Technical Problem
Please identify and select your technical problem from the list below. In each category you will find further information on
How to analyze the failure type
Information on how to solve the problem locally, without having to resort to the RMA process. Please note: if the RMA process is initiated, but the problem is solved through one of the measures listed in these instructions, Basler may charge a processing fee.
Camera sends normal images but spots are seen within images or by visual inspection.
Every Basler camera is tested for dirt/defects in the optical path during the production test procedure according to the sensor specification.
Precautions for customers to avoid dirt:
The camera is shipped with a protection on the lens mount. To avoid collecting dust on the camera’s IR cut filter (color cameras) or sensor (mono cameras) make sure to observe the following:
Always put the protection in place when there is no lens mounted on the camera.
Make sure the camera is pointing down every time you remove or replace the protection, a lens or a lens adapter.
Never apply compressed air to the camera. This can easily contaminate optical components, particularly the sensor.
Conditions under which dirt can be visible:
Applications that use directed light sources can increase the visibility of dirt on the sensor.
Applications with a very small aperture opening (e.g. higher than f/16)
Sensors with a very small pixel size
How to clean a camera sensor properly?
As part of its camera warranty, Basler does not recommend that customers clean the sensor themselves. In the cameras user's manual the following recommendation can be found under the Warranty Precautions:
Avoid cleaning the surface of the camera’s sensor, if possible. If you must clean it, use a soft, lint free cloth dampened with a small quantity of high quality window cleaner or pure alcohol, i.e. isopropanol because it evaporates faster and does not leave any trails.
Because electrostatic discharge can damage the sensor, you must use a cloth that will not generate static during cleaning. Cotton or special cleanroom wipers made of synthetic fiber are a good choice for cleaning.
Technical support:
If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera serial number
Uncompressed images that show the issue
Application details like light source, used optics and f-stop setting
Because soiling of the image sensor can occur during shipping, handling, and installation, RMAs cannot be issued for such claims. If your application is especially sensitive to such things, or if you have a question regarding Basler’s quality control process in general, please contact your distributor or sales representative for further guidance.
To request an RMA number please use this formCamera is picked up and reacting OK but live image looks bad - systematic patterns.
Possible causes:
Lens: Using the camera requires mounting a suitable lens for your camera and application. To find the right lens for your camera, simply consult our lens-selector tool or contact our technical support.
Heat: If you experience a noisy image from the camera, this may be caused by a high temperature of the sensor. It is important to provide sufficient heat dissipation to maintain the temperature of the camera housing at 50°C or less for most of our cameras (you can find the environmental requirements in the user’s manual for your camera type). You can download the user’s manual here.
Gain: Noise can also be caused by the usage of high gain values. To get less noise you should use a longer exposure time or provide more light. Furthermore, different sensors have different signal-to-noise ratios. You can use the EMVA data of the cameras to compare different sensors or you can contact our technical support.
Color balance: If you see color distortions in your images, you may need to adjust the values of the balance ratio parameters for red, green, and blue. To achieve this you can use the white balance feature of the camera. For more details please see the user’s manual for your camera. You can download the user’s manual here.
Hotspot / defect pixel: If your image shows single isolated dark or bright pixels, you are experiencing hot spots or defect pixels. Every imaging sensor has some of these pixels; therefore Basler performs a correction of these deviations according to the sensor manufacture’s specification. These corrections are done at camera-specific working points. Be aware that the number of hotspots may significantly increase with any camera transportation by airplanes, i.e. due to the high altitude and the impact of cosmic radiation.
Rolling shutter effect: CMOS sensors with rolling shutter show image distortions with moving objects. This effect is caused by the fact that not all lines of the sensor are exposed at the same time. For more details and recommendations how to minimize this effect, see the “Electronic Shutter Operation” chapter in the camera’s user’s manual. You can download the user’s manual here.
