IPC-HFW5231E-Z as weather cam (very exposed location)

GFM

GFM

Getting the hang of it
Sep 9, 2016
110
36
Center of Canada
This cam seems like a good contender to replace the Foscam Fi9804W I have been using for a few years. maybe the bullet style is better than the turret as well for weather-proofing? Looking for really good low light characteristics, but not really a security oriented installation. The camera will be located on a high metal structure (grain silo), and looking over a valley. I'll attach a current image from the Foscam.
Has anyone had issues with the camera, performance, etc?

Cam8.20180120_120549.jpg
 
GFM said:
This cam seems like a good contender to replace the Foscam Fi9804W I have been using for a few years. maybe the bullet style is better than the turret as well for weather-proofing? Looking for really good low light characteristics, but not really a security oriented installation. The camera will be located on a high metal structure (grain silo), and looking over a valley. I'll attach a current image from the Foscam.
Has anyone had issues with the camera, performance, etc?

View attachment 25812
Click to expand...
weather resistance is the same for both..turrets are a better design but the bullet has stronger ir..
 
considering IR won't illuminate that valley, the top consideration might be spiders. Bullets fare worse than turrets re: IR attracting spiders. Getting to the top of a grain silo to clean webs doesn't sound like fun.
OTOH, you could disable IR on either cam, since IR won't help with lighting up the valley.
OTOH, You probably won't use IVS or MD to trigger an "event", so false alarms due to spiders & webs may not be as big consideration as it is in other applications...

You didn't mention the low temps the cam might experience there in Central Canada. Check the specs for the cams to see if it's suitable....
 
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@Fastb, no I am not concerned with the IR illumination so I would likely leave that off. Spiders are a problem it seems on any camera form-factor, had issues with webs on all the cameras last year.
Dahua states -30 in the specs, the Foscam was -20 I believe. The latter seemed to work fine down to the -40s but the cold might have compromised the weather seal that is resulting in condensation on the lens occasionally now.

@fenderman, I have 3 turret type IPC-HDW4431C-A cameras and I am afraid of the plastic mount and camera housing. I have these mounted under eves or roof overhangs. Hail and UV exposure might cause plastic to break down. Seems like the bullets have a metal enclosure?
 
Isn’t the 4431 the China market one? The base of the 5231 turret is metal.
 
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@aristobrat They came with english programming... I see a third one was an HDW4231emp-as, so they are not all the same but all were plastic. Yes specs say 5231 is metal so I am obviously wrong in assuming all turret type are plastic.
 
Andy is sending me the HFW5321E-Z, looking forward to it's arrival. :) Went with the bullet, I think it might offer better mounting possibilities in this particular application. Might take me a bit to get it installed, somewhat weather dependant, and I won't be playing with it up on the bin in -20 weather.
 
Managed to drive to the city yesterday and picked up my new camera (DHL doesn't deliver anywhere around here), and luckily I had other business to do anyway so it somewhat worked out... (I hate DHL!). Thought Andy was going to ship FedEx but didn't. Guess I'll have to consider another source for these cameras.
Anyway, I couldn't just let it sit in the house until it warms up, so I installed it temproarily outside one of my storage sheds in -20 deg windy weather. Went well and I have it doing it's thing! Seems to work fine in the cold so far but temps have only been down to -26 overnight so not that cold so far. I do notice when I access the camera via Blue Iris, when I click on the image to expand it the focus seems to go out and back in. Turning off PTZ seems to have fixed that. Is that normal? I have not really adjusted any of the camera's settings other then NTS and DHCP to on (router serves static IP address per mac binding).
Nice picture... Light snow this am. :)
 

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GFM said:
I do notice when I access the camera via Blue Iris, when I click on the image to expand it the focus seems to go out and back in. Turning off PTZ seems to have fixed that. Is that normal?
Click to expand...
Mine only does that in BI if I scroll while clicking. I use an Apple mouse, so that's super easy to accidentally do. I ended up disabling that option with BI. Weird that DHL doesn't deliver around you. Since the big 5231 review thread was started in late '16, I''ve seen over a hundred folks post about how quickly DHL got their stuff from China to their location (all across the world). I don't think I've seen anyone mention about Andy using FedEx though.
 
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At least the focus thing isn't just me. As you did, disabling zoom and focus fixes the problem (once focused). As it gets dark it's still quite bright. I also disabled the LEDs now so only using ambient lighting. Awesome!

We like to pick on UPS mostly here, think they are the worst. In the US they are preferred, but north of the 49th they become dysfunctional. I had some ethernet cable shipped to me via UPS about a year ago, think the roll was worth about $150 (1000' cat6a STP), but the shipping, customs, brokerage fees, and taxes were an additional $150 and had to drive to the airport to pick it up too! It was supposed to be shipped to a nearby US location (free shipping) but the shipper messed up the shipping/billing addresses. Can get really expensive sometimes! At least DHL doesn't charge for their ineptness...(so far). We just haven't dealt with DHL much, think these cameras are the only time we've dealt with DHL.
 
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