monitor,
there is a good chance that the system is being powered by a UPS and that the
interference is coming directly from the UPS.
THE BAD NEWS.
Some models of UPS
Un-interruptible Power Supplies will induce
interference into your CCTV picture. This interference can enter your CCTV
system through the ground in the case of shared grounds like a ground loop or
directly through the power supply used to power the camera. Technically UPS
power supplies come in two output types. The most common kind is the low cost
square-wave output type, like the kind used for computers and sold in computer
stores, the second less common kind is the sine-wave, semi-sine-wave or quasi-
sine-wave type used to power analog equipment.
The word “sine-wave” refers to the output waveform being sinusoidal in the
shape. A pure sine-wave has only one frequency, and in the case of line voltage
that frequency is 60Hertz or (60 cycles per second). The output of this type is well
filtered to remove all other frequencies that might interfere with the equipment it is
powering.
CCTV TRAINING MANUAL PAGE 19 OF 28