Auxiliary IR Illuminator for LPR

JPmedia said:
Still a bit out of my price range at $299. I'm looking for something under $150
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There is a saying here "buy once, cry once" and that applies to additional IR for LPR purposes as well.

Because of the shutter speed we run, the effective distances of IR blasters is cut tremendously because the faster the shutter, the more light is needed.

Mine is similar to yours at 175 feet and I wanted the plates to pop a little more.

I first tried to add this $40 blaster that claims 263 feet. With a parked car plate in the field of view I could not tell a difference between turning the blaster on and off. Fortunately I could repurpose it to another camera.

Next the $45 Tendelux DI20 is highly recommended. Same thing with a parked car plate in the field of view I could not tell a difference between turning the blaster on and off. Fortunately I could repurpose it to another camera.

Next someone suggested they got good results with the $90 Iluminar IRC99 blaster. Unfortunately same thing. Couldn't tell a difference.

So I am up to $175+tax on blasters that didn't cut it.

Got the $300 and it was too hot LOL. Even changing shutter speed and other parameters to tone it down, I was still missing the same dirty/paper plates I was before. Went back to just camera IR.

TL : DR - based on what you have posted, your images are fine and spending more money isn't going to get you any better results.

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JPmedia said:
What is the distance to capture point and what are your night settings for shutter and gain? I'm running at 1/1000 for shutter and 20 - 50 for gain

I don't think 32mm will be long enough for the distance here. The distance from the camera lens to capture point is roughly 170 feet. The Z2 has a 5mm - 60mm zoom, the Z4 only an 8mm - 32mm zoom
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im guessing its over 100 feet. the house is 50 feet long. so estimate from there by car length's? gain 50. 1/500 or 1/1000 both work. but 1/500 seems to get a better percentage.
everybody's plates are salt encrusted this week. so plates don't jump out like they do in other times of the year.

image_2025-01-18_113651997.pngimage_2025-01-18_114258827.pngimage_2025-01-18_114458307.png
 
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wittaj said:
Personally I don't recommend the Z4E for distances past 60 feet.

Sure under ideal conditions you can stretch the distance, but then it probably involves digital zoom.

Most here want the plate as large as possible and that usually means a tight field of view not much bigger than the size of a vehicle.
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I agree. You rarely get ideal conditions and, in most cases, due to property setbacks, the camera is mounted too far away from the edge of the road, leaving a larger camera angle than recommended for LPR use.

I’ve experienced the very same thing here – LPR east camera is 170 feet away from capture point and can get perfect still images, even at higher speeds. The LPR west camera only has a distance of 90 feet away from capture point due to the turn and a sharper angle. The LPR west can get somewhat blurry/double image still shots in lower light conditions, just before sunset. Fortunately, the turn does slow them a bit, which helps, but it still happens.

If the cameras were mounted closer to the road with angles less than 30 degrees, it would be ideal, but you rarely get that situation. Our setbacks here in central Florida are minimum 25 feet from the property line and then there’s still the 10 to 15 feet of city property from the property line to the edge of the pavement. I’d say were doing pretty well with the limitations presented. As long as you can extract an identifiable tag number.
 
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I have an generation earlier z-12 that would good/better but it needs a new moisture absorption bag installed. (fogs up)
And it's starting to look like I'm a paranoid drug dealer with 3 camera hanging off the house over there.
we've noticed a down tick in the real drug dealers ( kidding/sort of) idling their cars and doing whatever while facing the camera in the Lot across the street.
This was after the recent resurrection of the color 4kT 180 with it's LED's. It also has been a Debbie downer for street parking we noticed this fall
before the Nov1 Winter parking rules went in effect. ( no overnight parking 1am-5am)
image_2025-01-18_120951599.png
 
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JPmedia said:
That looks great. I'll have to pick one of these up. Have you experienced any issues with the supplied power supply? That seems to be the most common complaint on IR illuminators in general
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No its been fine for 3 years now. Last one lasted just shy of 5

