Lens fog

[Rocky388]

I've been reading and researching for awhile now and decided on a dahua ipc hdw5830r-z and a starlight 5231.

The starlight lens is perfect, the 5830 fogs up inside the camera. I've attached pictures to show before and after fog.

I've tried opening the camera, cleaning and lubricating the gasket and closing it back up, which didn't solve the problem. There are no dessicant bags inside the camera (not sure if there's supposed to be). Any ideas to solve this?

 

[bigredfish]

Are you certain its fog on the inside of the glass? I see that a lot on various cams from either a bug or dew on the outside...

 

[Rocky388]

It's definitely on the inside. I've used a hair dryer to clear it up, but it' only a temporary solution.

 

[SeanO]

I've got a brand new 5231r-z turret (well, less than four weeks old) that is ruined now. Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I'll work with Andy to try to get it replaced but I am worried it might be a trend.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

I've got a brand new 5231r-z turret (well, less than four weeks old) that is ruined now. Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I'll work with Andy to try to get it replaced but I am worried it might be a trend.

For the foggy one ,sometimes happen when the camera housing has been opened and not make the seal well or the camera itself not assemble well, so wet air go inside and night time when become colder there will have vapor.
These days we get some report some guys not use the connector with RJ45 port of the camera, some cams water in, and camera dead. when use these outdoors have to be careful. For the foggy one, we have to make some checking for the seal, can open it and check.

 

[Bramboo]

The Dahua dome cams I have (4431R-AS / 5231R-Z), all have desiccant bags inside, either close to the transparent dome (on the metal base) or inside the camera module in the black plastic part that contains the video sensor. You can see the bags or hear them (sounds like shaking dry rice) when you shake the cam.

In general this is a good way to absorb any remaining moisture (that's always present in the air) that unavoidably gets in during installing the cam. When the cam is closed properly (with all seals in place), this should bring down the relative humidity to a point where it will not be able to cause any condensation, even when the dome gets cold. But if there's even a minor leak, the bags get saturated sooner or later and they will no longer absorb moisture.

So far this has been working for me, we had a couple of days/nights lately with high relative humidity (>85%) and low temperature (approx. 5 °C / 41°F) and no condensation occurred. Not sure how this works long time, when it gets colder.
I bought a bunch of 1 gram silica gel bags (stored in a small sealed container), so I can replace the bags if needed in the future.

 

[Rocky388]

For the foggy one ,sometimes happen when the camera housing has been opened and not make the seal well or the camera itself not assemble well, so wet air go inside and night time when become colder there will have vapor.
These days we get some report some guys not use the connector with RJ45 port of the camera, some cams water in, and camera dead. when use these outdoors have to be careful. For the foggy one, we have to make some checking for the seal, can open it and check.

View attachment 23377

In my case, my camera is less then a week old and I never opened it and the fog occurred. I only opened it after to try and correct the problem and inspect the gasket. I'm using the waterproof rj45 connector as well.

The Dahua dome cams I have (4431R-AS / 5231R-Z), all have desiccant bags inside, either close to the transparent dome (on the metal base) or inside the camera module in the black plastic part that contains the video sensor. You can see the bags or hear them (sounds like shaking dry rice) when you shake the cam.

In general this is a good way to absorb any remaining moisture (that's always present in the air) that unavoidably gets in during installing the cam. When the cam is closed properly (with all seals in place), this should bring down the relative humidity to a point where it will not be able to cause any condensation, even when the dome gets cold. But if there's even a minor leak, the bags get saturated sooner or later and they will no longer absorb moisture.

So far this has been working for me, we had a couple of days/nights lately with high relative humidity (>85%) and low temperature (approx. 5 °C / 41°F) and no condensation occurred. Not sure how this works long time, when it gets colder.
I bought a bunch of 1 gram silica gel bags (stored in a small sealed container), so I can replace the bags if needed in the future.

I think my next move is to put in a dessicant bag. I haven't opened the 5231, which doesn't have this problem, to see if there are dessicant bags in there. I'd hate to try and get the camera swapped out for a new one when all it needed was a dessicant packet.

 

[looney2ns]

I've been reading and researching for awhile now and decided on a dahua ipc hdw5830r-z and a starlight 5231.

The starlight lens is perfect, the 5830 fogs up inside the camera. I've attached pictures to show before and after fog.

I've tried opening the camera, cleaning and lubricating the gasket and closing it back up, which didn't solve the problem. There are no dessicant bags inside the camera (not sure if there's supposed to be). Any ideas to solve this?

View attachment 23363 View attachment 23364

It should have desiccant bags inside. You can purchase and add them.
When you open them up, make sure you do it in an environment that has below 50% humidity levels. Not outdoors on the porch when it's raining.

 

[Rocky388]

I've got a brand new 5231r-z turret (well, less than four weeks old) that is ruined now. Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I'll work with Andy to try to get it replaced but I am worried it might be a trend.

How bad was the condensation build up? I'm surprised 4 weeks would have ruined it.

 

[SeanO]

How bad was the condensation build up? I'm surprised 4 weeks would have ruined it.

