Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

Hi guys,
first of all thank you for your valuable informations and feedback about the hdw-5231 starlight camera.

I'm willing to buy some of them (4 to start and probably later I will add 3 or 4 more) and I was wondering which kind of NVR I need.
I think that a 8 POE (embedded POE if possible such that I will not need a switch?) is enough. Moreover if it supports up to 8MP would be also nice.

What do you think? Can you give me some hint?

Thank you!

@EMPIRETECANDY I sent you an email about IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 2MP with some questions. Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks!
 
Hi guys,
first of all thank you for your valuable informations and feedback about the hdw-5231 starlight camera.

I'm willing to buy some of them (4 to start and probably later I will add 3 or 4 more) and I was wondering which kind of NVR I need.
I think that a 8 POE (embedded POE if possible such that I will not need a switch?) is enough. Moreover if it supports up to 8MP would be also nice.

What do you think? Can you give me some hint?

Thank you!

@EMPIRETECANDY I sent you an email about IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 2MP with some questions. Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks!

I recommend the 16 ch version of this one: NVR5208/5216/5232-8P-4KS2 | Dahua Technology
16 ch vs 8 is minimal increase in cost, and futureproofs you.

Lots of questions answered here: Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
 
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Is the setup and interface more complex on the ZE Model ?
Other than being able to zoom in a little more, I don’t think there’s any difference in the interface.
 
thx weigle2
i dont have CAMERA-AUDIO on screen is it maybe because its nvr with poe ports ?

AFAIK, it's accessible on only the camera WebGUI. Meaning you need to connect to the camera's IP via plugging a computer into the an available ethernet port on the NVR, setting your PC to use an IP address in the same subnet as the NVR. Once that's done launch a web browser and connect to the IP of the camera, and log into the WebGUI of the camera.
 
Last night and this morning I received the first of two emails regarding an illegal access attempt. It wasn’t me, but I need to look and see what device has the IP address (from my secure subnet) of the “perp”, unless this is a false alarm.

Strange, but I am glad I set up the notifications for this. Here is the email text from the second alert for reference:

Alarm Event: Illegal Access

Alarm Input Channel: 1

Alarm Start Time(D/M/Y H:M:S): 24/01/2018 06:01:24

Alarm Device Name: Camera Serial number

Alarm Name:

IP Address: 10.10.3.32

Illegal Access IP: 10.10.2.107



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last night and this morning I received the first of two emails regarding an illegal access attempt. It wasn’t me, but I need to look and see what device has the IP address (from my secure subnet) of the “perp”, unless this is a false alarm.

Strange, but I am glad I set up the notifications for this. Here is the email text from the second alert for reference:

Alarm Event: Illegal Access

Alarm Input Channel: 1

Alarm Start Time(D/M/Y H:M:S): 24/01/2018 06:01:24

Alarm Device Name: Camera Serial number

Alarm Name:

IP Address: 10.10.3.32

Illegal Access IP: 10.10.2.107



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Are the cams blocked from accessing the Internet? That's essential in my mind as you would not need to worry about alot of things happening in the background. VPN access, and blocking all cams and NVR access to the Internet is highly recommended. It's really not hard to do.

If everything is already blocked, I would worry about something like a PC or IOT device being compromised with some sort of Malware. That's more common than you think.
 
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Yes they are. All IoT devices are on a separate (insecure) LAN subnet via my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter. This was set up using the WAN2LAN2 Wizard, and then I further restricted camera access to the internet and the secure LAN with firewall rules. I’m not worried, but am curious to see what device supposedly did this.

I have two 5231’s by the way, and not a peep from the other one, so it is possible this could be a hardware issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last night and this morning I received the first of two emails regarding an illegal access attempt. It wasn’t me, but I need to look and see what device has the IP address (from my secure subnet) of the “perp”, unless this is a false alarm.

Strange, but I am glad I set up the notifications for this. Here is the email text from the second alert for reference:

Alarm Event: Illegal Access

Alarm Input Channel: 1

Alarm Start Time(D/M/Y H:M:S): 24/01/2018 06:01:24

Alarm Device Name: Camera Serial number

Alarm Name:

IP Address: 10.10.3.32

Illegal Access IP: 10.10.2.107



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It turns out this was one of my Fire tablets I had set up TinyCam Monitor Pro on. I changed the IP addresses of the cameras recently, and the tablet must have woken up and tried to connect. And I just received another email when I checked on the tablet to verify it had TinyCam Monitor Pro, so the alerts are working as designed.
 
slow way can save some money, but that slow way is very hard to control, these cams not cheap, if lost the parcels we can't do anything to find them. So better use reliable one, costs little more.
 
Had a bit more time to play with the settings on this camera tonight, and I cannot find the WDR settings. Is there anything that would remove it as an option?

ETA: Never mind. Somehow I had changed the profile to "day" vs. "normal". All options returned once going back to normal. Dohhh

ETA2: It was actually changing the exposure from indoor to outdoor that did it.
 
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Installed the varifocal turrets this week,One thing i have noticed is i'm getting a ring or "halo" appearing at night.


Camera settings are pretty much default and it appears around 1/4 zoom to full zoom. (it gets smaller as you zoom in)

Is this a common issue or have i stupidly left a piece of protective wrap located on the front glass.


image attached
 

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Installed the varifocal turrets this week,One thing i have noticed is i'm getting a ring or "halo" appearing at night.


Camera settings are pretty much default and it appears around 1/4 zoom to full zoom. (it gets smaller as you zoom in)

Is this a common issue or have i stupidly left a piece of protective wrap located on the front glass.


image attached
Is it just at night?

You could be getting IR light reflecting back into the camera causing a sort of lens flare. I've had that issue when one of my cameras was aimed too high and the emitters we're shining on the soffits.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
Is it just at night?

You could be getting IR light reflecting back into the camera causing a sort of lens flare. I've had that issue when one of my cameras was aimed too high and the emitters we're shining on the soffits.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


Yeah its only happening at night. It is possible that its a little bit too high


A different hikvision i replaced with a Dahua at the same time, had problems at night as it was getting washed out (WDR was off . exposure was 1/250 and brightness was pretty much off and it still looked like the sun was hovering a couple of meters above the roof of my house) As it had a 12 LED IR Illuminator pointing at its field of view. (hikvision 2342 + IR was pulling around 22W according to the switch)
Now with the Dahua installed it looks great on the back of the house and the image is not washed out!
 
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Just tried the following,


Adjusted the camera height, the ring disappears but that height is no good, 12mm is straight on the ground 4M in front of the camera.



turned off the IR on the Hikvision facing the same direction as the dahua camera and the ring disappears.



Turned the IR back on the hikvision, change the smart supplement manual value to 17 and the ring disappears.




The Dahua I've got out the back , had the 12 Led IR, another Hikvision pointing at it and a 6 LED IR pointing in that direction and no ring. I changed the Dahua to corridor mode and still not getting any rings appearing.


Might need to order another Dahua from Andy and chuck the hikvision in the the graveyard.


Below is an example of how badly hikvisions turrets react to heavy IR scenes, turned all the camera's off and IR out the backyard yard, probably 15-20m from the hikvision turrent. It gets worse if you turn on "Smart IR"

From Dark to scorched earth in seconds.
 

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Just a guess, but look for something reflecting the IR into the 5231R from the Hikivision or, alternately, re-orient one of them slightly.