Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

[hmjgriffon]

My 5231 arrived. Im very happy with the IQ. Top is the Hik, Bottom is the 5231.
View attachment 13773 View attachment 13774

Sweet as hell ain't they? Just goes to show megapixels aren't everything lol there is so much more that goes into a nice looking image.

 

[FlipNJ]

Shipping after new year means selling again after new year on aliexpress. For those ones when we get them we all ship out same day

Got my order today. Very fast, very happy. Great job Andy! Best of luck with your brother. I will leave positive feedback on Ali express. Thanks for being on the ball.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Shipping after new year means selling again after new year on aliexpress. For those ones when we get them we all ship out same day

Great to hear, I confirmed my camera, ran it all last night, love it, can't wait to buy some more.

 

[weigle2]

so sorry other link from oscar.
here is 5231
Aliexpress.com : Buy Dahua 2MP WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera 1/2.8" H.265&H.264 IP67, PoE Micro SD card memory ip camera IPC HDW5231R Z from Reliable h.264 card suppliers on Shenzhen Jimbu security Co.,Ltd 2016 Store

Dude, I was very excited to see they have 3440 pieces in stock. NOT. When I saw this I did not bother to scroll down the listing to see they are "currently out of stock". I emailed the seller, and they are not sure when they will be in stock. Looks like another seller that lists stock (pieces available), but doesn't actually have them. So disappointed.

Since Andy posted they will have some arriving soon, I will buy from Empire. It truely is, buyer beware.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Dude, I was very excited to see they have 3440 pieces in stock. NOT. When I saw this I did not bother to scroll down the listing to see they are "currently out of stock". I emailed the seller, and they are not sure when they will be in stock. Looks like another seller that lists stock (pieces available), but doesn't actually have them. So disappointed.

Since Andy posted they will have some arriving soon, I will buy from Empire. It truely is, buyer beware.

This model main problem is the lack of the chips. the ready date at least 4 weeks, we booked 200pcs, will have enough to ship, but most of them comes in Feb. We have a crazy long holiday.2-3 weeks off, all Chinese will be this.

 

[Tic]

Hey Guys, just spent a whole night at hospital, my brother have a serious ill yesterday.But now much better.

Glad to know your brother is getting better, Andy...praying for his full recovery.

 

[weigle2]

This model main problem is the lack of the chips. the ready date at least 4 weeks, we booked 200pcs, will have enough to ship, but most of them comes in Feb. We have a crazy long holiday.2-3 weeks off, all Chinese will be this.

Thanks, Andy. Appreciate the status, and I can wait. Way too cold right now to be working outside, 3 Degrees F !

 

[RH-Atl]

Wigle2,
Not sure how many you need but according to Oscar (msg @ 9:30am today) he has 2 left on shelf (IPC-HDW5231R-Z) .
Email Oscar@jimbu.com.cn

I ordered 1 5231 along with a SD59225U-HNI at 11:15 pm 1/5/17 and had message it was in shipping (at 4:05am) when I woke up yesterday.
I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting on my new SD59225.

 

[billv]

This is probably covered elsewhere but...

What IR illuminator would people recommend. I live in the country and there are no street lights. The area I want to light up is large - at least 150' away from the camera location and 150 feet wide. I used this one for the front of my house. It's ok but since it had a rather narrow beam I had to put a freznel lens to spread it out. It's powered by AC with a power brick and I had power nearby from a LED motion light but I don't have power near by for this other location and would prefer not have to run it. I might be able to have the power brick in the house and run a 12V power extension along with the CAT6 cable - it's only about 20' from the side of the house. I don't want to use visible light since I don't want to light up the yard all night.

Ideas are appreciated.

 

[trauts14]

I have good luck with the CMVision illuminators I have from Amazon since I didn't want to spend 350 dollars on a super nice one. It is my understanding, the ones with large LEDs are better than the ones with many small LEDs. I also did what you mentioned by plugging the brick inside the house and running 12-2 cable 60feet to the illuminator.

This is probably covered elsewhere but...

