Blurry domes at night, anyway to fix this ? Pic included

[Brasseye]

Hi there, is there anyway to fix this ? there old (4 years) Hikvision domes, always cleaned properly with a microfibre cloth and plenty of rinsing first to avoid scratches but this is as good of a picture I get at night, they were fine for the first couple of years but this blurryness started slowly and has got worst and worst since.

Any ideas on how to fix or what it even is ?

Thanks.

 

[mat200]

Hi there, is there anyway to fix this ? there old (4 years) Hikvision domes, always cleaned properly with a microfibre cloth and plenty of rinsing first to avoid scratches but this is as good of a picture I get at night, they were fine for the first couple of years but this blurryness started slowly and has got worst and worst since.

Any ideas on how to fix or what it even is ?

Thanks.View attachment 141226

Hi @Brasseye

Over time the dome and components in the dome degrade.

Try video without the dome and see what you get.

Then try to clean the dome, and check the foam / rubber ring around the lens - often that has degraded and no loner keeps the IR light out of the lens .. that is the IR light bounces off the dome into the lens.

This is why we in general recommend avoiding dome cameras outdoors ..

 

[alastairstevenson]

always cleaned properly with a microfibre cloth and plenty of rinsing first to avoid scratches but this is as good of a picture I get at night, they were fine for the first couple of years but this blurryness started slowly and has got worst and worst since.

My guess would be that the cleaning regime is the cause of the progressively blurred images.
Very fine scratches that you'd only see with magnification can back-scatter the IR enough to cause the effect you are seeing.

You might have some success trying to polish a section of the dome with one of the various products that are sold to polish up scratched acrylic car headlights, then rotating the dome so the polished section is in front of the lens.
But my past experience is that you can't get the dome fully back to it's original condition.

 

[TonyR]

+1^^^.
You did clean the inside as well, right? If not, you could do that when you inspect the inside foam ring as mentioned by @mat200 .

The car headlight cleaner by @alastairstevenson is a terrific idea, IMO.