Nearly full screen fog impairing the view. This happened during the first significant rain storm since installation. I actually have saved the video showing the progression of the storm and the water drops & fog developing over the course of the evening. In the morning, almost complete fog-over. Other cameras show the area was clear and sunny. The camera is installed on a post with no cover and is completely exposed to the elements. I'll try to open the unit, clear it up and check the seals but of note, this was completely unmodified from the factory when it happened.

 

[looney2ns]

Nearly full screen fog impairing the view. This happened during the first significant rain storm since installation. I actually have saved the video showing the progression of the storm and the water drops & fog developing over the course of the evening. In the morning, almost complete fog-over. Other cameras show the area was clear and sunny. The camera is installed on a post with no cover and is completely exposed to the elements. I'll try to open the unit, clear it up and check the seals but of note, this was completely unmodified from the factory when it happened.

Drip loop on the cable entering the cam?

 

[Bramboo]

I think my next move is to put in a dessicant bag. I haven't opened the 5231, which doesn't have this problem, to see if there are dessicant bags in there. I'd hate to try and get the camera swapped out for a new one when all it needed was a dessicant packet.

I'd advise to leave the 5231 closed, if it works, don't fix it.

Drying the cam with warm (not hot) air like you did, sounds like a good idea. Let it cool down a bit, then insert a small dessicant bag and close carefully. The reason I would go for a small bag, is that a bigger bag will hide underlying problems like a leak somewhere in the cam for a long time, as larger amounts of dessicant can absorb more moisture. Remember the dessicant should only take care of the moisture in the air trapped inside the cam (just a couple of miligrams of water in this small space). A small bag is quickly saturated in case there's a leak and I'm sure you want fast results. I hope there's no leak and it would surprise me, as the build quality of the Dahua cams I've seen is better than any other cam in this price range.

 

[SeanO]

This was from the first storm

I took the shell apart, cleared the lens and put some silicone grease on the gasket. Hope that helps.

 

[SAVideoman]

I had the exact same problem when I installed my HDW5830R-Z 10 days ago. It would happen at night after the IR lights had been on for awhile. Then after dawn it stayed foggy for awhile and then it would clear up in a few hours. It's mounted under an eve so there's no moisture exposure. In fact it's mounted in the exact same spot I used to have my HDW5231R-Z mounted (I moved that one to another location) and I never had any problems with that one. Maybe there's some quality issue with this batch of 5830's. I didn't install an SD card so I didn't even need to open it up.

I emailed Andy right after it happened but he hasn't given me a solution yet. But a couple of days ago it cleared up and it seems ok for now.

 

[Rocky388]

I had the exact same problem when I installed my HDW5830R-Z 10 days ago. It would happen at night after the IR lights had been on for awhile. Then after dawn it stayed foggy for awhile and then it would clear up in a few hours. It's mounted under an eve so there's no moisture exposure. In fact it's mounted in the exact same spot I used to have my HDW5231R-Z mounted (I moved that one to another location) and I never had any problems with that one. Maybe there's some quality issue with this batch of 5830's. I didn't install an SD card so I didn't even need to open it up.

I emailed Andy right after it happened but he hasn't given me a solution yet. But a couple of days ago it cleared up and it seems ok for now.

View attachment 23536

Sounds exactly like mine, under an eve, and received and installed recently.

I reopened mine a few days ago to add a silica packet. I only had an older packet to put in, but it mostly solved the problem, still a bit of fog. Yesterday I received my shipment of silica packets, today I put 3 new ones in. So far so good. I'd like to order more of this model but not if I can't resolve this problem.

 

[SAVideoman]

I also ordered some silica packets but I haven't installed them yet. Please let me know if that fixes your problem. I'm afraid mine will fog up again when the weather changes.

 

[mat200]

FYI - you can dry out your old silica packets in the toaster oven.

 

[xips]

How long does a silica packet last before it's saturated? I know there are some silica products that change color with moisture content. I'd like to stay on top of the maintenance curve.

 

[Bramboo]

I'm definitely not an expert on this matter, but without a color indicator, it's hard to tell. Weighing the silica when it's new and after a while should theoretically tell you how much water is absorbed, but the difference in weight is probably very small (after all you have just a few grams of silica gel in the cam).
I guess it can only get saturated if there's moisture coming in from somewhere continuously. But to produce a 100% closed camera is almost impossible, because of vapor pressure you'll always have a small intake of moisture.

I own a couple of dome cams and I think I will replace the silica bags roughly every year or when I see there's condensation on the inside of the dome, which I hope will never happen.
They are easy to reach so it's not a big deal.

Because of this thread, I did a simple test last week: I put a temperature & relative humidity (RH) data logger in a small closed container with a couple of fresh silica bags. I ordered these on Ali and they came in a sealed bag. I expected the RH to go down quickly and I was curious at what point this process would stop (in terms of % RH).
After 2 days I downloaded the data and the result was very disappointing: the RH didn't go down at all!
(As RH is dependent on the temperature, the effect of the temperature is compensated and there was no significant difference)
I will repeat this test with another batch of silica gel (I'm not sure this batch is not saturated already) and a different container.

 

[Rocky388]

I also ordered some silica packets but I haven't installed them yet. Please let me know if that fixes your problem. I'm afraid mine will fog up again when the weather changes.

So far still good 4 days later, not even a little bit of fog. I'm pretty confident that the cause of the issue was the lack of silica packets, and adding them was the solution.