EMI: Go to the Image Formats Controls parameter group, enable one of the test images, and use the single grab button to capture an image. If the test image shows some defects, please check if the imaging system is operating in an environment with strong EMI generators such as stepper motors, switching power supplies, or other high-current AC devices. In this case make sure that you are using high quality cables and that the cables and the system are placed as far as possible from sources of EMI.
Dark/ bright image: If the images are too dark, take the following actions: Check your light source. Try increasing the intensity of your light source, if possible.Check the f/stop (lens aperture) on your lens. Try decreasing the f/stop to let more light into the camera. Check the exposure time setting (in the Acquisition Controls group on the pylon Viewer). Try increasing the exposure time. Check the gain setting. Try increasing the gain setting. Check the black level setting. Adjust the black level setting. Check the brightness setting. Adjust the brightness setting.
Light Source: Using an AC light source can make images appear noisy due to the inherent intensity variations normally seen with AC light sources. (Note: Some very specialized AC light sources are designed to output a constant light level even though they operate on AC. If you must use an AC light source, check with the manufacturer to make sure that it outputs an absolutely constant light intensity.) Check the exposure time setting (in the Acquisition Controls group on the pylon Viewer).
Technical support:If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera configuration data (.pfs file)
Camera details like serial number, firmware version
Uncompressed images that show the issue
Application details like light source, observed object
To request an RMA number please use this form
Camera is picked up and reacting OK in free run mode but external triggering / flash control is not working.
Possible causes:
Voltage levels: Different camera models may need different voltage levels at the I/O ports. Check the voltage requirements for the I/Os in the camera user’s manual for your camera type. You can download the user’s manual here.
I/O pin assignment: Check the camera connector pin assignments and numbering in the camera user’s manual for your camera type. You can download the user’s manual here.
I/O configuration: Check with e.g. pylon the configured source signal and assignment for your I/O lines. In the user’s manual you can find detailed information about the configuration of your I/O lines. You can download the user’s manual here.
Damaged I/O: If none of the above points can resolve your problem, your I/O port may be damaged. Most common for such kind of failures is a too high current in the damaged part. Especially power peaks due to switching secondary devices can cause such damage. Please check your system for possible ground loops and install proper shielding.
Possible improvements to avoid such issues:
Always use shielded camera power and data cables and avoid running them parallel to other power lines for e.g. motors or valves in your system.
Try using a camera power supply, separating the camera power from other power lines galvanically.
Make sure to connect the cable shield(s) with the camera body and not with Power GND or Signal GND.
Whenever possible try to plug and unplug data lines only when the camera power is switched off. Some tips for shielding and to avoid ground loops are covered in an application note available here.
Technical support:If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera serial number
Camera settings (.pfs file)
Details for used trigger signal
Details about the accessories in use
Camera is not reachable, not reacting, or LED off.
Possible causes:
Power source: Please check the camera power requirements in the user’s manual. You can download the user’s manual here. If you use Power over Ethernet please make sure that your equipment complies with the IEEE 802.3af standard. If you use an auxiliary power supply please note the maximum tolerances and ripple for your operating voltage. Voltage outside of the specified range can cause damage. To use Power over Camera Link make sure that your equipment (cable, frame grabber) is also PoCL compliant.
LED: To check if your camera is correctly supplied with power, you can refer to the LED of the camera, if your camera Is equipped with a LED, or simply check if the camera temperature is rising.
USB2: If you connect a USB3.0 camera to a USB2 Port, the camera may not be detected, because it pulls too much power from the USB host controller and gets deactivated.
Tools: Camera is not detected in Basler configuration tool. With our pylon software suite, we provide configuration tools for all interfaces. For our Basler Network Cameras you can use the BIP finder tool. Please check if your camera is detected by the appropriate tool. If your camera is detected, but you still have problems, please refer to T5: Camera behavior. Cameras which are not detected by this tool are likely to be defective. You can find the configuration and BIP finder tool here.
