Tips For DVR Maintenance
By Christian M Gillman
Unlike a standard computer, which gets powered down after use (most of the time); a DVR for the most part is constantly running. Since a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) is constantly running, it is a good idea to know a few basic maintenance tips to keep it working efficiently.
Air Flow / Heating
Try to keep your DVR in a well ventilated area with a bit of air flow. This is very important, because if you put your DVR in an enclosed space with little ventilation, it will begin to overheat and start to degrade its various components.
A good way to provide air flow around your DVR is to mount it with at least a little bit of open space on each side. Mounting it up on a DVR stand or using a rack-mount solution are good choices for this.
Dust
As with any electronic device they tend to collect dust, and this dust can clog your systems and hamper your DVR's ability to work correctly.
A good way to prevent this is to find an area with minimal dust accumulation or to at least use some form of dust protection around your DVR. In the end dust is pretty much an inevitability, and the best thing you can do is to use a can of compressed air and clean your DVR out every month or so.
Power Surge Protection
A good preventative measure to protect your DVR is to make sure and connect it to a power surge device or a backup battery. This will help prevent an unwanted power surge from overloading and frying your DVRs circuitry.
It should be noted that after a decent power surge it may be wise to replace your power surge protector as it may now be unable to protect your DVR any longer.
Additional Recording Time
To end this here are a few quick tips for lengthening your DVRs recording time when needed.
1. Set your recording resolution to a lower standard as it will take up less hard drive space.
2. In a surveillance DVR you can use motion recording to ensure video capture only during movement in front of your security cameras.
3. Activate your DVRs overwrite ability, which will allow it to record over old footage when the DVR hard drive fills up.
4. Turn off audio recording if not necessary.
5. And finally you can always upgrade to a larger hard drive.
Christian M Gillman has worked in the surveillance industry for over 6 years. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, learn more about surveillance, and find great products at http://www.cu1.com
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