CST Preventive Maintenance Schedules 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What should a technician check when performing preventive maintenance on a PoE switch that powers IP cameras?
- HDMI port availability
- Per-port power draw vs. rated PoE budget (Correct answer)
- Wi-Fi signal strength
- USB drive capacity
Correct answer: Per-port power draw vs. rated PoE budget
Verifying per-port power consumption against the switch's PoE budget ensures no cameras are being under-powered or causing switch overload.
Question 2: During a PM inspection, a technician notices a camera's image has a persistent blue tint. Which maintenance action should be taken first?
- Replace the camera immediately
- Check and recalibrate white balance settings (Correct answer)
- Increase IR cut filter sensitivity
- Upgrade network bandwidth
Correct answer: Check and recalibrate white balance settings
A color tint is often a white balance misconfiguration, which can be corrected through camera settings before hardware replacement is considered.
Question 3: How should a maintenance technician document a camera that is functioning but has a partially obstructed field of view due to vegetation growth?
- Mark it as failed and remove from service
- Log the obstruction, note required corrective action, and notify the site manager (Correct answer)
- Reposition the camera without authorization
- Ignore it if the camera image is still visible
Correct answer: Log the obstruction, note required corrective action, and notify the site manager
Obstructions affecting coverage must be documented with recommended corrective action and communicated to the appropriate stakeholder for resolution.
Question 4: A PM schedule includes testing video analytics such as motion detection. What is the best method to verify motion detection is working correctly?
- Review last month's recorded footage
- Walk through the detection zone and confirm an alert is triggered (Correct answer)
- Check the camera's power consumption
- Inspect the camera housing for cracks
Correct answer: Walk through the detection zone and confirm an alert is triggered
Physically walking through the detection zone while monitoring the system confirms that motion detection triggers correctly in real-world conditions.
Question 5: Which factor most directly determines how frequently outdoor cameras in harsh environments should receive preventive maintenance?
- Camera brand and color
- Environmental exposure level such as dust, humidity, and temperature extremes (Correct answer)
- Number of cameras on the network
- Length of the BNC cable run
Correct answer: Environmental exposure level such as dust, humidity, and temperature extremes
Harsh environmental conditions accelerate wear and contamination, requiring more frequent maintenance intervals than cameras in controlled indoor settings.
Question 6: When inspecting cable conduit during a preventive maintenance visit, a technician finds water intrusion. What is the priority action?
- Drain the conduit and seal entry points to prevent further moisture ingress (Correct answer)
- Wrap the conduit in tape temporarily
- Increase camera image compression to compensate
- Replace all cameras on that conduit run immediately
Correct answer: Drain the conduit and seal entry points to prevent further moisture ingress
Water intrusion in conduit must be addressed by draining it and sealing the entry points to protect cables and connected equipment from corrosion and shorts.
Question 7: A preventive maintenance plan specifies annual calibration of video management software (VMS) time synchronization. Why is this important?
- To improve video compression ratios
- To ensure accurate timestamps on recorded footage for evidentiary purposes (Correct answer)
- To reduce storage usage
- To increase camera frame rates
Correct answer: To ensure accurate timestamps on recorded footage for evidentiary purposes
Accurate timestamps are critical for using surveillance footage as legal evidence, making time synchronization calibration a key maintenance task.
CST Preventive Maintenance Schedules 3
What should a technician check when performing preventive maintenance on a PoE switch that powers IP cameras?