Damaged camera: If none of the above points can resolve your problem, your camera may be damaged. Most common for such kind of failures is a too high current in the damaged part. Especially power peaks due to switching secondary devices can cause such damage. Please check your system for possible ground loops and install proper shielding.
Possible improvements to avoid such issues are:
Always use shielded camera power and data cables and avoid running them parallel to other power lines for e.g. motors or valves in your system.
Try using a camera power supply, separating the camera power from other power lines galvanically.
Make sure to connect the cable shield(s) with the camera body and not with Power GND or Signal GND.
Whenever possible try to plug and unplug data lines only when the camera power is switched off. Some tips for shielding and to avoid ground loops are covered in an application note available on our website.
Technical support:If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera serial number
Application details like switches, power source, cable, host adapter
Settings cannot be adjusted at all or not within the expected range. Camera won’t reach the specified limits.
Possible Causes:
GigE packet losses: The Pylon C++ API shows the error code E1000014 while grabbing images from the camera. This error code means "The buffer was incompletely grabbed" and indicates that an image was incompletely grabbed due to lost/corrupted packets. This will usually be the case if a system component, i.e. an Ethernet cable, a switch or a NIC (network adapter) does not perform well. For more details see the following FAQ on our website: FAQ "What does the Error Code 3774873620 (0xE1000014) mean?"
IP address: You can see a camera in the pylon IP configurator tool but you are unable to connect to the camera. Check the IP configuration of all available NICs for any IP conflict issues i.e if multiple NICs are configured in the same subnet, e.g. Auto IP (169.254.xxx.xxx) or if wrong Subnet Masks are used.
USB 3.0 host controller: If you experience connection or performance issues with USB 3.0 cameras your host controller may not perform well. We recommend using one of our tested host controllers. Check the following application note for more details.
USB 3.0 cable: Some USB 3.0 cables in the market do not provide a stable connection with USB 3.0 devices. Therefore we recommend our tested and specified cables and hubs. Accessories from Basler have been thoroughly tested to work with our camera range, so that you get the optimal performance you expect from your solution. Please also consider the maximum possible cable length for your camera model.
3rd Party Software: If you experience difficulties using our cameras with 3rd party software (e.g. National Instruments, Matrox, Matlab, Cognex Vision Pro) please test the functionality of the camera with our pylon viewer. For some 3rd party software you can find more information like application notes or FAQs on our website. For further support please contact the 3rd party’s technical support.
Technical support: If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera serial number
Uncompressed images that show the issue
Application details
Camera settings (.pfs file)
A mechanical damage within the optical or electrical path or housing itself.
Possible causes:
Threads: Please note the maximum allowed lens thread length and the maximum deepness for the mounting holes. You can find the mechanical specification of your camera in the user’s manual. You can download the user’s manual here.
Mechanical stress: Continuous mechanical stress (e.g vibrations, g-forces) can cause damage to the camera and should be reduced as much as possible. This can be done by dampening the camera mounting (please note the needed heat dissipation).
Accessories: For cameras subject to mechanical vibrations or g-forces it is also very important to use high quality cabling with the possibility to screw lock the cable to the camera, to prevent contact problems. We offer an extensive portfolio of accessories optimally harmonized to your Basler camera. To ensure that you achieve optimal resolutions, all accessories we offer have been extensively tested for compatibility with our cameras.
Connector: An incorrect plug can damage the hirose connector. The plug on the cable that you attach to the camera’s hirose connector must have the correct number of female pins. Using a plug designed for a smaller or a larger number of pins can damage the connector. We offer an extensive portfolio of accessories optimally harmonized to your Basler camera. To ensure that you achieve optimal resolutions, all accessories we offer have been extensively tested for compatibility with our cameras.
Technical support: If you do not find a solution to your issue on this website, please contact our technical support. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is important that you collect several pieces of information concerning your problem before you contact Basler technical support. Useful pieces of information will be:
Camera serial number
Application details