What IR illuminator would people recommend. I live in the country and there are no street lights. The area I want to light up is large - at least 150' away from the camera location and 150 feet wide. I used this one for the front of my house. It's ok but since it had a rather narrow beam I had to put a freznel lens to spread it out. It's powered by AC with a power brick and I had power nearby from a LED motion light but I don't have power near by for this other location and would prefer not have to run it. I might be able to have the power brick in the house and run a 12V power extension along with the CAT6 cable - it's only about 20' from the side of the house. I don't want to use visible light since I don't want to light up the yard all night.

Ideas are appreciated.

 

[nayr]

This is probably covered elsewhere but...

What IR illuminator would people recommend. I live in the country and there are no street lights. The area I want to light up is large - at least 150' away from the camera location and 150 feet wide. I used this one for the front of my house. It's ok but since it had a rather narrow beam I had to put a freznel lens to spread it out. It's powered by AC with a power brick and I had power nearby from a LED motion light but I don't have power near by for this other location and would prefer not have to run it. I might be able to have the power brick in the house and run a 12V power extension along with the CAT6 cable - it's only about 20' from the side of the house. I don't want to use visible light since I don't want to light up the yard all night.

Ideas are appreciated.

This is the one I used in the Starlight Turret vs 4MP shootout: IR Cannon w/Adjustable Focus

It has a very even and adjustable spread.

 

[billv]

I have good luck with the CMVision illuminators I have from Amazon since I didn't want to spend 350 dollars on a super nice one. It is my understanding, the ones with large LEDs are better than the ones with many small LEDs. I also did what you mentioned by plugging the brick inside the house and running 12-2 cable 60feet to the illuminator.

Thanks for the info. I found this one on Amazon with 15 large LED, wide angle and distance range I need. Only bad comment was that it wasn't very uniform but the review was 2+ years old and might have been fixed by now. Also the description says it works at 850 NM - does the 5231 respond to that IR frequency?

 

[trauts14]

that is the newest one i bought

Thanks for the info. I found this one on Amazon with 15 large LED, wide angle and distance range I need. Only bad comment was that it wasn't very uniform but the review was 2+ years old and might have been fixed by now. Also the description says it works at 850 NM - does the 5231 respond to that IR frequency?

 

[Squeeker]

the ez-rj 45 is pricey, but I don't make cables all THAT often with how cheap they are on monoprice and using the normal cheaper connectors isn't impossible, it's just annoying, with the ez connectors you just get the wires lined up and push them all the way through and chop them off, you aren't guessing on the length and fiddling with it I can just jam it in all the way until the insulation bottoms out and snip, it was just a suggestion though, anyone else can do whatever they want lol.

The EZ plugs are pretty slick, but I didn't want to buy a new cripmer when I had a perfectly good crimper already.
Since the EZ crimper crimps and cuts the wires, I use a a pair of flush wire cutters. Works great.

 

[nayr]

Thanks for the info. I found this one on Amazon with 15 large LED, wide angle and distance range I need. Only bad comment was that it wasn't very uniform but the review was 2+ years old and might have been fixed by now. Also the description says it works at 850 NM - does the 5231 respond to that IR frequency?

It better as the built in IR on the 5231 is 850nM

 

[j4co]

I use some Chines built ones. Look here: Thoughts on this mains powered IR illuminator

In the last post i put some clips from a test i did over 30 meter.mi tested the 30 and 90 degrees versions.
There is a link there to the Chinese company,mthenmake different types.
And they have POE versions, so just a ethernet to a switch with poe or a midspan device

 

[jhallett]

I bring you the 2016 & 2017 Camera of the year! the true low light destroyer, and guess what? Its got a sensor size the same as the average man's, normal 1/2.8 Sony Exmor-R.. just proof that its not how big it is; its what you can do with it.. lol, sorry I know that was not classy but I just had to.. but enough with that crap.. now here's the meat:

View attachment 12293

This is a all metal turret, both camera and base.. you will have to take the camera apart to insert a Micro SD card, thats pretty typical.

Verdict: Quite frankly this is the best overall outdoor security camera on the market right now when it comes to a cost vs performance comparison. With Dahua's reliable firmware, software, and hardware; you wont find a better camera. If your looking for the best you can get, or looking to get the most out of your money then this is the camera your looking for. the only downsides are lack of alarm IO, and limited availability of this camera, the latter will improve with time.

