A nearby city has scheduled electricity outages lasting about two hours each day. I'm wondering what happens to security cameras in stores when the power goes out. Some public-facing camera displays turn black but still show labels or text. Does that mean the cameras have stopped recording, or could the system still be saving footage through a backup power source?
4 Answers
It depends on how the system is set up. Many businesses use a UPS battery or generator to keep the recorder and security equipment running during an outage, but not every store has one or maintains it properly.
Some systems use power-over-Ethernet, so a UPS can keep both the recorder and cameras running for a while. Other cameras have their own batteries or local storage and may continue recording even if they cannot transmit video to the main recorder. A black display alone isn’t enough to determine what is happening.
Stores may also shut off the monitor during an outage to conserve battery power while leaving the recording system active. On the other hand, if the cameras use separate adapters that are not connected to backup power, they will stop recording when the electricity fails.
If the recorder is powered but a camera or its power supply is not, the display may show a black screen with labels indicating that the camera is offline. In that case, that particular camera probably is not sending footage to the recorder. However, the recorder itself may still be working.
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