This article will show you how to add a PoE IP camera to a Hikvision surveillance system (NVR). A camera can be added into a Hikvision NVR thru the network (in this case Manual mode) or directly into the recorder (if the NVR has a built-in PoE switch).
When using the Plug-and-Play mode, make sure the password of the camera is the same with the Hikvision NVR, or you could set the password of the camera to 12345 (and it will still work, even if the password for the NVR is different). Plug-and-Play mode can only be used when the camera is added directly to the built-in POE switch of an NVR.
How to add an IP camera to NVR using Manual mode
Step: 1. Connect your Hikvision IP camera to the PoE port of the (external) switch. Connect your NVR to the same switch. Basically, the camera and the NVR should be on the same network.
Step 2. Login directly to your NVR and then go to Camera Management > Camera > IP Camera, select any channel and click Edit.
Step: 3. Select Manual. Then type in the IP camera’s address, its username and its password. Click OK to confirm. This step assumes that you already know the IP address of your camera and the credentials. If not, use the respective scanning tool to find out the IP address of your camera.
Do not click One- touch Adding unless the cameras’ passwords are the same with the NVR password or the password of the camera is 12345.
Otherwise, you will get a password error and the picture will not show up. When you do Manual add, you need to type the password of the camera. If your camera’s brand is not Hikvision, then you can add it as an ONVIF camera (protocol ONVIF and its respective port).
How to add an IP camera to a Hikvision NVR with a built-in PoE switch
In this case, you need to make sure that: a) your camera supports PoE function b) Your Hikvision NVR has a built-in PoE switch. This adding method is called Plug-and-Play mode, meaning all you need to do is to plug the camera at the back of the NVR (the built-in PoE switch).
Step: 1. Connect your camera to the PoE port of the Hikvision NVR. Let’s say you did plug in your camera to the PoE port number 2.
Step: 2. Login into your recorder, go to Camera Management > Camera > IP Camera, highlight the second channel (D2), and click Edit.
Step: 3. Select Adding Method as Plug-and-Play, click OK to save the settings.
Do not press One-touch Adding. Make sure your IP camera has the same password with your NVR. If the camera has a different password, then the recorder cannot access the camera through the Plug-and-Play mode. If you don’t know the password for the camera, you can reset the camera to factory default settings.