The larger aperture on the varifocal models you gain quite a bit of low light performance over the fixed lens starlight models Dahua offers. Combined with the vast flexibility of the motorized varifocal lens to adjust to your environment and needs over time its worth the additional cost many times over for such premium optics. Motorized optics waste no pixels and always achieve the perfect FOV and focus, it takes all the guess work out of choosing the best lens for the location.

Have your cake and eat it too.. Night or Day, in variable lighting or complete darkness, for wide angle over view or zoomed in for maximum pixel density you get a camera that can perform everywhere, every-time. The hype around this particular camera is well deserved; if you want the highest return out of your investment in video surveillance, you want the best quality and performance you can afford.. therefore when these dont fit your budget, you need to expand your budget or save your money

Ive been scrutinizing every camera presented on these forums for the last few years; before I got my hands on this model it'd have cost you over $350 USD per camera for something at this level of quality and performance, well beyond pretty much every DIYers budget and fast approaching Dahua PTZ price ranges.

Features

• 1/2.8” 2MP progressive scan Sony Starvis Exmor-R (IMX290) CMOS
  
• H.265 & H.264 triple-stream encoding
• 50/60fps @ 1080p(1920×1080)
• Minimum Illumination: 0.006 Lux/F1.4 (Color); 0 Lux/F1.4 (IR on)
• Smart Detection supported (Facial/Tripwire/Intrusion/Audio)
• WDR(120dB), Day/Night(ICR), 3DNR, AWB, AGC, BLC
• Multiple network monitoring: Web viewer, CMS(DSS/PSS) & DMSS
• 2.7mm ~12mm motorized lens (4.4x Zoom), 97°~34° HFOV
• EXIR LEDs Distance: 50m
• IP67, PoE (802.3af) <8.5W (Idle: ~2.5W/~5W with IR)
• Micro SD card memory (128GB Max)
• Onboard Microphone

Product Page: IPC-HDW5231R-Z | Dahua Technology

Price Paid: $170/Shipped via DHL (@EMPIRETECANDY offers an additional discount to IPCTalk members)

Downloads:

• User Manual
• QuickStart Guide
• Spec Sheet

This is an international model camera, comes unmodified with english translations and is upgradable.

Shipped Firmware:
View attachment 13203

Mine is PAL, but NTSC is now available.. Makes little difference.
View attachment 12284

Label:
View attachment 13204

Micro SD Card Slot:
View attachment 12304

Mounting:

Exposure settings not related to being PAL and SmartIR is included.
View attachment 12286

IVS Features, unlike on my other dahuas you can have multiple IVS features in play at the same time.. that's fucking awesome
View attachment 12287

Low Light Demo Video, default values zoomed out

4MP vs 2MP Starlight Shootout in great lighting conditions that helps the 4MP ALOT

Live Stream Demo (not guaranteed to be online)

Sample Videos and Screen Caps coming tonight, gong to compare it to both a 3MP 4300S and 4MP Dahuas

Fliped my rig arround, now here is a head to head with a 4MP Dahua w/IR Cannon.. this is not a low light situation really, I have 10W of IR power blasting this space and wow it does great with the starlight camera!

Dahua 4MP HFW4421D-AS (6mm):
View attachment 12309

Dahua 2MP Starlight Varifocal @ Half Zoom
View attachment 12310

Hi Nayr,

I have ordered IPC-HDW5231R-Z cameras, just waiting for Andy to have stock available and was going to run my cabling to be ready. Its not too clear from the reviews and Quick start guide, but it looks like the IPC-HDW5231R-Z has a cable attached with a female RJ45 connector inside a waterproofing boot? Is that correct? Does the IPC-HDW5231R-Z come with the other half of the waterproofing boot to go be installed on my wiring? Appreciate clarification on this very much.

Thanks!

James

 

[wantafastz28]

What comes in the box... and yes a weather plug

 

[RH-Atl]

James,
Half of the waterproof boot is molded with the RJ45 female inside. The other half (boot) portion is suppllied and you insert cable through, then terminte a male RJ45 on the end of your cat cable. Once complete simple plug in RJ female then slide boot and small sealing(?) sleeve up. Turn theads to tighten boot. Of Note tho, you can not slide the boot "over" a pre terminated male plug. Best to seal with silicone however you do.

 

[nayr]

from quick start guide



once assembled you should wrap all this in some self sealing tape, like coax seal.