Ava Flex power and connection options

Last modified: Friday February 17, 2023.

The Avigilon Ava Flex camera provides you with choices regarding how you provide power to the camera, and how you connect your camera to your Alta Video deployment.

Avigilon Ava Flex can be powered via a Power over Ethernet (PoE) cable, or via the USB-C connection.

A USB-C power supply is not provided with the Avigilon Ava Flex camera. You can use any suitable USB-C power supply, for example, power supplies for cellular phones or other devices.

For connection, the Avigilon Ava Flex uses an Ethernet connection, or connects wirelessly to your Wi-Fi network using either Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) or Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) authentication. You can configure the wireless connection for an Avigilon Ava Flex camera by using an Ethernet connection or Bluetooth.

When connected to both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, Avigilon Ava Flex cameras preferentially use the Ethernet connection. Only if there is no network connectivity for the Ethernet connection will the camera switch to using Wi-fi.

Network switches and some PoE injectors will always give network connectivity even where is no upstream connection between the switch/injector and the rest of the network.

Avigilon Ava Flex does not support WPA-Enterprise authentication.

Table 1 – Power and connection options

Power sourceConnection
Power over Ethernet (PoE)

PoE

USB-C

Ethernet

Wi-Fi (Configured over Ethernet or via Bluetooth discovery.)

The Avigilon Ava Flex camera can receive power from both PoE and USB-C power supplies simultaneously.

Using the different power and connection options

The Avigilon Ava Flex uses different power and connection methods.

Task — Power and connect using PoE

  1. Plug a Power over Ethernet (PoE) cable into your Avigilon Ava Flex camera and your PoE Network switch.

  2. From the Alta Video mobile app:

    1. From the Alta Video mobile app, either:
      • Open the deployment to which to add the Avigilon Ava Flex camera.
      • Log out of any existing deployments, and tap CONNECT TO A DIFFERENT SERVER. Then create a new test deployment.
    2. Follow the process to add a camera.

    From your existing desktop Alta Video:

    1. Open the Devices tool.
    2. Click Add cameras.
    3. Click Scan Ava camera QR code.
    4. Scan the QR code and follow the prompts to add the camera to your deployment.

Task — Power using USB-C and connect using Ethernet

  1. Connect a USB-C power supply and an Ethernet connection to your Avigilon Ava Flex.

  2. From the Alta Video mobile app:

    1. From the Alta Video mobile app, either:
      • Open the deployment to which to add the Avigilon Ava Flex camera.
      • Sign out of any existing deployments, and tap Connect to a different deployment. Then create a new test deployment.
    2. Follow the process to add a camera.

    From your existing desktop Alta Video:

    1. Open the Devices tool.
    2. Click Add cameras.
    3. Click Scan Ava camera QR code.
    4. Scan the QR code and follow the prompts to add the camera to your deployment.

Task — Power using USB-C and configure Wi-Fi connection using Ethernet from the desktop

  1. Connect a USB-C power supply and an Ethernet connection to your Avigilon Ava Flex.
  2. Open the Devices tool.
  3. Click Add users Add cameras.
  4. Click Scan Ava camera QR code.
  5. Scan the QR code.
  6. Define and select your required NAME, DEVICE GROUP, and CONFIGURATION.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Enable Wi-Fi.
  9. Select your Wi-Fi network.
    If you have not yet set up any Wi-Fi networks in Alta Video, Manually define the network by entering the SSID, specifying the security method (WPA2 or WPA3), and entering the password.
  10. Click Done.
  11. Disconnect the Ethernet cable.
    The Avigilon Ava Flex camera uses its Wi-Fi connection to continue communication with your Alta Video deployment.

Task — Power using USB-C and connect using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth discovery from the desktop

  1. Connect a USB-C power supply to your Avigilon Ava Flex camera.
  2. Open the Devices tool and click Add cameras button Add cameras.
  3. Choose Scan Ava camera QR code.
  4. Scan the QR code and choose Add.
  5. Click Next.
  6. Enter and select your required NAME, DEVICE GROUP, and CONFIGURATION.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Enable Wi-Fi.
  9. Select your Wi-Fi network and choose Connect.
    If you have not configured any Wi-Fi networks in Alta Video:
    1. Choose + Manually define from the WI-FI NETWORK drop-down.
    2. Enter the SSID (network name), security method (WPA2 or WPA3), and password.
  10. Select Show Bluetooth discovery to configure Flex cameras not found over ethernet and choose Done.
  11. Choose Discover to start the Bluetooth pairing process.
  12. Select your camera when it appears in the list of devices and choose Pair.

Task — Power using USB-C and connect using Wi-Fi from the mobile apps

  1. Connect a USB-C power supply to your Avigilon Ava Flex camera.
  2. Open the Alta Video mobile app mobile app and choose Devices.
  3. Open the required deployment and tap Add cameras.
  4. Scan the QR code or enter the camera serial number.
  5. Enter and select your required NAME, DEVICE GROUP, and CONFIGURATION PROFILE.
  6. Enable Use Wi-Fi.
  7. Tap Network.
  8. Select your Wi-Fi network.
    If you have not configured any Wi-Fi networks on your device:
    1. Choose Manually define network settings.
    2. Enter the network name, security method (WPA2 or WPA3), and password.
  9. After establishing a Wi-Fi connection, tap Add.