After some trouble with the vacant house next door I am wishing I had a camera that would acquire readable license plates, as cars drive past my house. Who here has experience with that? Thanks.
Mailbox or curbside camera?
- Thread starter davej
- Start date
J Sigmo
Known around here
- Feb 5, 2018
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This will depend on how your lot is laid out with respect to the street, etc.
In my location, I have yet to figure out any practical way to implement license plate reading short of a continuously-hovering drone, or maybe a dummy-car parked on the street itself acting as a camera mount.
The main problem is that parked cars, including my own will block the view from my property to the street.
Hmmm. Dummy car might be the answer. It has to be licensed and insured, but...
In my location, I have yet to figure out any practical way to implement license plate reading short of a continuously-hovering drone, or maybe a dummy-car parked on the street itself acting as a camera mount.
The main problem is that parked cars, including my own will block the view from my property to the street.
Hmmm. Dummy car might be the answer. It has to be licensed and insured, but...
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
Look up lpr or license plate read on the forum.
An lpr camera if set up correctly will capture only the license plate .nothing else. You will need a second camera to get an overall view of the street and car.
LPR Walk Through / Tutorial
An lpr camera if set up correctly will capture only the license plate .nothing else. You will need a second camera to get an overall view of the street and car.
LPR Walk Through / Tutorial
yes, getting clear view of plates from the house set back some ways can be tricky. you can go a bit higher (to see over parked cars) as the distances are usually long enough to not make the angle too bad, and/or you can aim out past driveway cuts (if any nearby) where there will generally not be a car blocking the view of plates further out.
Even so, you may occasionally be blocked by a parked van or truck, which is why i run one LPR cam in each direction (up & down the street.) This has the added benefit of giving you two shots at any passing car, in case they are missing a front or back plate, or it's otherwise obscured...
presumably, a mailbox near a curb cut shoudl have relatively un-impeded view for catching plates,
assuming you can run an ethernet out there (or have power for a wifi cam)
edit: I'm at ~22ft height, and 30-40 degrees offset from vehicle line of travel, at about 80 and 100ft total distance with 50mm lens on 1/3" sensor @ 2MP.
Even so, you may occasionally be blocked by a parked van or truck, which is why i run one LPR cam in each direction (up & down the street.) This has the added benefit of giving you two shots at any passing car, in case they are missing a front or back plate, or it's otherwise obscured...
presumably, a mailbox near a curb cut shoudl have relatively un-impeded view for catching plates,
assuming you can run an ethernet out there (or have power for a wifi cam)
edit: I'm at ~22ft height, and 30-40 degrees offset from vehicle line of travel, at about 80 and 100ft total distance with 50mm lens on 1/3" sensor @ 2MP.
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J Sigmo
Known around here
- Feb 5, 2018
- 996
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I guess I always imagined that the camera would need to be mounted low to get a more direct-on view of the plates and not be at such an oblique angle to the plane of the plate. But from higher, you would have a bit of an advantage regarding the headlights blinding the camera.
To see a car far enough down the street here, from the house, would also put trees in the way for my situation.
I would need the cameras to be located out past the trees and up high enough to see over parked cars. And that really does seem impractical here.
To see a car far enough down the street here, from the house, would also put trees in the way for my situation.
I would need the cameras to be located out past the trees and up high enough to see over parked cars. And that really does seem impractical here.
Thank you. I was not aware of the LPR sub-forum. I have a corner house so parked cars are not an issue, however hiding and securing the camera would be a major challenge.
tangent
IPCT Contributor
- May 12, 2016
- 4,641
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Okay, my house has the red roof. The house with the brown roof is vacant and is attracting unwanted visitors. My property lines are approximated by the red lines. I was hoping to capture the license plates of the vehicles driving on Haw Rd.
EOppie
n3wb
- Mar 23, 2014
- 16
- 15
pardon the crappy graphics, but here are some ideas:
green dots - cam to pick up plates on MIll Rd in both directions.
yellow dot - assuming you have some line of sight below/above/through the trees there,
cam to get plates on Haw road near neighboring driveway. alternate location might be at the back of the house
(right of the yellow dot in this picture) if there's a clear view through the trees there.
distance can be overcome. trees not so much...
if that's not an option due to obstructed views, then a cam or two in a mailbox-type unit
out by the road (blue dot), assuming you can run ethernet and/or power out there...
green dots - cam to pick up plates on MIll Rd in both directions.
yellow dot - assuming you have some line of sight below/above/through the trees there,
cam to get plates on Haw road near neighboring driveway. alternate location might be at the back of the house
(right of the yellow dot in this picture) if there's a clear view through the trees there.
distance can be overcome. trees not so much...
if that's not an option due to obstructed views, then a cam or two in a mailbox-type unit
out by the road (blue dot), assuming you can run ethernet and/or power out there...
tangent
IPCT Contributor
- May 12, 2016
- 4,641
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The angle on your yellow dot looks a little steep, I'd aim right for the intersection of that driveway and street. For LPR OpenALPR recommends the camera be less than 30 degrees to the side of the plate (steeper angles may be human readable). Trees look like the biggest problem.
yup. especially since it's winter now and will be more overgrown come summer & fall.
How about going higher? could you put a TV-antenna-type pole on your roof with a cam or 3 on it?
could that get you a view over the trees toward the parking lot entrance?
or maybe from the roof line of the second floor in back?
I get decent recognition at ~40 degrees from the road...
My best option is probably near the mailbox (blue dot) however it would need to be hidden and armored against damage.
My next question would be for any proven megapixel/lens/distance charts?
My next question would be for any proven megapixel/lens/distance charts?
put your address into the IPVM calculator and add a cam or two at:
IPVM Camera Calculator V3
PPF of 100 or more is your target for reliable LPR.
IPVM Camera Calculator V3
PPF of 100 or more is your target for reliable LPR.
tangent
IPCT Contributor
- May 12, 2016
- 4,641
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I think that white flowerpot with two illuminated red rings of IR LEDs might attract the wrong kind of attention from teen thugs at 2am.
bigredfish
Known around here
Really if you're going to go with the mailbox location, you dont need anything too exotic. You'll be more or less straight on at 20-30ft. A regular 5231E-ZE should work fine. If you want to allow yourself a little more distance go up to the Z5
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/allProducts/1/2711?tab=2751
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