I’ve noticed recently that both of my cam pan V3’s make a clicking sound when they’re turning. Kind of like the gears are out of whack (aren’t aligned).
Is that normal?
I noticed the one in the back when I was watching a replay and heard that sound. At first I thought it was something else until I noticed it whenever the camera would pan. Then just a few days ago when I was pulling some slats off my deck (to secure the skirting and keep the cat and the possum from under my house (I named them Steve and Gus, it’s an ongoing battle) I noticed the deck cam was also clicking when it turns.
Both of these cams pan V3’s were ordered in December of 2024 with one of them being replaced a month later so I am not sure if they’d be covered under warranty still if I would need that.
I’m worried that the clicking will get worse and the cameras will not be able to “pan” any more.
Are they mounted with the cam on the bottom? My one that was mounted that way got water in it and that dragged in some dirt. It clicks a little bit, just grit in the gears. If it isn’t severe it probably isn’t anything to worry about. However if they are mounted upside down, I would get a cover over them, mine eventually got enough water in it to stop working (but was revived with the bag of rice trick). I mounted the replacement right side up, but there are circular dome covers on amazon you can get to cover it.
Seems to be the rotating disc on the bottom is what it gets in around, and the gears are right inside that.
They’re out of warranty so I’d just do what you can to stop it from getting worse at this point.
The one in the back has a dome cover over it (off of Amazon) and the one on the deck has the roof over it (my roof covers the full deck minus the wheelchair ramp expansion that was added about 16 years ago).
Last year during one particularly bad thunderstorm I was watching how bad the rain and lightning was through the cam in the back and there was a flash and the camera literally shut down, but about 20 minutes or so later it was back up and running just fine.
The cam pan under the deck roof is basically at the center up against the house, so it never gets wet.
In that case it isn’t water carrying the dust and dirt in, probably just wind and gravity. If water can seep in around that rotating disc, I would imagine anything that collects around it will work its way in over time too.
But those things are so small that they won’t totally lock it up, just add some friction. Maybe over time wear the gears down to where it has less accuracy or even just burns out, but in the meantime, probably wouldn’t worry too much about it.
My one that got water in it is now a spare so it doesn’t get used often, but it definitely has the clicks, two of them I believe. The two I have always had right side up (even in full rain and snow exposure) make no sound that I can hear.
Actually the one on my garage is so quiet other than a slight hum when it pans, that once I was walking in and out of the garage door trying to figure out why there was a faint hum only around the door (the camera tracking me obviously, just totally forgot it was there).