External IR illumination

[RobFromLI]

Hi All,

I'm new to the site but I've been using Foscam IP cameras for a couple years or so. I am looking to improve my ability to see outside at night with the ability to PTZ. I've had the usual trouble with trying to point a camera out a window - IR illumination reflection kills that idea. I've tried putting a FI19810 outside under an awning as I've read even in the Foscam instructions that this is acceptable as long as there is no direct water exposure, but I found that the camera gets condensation inside and quits working after a single night (I live on eastern Long Island in NY). I am now wanting to try simply disabling the IR LED's on the camera (yes not easy I know) and use an external IR illuminator. Problem I'm having is every single illuminator I can find has horrible reviews talking about how the LEDs die over a short period of time. Even the loose LED's that I find have the same kind of reviews (I was thinking about rolling my own). I looked into a high quality dome camera designed to have the IR work through the dome but even there it seems that the dome can get fogged up / shmutzy and result in IR reflection.

What I'm wondering is, does anyone here either know of a good quality reliable external IR illuminator or else have a better solution?

 

[fenderman]

else have a better solution?

Welcome to the forum...ditch the low resolution VGA foscam and buy a 1080p outdoor hikvision camera for about 100 dollars..problem solved.

 

[RobFromLI]

Welcome to the forum...ditch the low resolution VGA foscam and buy a 1080p outdoor hikvision camera for about 100 dollars..problem solved.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm not worried about the resolution, the Foscam's have served me well including a fixed position one I have pointed at my front door. My problem is i really need a PTZ to cover all the areas of my yard because of how the facade of my house is shaped and how close the trees are and I don't really want one in a globe because of the IR reflection issues and the possibility of the globe getting fogged up. I can put a ptz inside the house pointed out a window or in some sort of other protected enclosure but I need external IR illumination due to the reflection issues encountered otherwise. I do see that Hikvision has a globe based outdoor PTZ for about $450 - anyone have any experience with them? Does the globe get fogged over time?

 

[Sean Nelson]

I have bought some cheap illuminators on Ebay before and they never really caused me any issues. I think perhaps the issues that most people have with those illuminators are improper weatherproofing of the connectors which probably causes shorting in the circuitry. As long as you weatherproof the power connections, those LEDS should last you a long time.

But yeah I agree, an outdoor PTZ would serve you better. Putting a PTZ inside a window pointing out severely limits your field of view options with a PTZ. You are using maybe 35% of your PTZ viewing angles. If you put an outdoor PTZ say on the corner of your house, you get way more viewing angles that way. Heck even putting it on a flat wall would give you more than what you have now. Put it on a pole, now your really talking, but I understand thats not always an option on a residence.

You really need an outdoor rated IR PTZ to make this work, not one with a globe. All of the IR ptz's do not have globes on them for the very reason you stated, IR reflection. The only downside is that everyone can see the PTZ move, but unless someone is staring right at the thing, noone will notice.