I get the whole blaster tight focus thing, but for $45 it gets the job done easily at 110-120' and I think it will do fine at 170' esp with the camera IR on as well.. Also remember the capture area is 15-20 ft long Its not a single pinpoint spot. IMHO you're pushing the limits of the Z12 beyond that range. The one I showed is at a 30 degree angle, I would consider moving your target point closer and see how things do with more IR. Its a cheap test
 
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wittaj said:
Next the $45 Tendelux DI20 is highly recommended. Same thing with a parked car plate in the field of view I could not tell a difference between turning the blaster on and off. Fortunately I could repurpose it to another camera.
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I keep forgetting about the newer models. Mine is the older 18W. In theory the 20 watt will do even better. I've just always perceived better light with the bigger LED's. No data to back that up!
 
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Flintstone61 said:
I have an generation earlier z-12 that would good/better but it needs a new moisture absorption bag installed. (fogs up)
And it's starting to look like I'm a paranoid drug dealer with 3 camera hanging off the house over there.
we've noticed a down tick in the real drug dealers ( kidding/sort of) idling their cars and doing whatever while facing the camera in the Lot across the street.
This was after the recent resurrection of the color 4kT 180 with it's LED's. It also has been a Debbie downer for street parking we noticed this fall
before the Nov1 Winter parking rules went in effect. ( no overnight parking 1am-5am)
View attachment 212347
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We don't get snow here in Florida, so I would guess that a similar image here would need a lot more light. Snow does a good job of diffusing available light, which helps considerably to get evenly lit images.
 
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Flintstone61 said:
... it's starting to look like I'm a paranoid drug dealer with 3 cameras hanging off the house over there.
... we've noticed a down tick in the real drug dealers (kidding/sort of) idling their cars and doing whatever while facing the camera in the Lot across the street.
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I never paid attention to traffic on the intersection of our two streets (we're on a corner with a cul-de-sac, as seen from the image I posted on the first page), but since we installed cameras - especially LPR cameras, it seems there are a lot of "repeat customers" that drive back and forth during the day and night. On the weekend, it seems business picks up substantially. And a higher class of vehicles with completely blacked out windows make an appearance in the neighborhood.

I love it when they go around the outside of the cult-de-sac, I guess trying to avoid our cameras - it's always the same vehicles. We have 270-degree coverage (not including the back yard), so they just look shady doing so.

I will say that some regulars have decided to use the street behind us to leave the neighborhood, but we have a camera that monitors the intersection of that road and the road with our LPR cameras, so we see them, we just don't get tag info (most of them we already have though ;)
 
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JPmedia said:
We don't get snow here in Florida, so I would guess that a similar image here would need a lot more light. Snow does a good job of diffusing available light, which helps considerably to get evenly lit images.
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Lets hope that holds true this coming week!

Yep, get the fish scales on that and one of my 4K-X bullets. There may be some way to solve it but I havent found it. I think its the cheap SOC being used
 
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Yeah we see that trailing tail or fish gill type look in some situations and I think that is some of what is seen off the bumper. Here is an example of what it looks like - notice this fish gill look in red and comet trail in yellow:

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Annoying, but the plate can still be read. You could try to lower contrast to get rid of it, but then risk getting the plate.

I have learned to try not to chase perfection because there will always be a plate that can't be read. I adjust it to capture one type of plate and then it can't read the plate it could previously sort of thing.
 
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bigredfish said:
Lets hope that holds true this coming week!
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I don't think we'll see any frozen precipitation here. We're about 30 miles south of Cape Canaveral and about 9 miles from the ocean due east. The forecast I seen had possible wintry weather mix in the panhandle and northern Florida.
 
JPmedia said:
I don't think we'll see any frozen precipitation here. We're about 30 miles south of Cape Canaveral and about 9 miles from the ocean due east. The forecast I seen had possible wintry weather mix in the panhandle and northern Florida.
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Im up in Lake County, they're calling for ice in Gainsville, too close!
 
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-17 -18 forecast for low Monday. That's almost as cold as it gets in the Twin Cities.
 
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