Camera great during day - awful at night

[bertsirkin]

I have a Hikvision DS-2CD2132F-I. When I first installed it about 2 years ago, it worked great, night and day. at some point, it started to get hazy at night. I recently replaced it with a newer IP cam, and it's fine in the exact same location. I cleaned the older cam inside and out, and installed it in a new place, but, it's just as bad. It's fine when it first switches to IR and there's still some ambient light outside, but once it gets fully dark, it looks like the attached image.

Any ideas why it gets so hazy at night?

 

[Gul-Dukat]

IR reflection?

 

[mat200]

IR reflection?

I have a Hikvision DS-2CD2132F-I...
Any ideas why it gets so hazy at night?

updated:

Hi bertsirkin ,

Sounds like Gui-Dukat is on to a possible suspect. As it is a dome perhaps the foam ( ring around the lens ) inside the dome has decayed over time and is now letting IR light into the lens at night?

 

[bertsirkin]

Hi Gui-Dukat,
Sounds like bertsirkin is on to a possible suspect. As it is a dome perhaps the foam inside the dome has decayed over time and is now letting IR light into the lens at night?

What foam is inside? I don't remember seeing anything inside the dome that didn't look good. There's a lens/IR unit mounted on a circuit board with a dome over it - I don't remember seeing anything that looked like foam.

I don't think It's IR reflection from outside the unit. I replaced this cam in the same place with a new one, and it's fine. This older cam is doing the same thing in both places. So, whatever it is, has something to do with this cam.

 

[aristobrat]

https://www.hikvision.com/ueditor/net/upload/2015-06-10/99361bb6-27d5-482a-aaf3-2cdc32f835d1.pdf

 

[Mr_D]

It could even be a simple misalignment of the foam. When I opened my Dahua eyeball to install an SD card, the foam ring around the lens got pushed back a little during re-assembly. I had to open it again and slide the foam out until it was almost falling off the cylinder around the lens before it would make contact with the piece of glass on the front of the eyeball.

 

[aristobrat]

Yup, that was pretty much what the Hikvision support doc above demonstrates (and also why domes are my least preferred styles)!

 

[bertsirkin]

https://www.hikvision.com/ueditor/net/upload/2015-06-10/99361bb6-27d5-482a-aaf3-2cdc32f835d1.pdf

It could even be a simple misalignment of the foam. When I opened my Dahua eyeball to install an SD card, the foam ring around the lens got pushed back a little during re-assembly. I had to open it again and slide the foam out until it was almost falling off the cylinder around the lens before it would make contact with the piece of glass on the front of the eyeball.

Yup, that was pretty much what the Hikvision support doc above demonstrates (and also why domes are my least preferred styles)!

The foam ring seems to be the issue. I'll have to climb the ladder again to see if I can re-position it, or maybe replace it with some black foam, if I can find some.

Thanks aristobrat & Mr_D - I'll let you know what happens once I get back up to the camera.

 

[bertsirkin]

I got back up on the ladder and pulled off the dome. The "foam" was more like cardboard - very dense and thin. I pulled it off and made a similar ring out of neoprene, which was thicker. I glued it on with black silicone seal. Now, at night, it's a bit better, but still not good. One of the issues I may be having is the camera needs to be aimed so the lens is all the way towards the edge of the dome. Doing that, covers about 30% of the IR LEDs.

I'm thinking the best way for me to go is just replace the dome cam with a turret camera.

 

[tangent]

I got back up on the ladder and pulled off the dome. The "foam" was more like cardboard - very dense and thin. I pulled it off and made a similar ring out of neoprene, which was thicker. I glued it on with black silicone seal. Now, at night, it's a bit better, but still not good. One of the issues I may be having is the camera needs to be aimed so the lens is all the way towards the edge of the dome. Doing that, covers about 30% of the IR LEDs.

I'm thinking the best way for me to go is just replace the dome cam with a turret camera.

out gassing from silicones can be trouble. a turret upgrade is a good option.

 

[Mike A.]

That's kinda funny. I have that same cam and basically same experience. Just replaced the foam ring with my own thicker version made from craft foam this weekend. Though I don't know that mine ever really worked all that great to begin with. The multi-LED IR ring design isn't the best inside a dome and it's relatively weak. Same as you, I have it tilted up so some of that also is blocked and there's more glare off of the edge which doesn't help. Move it down and give it some light and it's a pretty decent little cam. Otherwise... meh. I got mine real cheap and it's just used as an added cam for over watch so no big deal here. I'd be disappointed if that weren't the case. If it were one that I relied on, then I'd replace it too.