Darkfighter lpr night vision issues

S

sdiamond808

Getting the hang of it
Jul 2, 2017
117
14
I got a hikvision darkfigjter with LPR. Works great during the day.

My street is very dark, and at night it switches to night mode. Issue is, I can't read the license plate at night. Just shows a white square.

Any settings I can change so LPR works in night mode?

Thank you
 
You need a faster shutter at night, like 1/1000 or 1/2000.

Unless you have stadium quality light, the image will be black except for when a plate comes by:

1642872609586.png
 
So leave in day mode all the time, black image except when a car comes by?

I tried the faster shutter speed but in night mode its still bad.
 
Is it an actual LPR camera or a camera you are using to capture plates?

Provide model number and screenshots of our field of view and camera settings.

The darkfighter may not have infrared capabilities and if it doesn't then you won't capture plates at night.

The only way to capture plates at that shutter speed is infrared reflecting off the plates at night. Unless of course you have stadium quality lighting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sebastiantombs
It's a hikvision DS-2CD7A26G0. I know the angle isn't perfect, but I just moved and that is the only location for it. During the day I can get license plates easy. At night it shifts to night mode and it's whited out.
 

Attachments

  • New Device 01_34_20220122150338850.jpg
    New Device 01_34_20220122150338850.jpg
    532.5 KB · Views: 51
These threads talk mainly about Dahua models, but there are Hikvision equivalents that will do the same things. The principals are the same no matter what brand the camera may be -

LPR

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

LPR

Licence Plate Reader cameras
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

Review-Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E AI Varifocal Bullet

Courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY at Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group And EmpireTech-Andy @ Amazon.com: Price Approximately $220US shipped via DHL...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
Like I said, it is because you are running too slow of a shutter and too high of a gain. You should see basically nothing but headlight and plate like my example above. I can see your whole neighborhood in that image.

That shutter looks like it is no faster than 1/30 and it needs to be a minimum of 1/1,000
 
  • Like
Reactions: CCTVCam
I was going to ask if that was a tracked vehicle or a car based on how many wheels are under it in that capture. Definitely needs a faster shutter speed and some brightness/contrast adjustments. It's all a balancing act.
 
Shutter speed is 1/1000. Should I turn off night mode and use only day? If I don't need to see that much I think night mode is worthless. If I leave it in day mode, it is pitch black until a car pulls up and I can see the plate.

Also there is no gain setting
 
No way that shutter speed is 1/1000. That image is too bright. 1/30 shutter tops. Look at that white plate - that is indicative of a slow shutter.

If you want to get plates and keeping it in day mode at night gets you the plate then go with it. Day mode is probably actually running a faster shutter.

Look at my picture - that is what LPR looks like at night.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sebastiantombs
The shutter setting needs to be set at "manual" and not "shutter priority" or anything other than "manual".
 
The shutter speed is 1/1000. It's white because of the smart light feature. I turned that off and now it's darker, but the image is very grainy when a car drives up
 
Then the camera is overriding a setting someone because 1/1000 wouldn't be that bright with the LED light on the camera. 1/1000 will get a plate capture.

I suspect the camera is set on auto gain and it is pegged out at 100 for the plate to be all white and the grainy you get.

Post a screenshot/video of this and screenshots of your camera settings so we can see if it is even possible.

I believe that model of Darkfighter has infrared and if so, you need to manually set it to full blast. Smart feature will not give it enough.

And you really should zoom it in a little more too.
 
Last edited:
Need to see what is under each of those settings.

Somewhere in there has to be hidden gain or AGC or something to that effect because there are other parameters that are overriding the 1/1,000 shutter.
 
Let me see if I can attach all these pictures
 

Attachments

  • 20220123_190522.jpg
    20220123_190522.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 25
  • 20220123_190517.jpg
    20220123_190517.jpg
    2.2 MB · Views: 24
  • 20220123_190510.jpg
    20220123_190510.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 23
  • 20220123_190505.jpg
    20220123_190505.jpg
    2.2 MB · Views: 21
  • 20220123_190500.jpg
    20220123_190500.jpg
    2.7 MB · Views: 20
  • 20220123_190455.jpg
    20220123_190455.jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 21
  • 20220123_190450.jpg
    20220123_190450.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 24
  • 20220122_181637.jpg
    20220122_181637.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 21
  • 20220123_185718.jpg
    20220123_185718.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 26
I bet you are hitting that Jim Beam trying to fix this LOL.

OK noise reduction is way too high. Drop that to 40 or so. Remember the purpose of this camera is to capture a plate and nothing else. NR that high will blur the image.

Turn HLC on at like 50

This camera see's infrared correct? If so change the Smart Management Light to manual and set it to full blast IR.

Gain is hidden somewhere - I remember someone said it has to do with a particular setting - if you are running one setting you don't see it. Let me see if I can find that again.

In the meantime lets see if this gets it going.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sebastiantombs
Found it - you can't adjust the gain when the Day/Night Switch is set to Auto... and the gain is set to 100 when the Day/Night Switch is set to Auto.

So you have to take it off auto and then you should get the gain control option.

1642987005778.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: sebastiantombs
So what do I turn day/night to? Scheduled switch, triggered by alarm input or triggered by video?

Gain is set to 20. That work?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom