My post here is about IR LED's and lighting strategies. For years I've tried to get away with placing a few cameras in windows, and you realize that you can't use the camera's own IR light when you do that, so you look for external IR lights.
What I've found on ebay are advertised as 10 (or more) watt IR lamps in weatherproof housings for $30 (direct from China). I've bought a few of these, but haven't been happy with the weather-proof aspect of them. So I've taken them apart to see what they're all about. They use Epistar LED modules, either a 3 x 3 matrix of LED's (for the 10 Watt units) or higher density and larger die for up to 100 watts (!). The illuminators have a built-in switching power supply (that is crudly mounted inside the enclosure) and it adds heat to the units in addition to the LED module. I found that these power supplies do not power the LED's at their full rated potential, probably because of heat issues. They also don't have auto on/off mechanism (to come on only at night) - well maybe some do.
So I've taken them apart, tossed the power supplies and re-wired them in series and powered them from an external power supply. I've mounted them in an adjacent window to the camera to prevent glare from the led's to read the camera. So there is no cover lens, the LED's are able to radiate heat much better. I know this is a rube goldberg setup, I'll improve on it later.
A second camera (HDW2431) that I've relied less on in the past I've now mounted outside. I thought great - I can now turn on it's IR light for night viewing and see how I can tweak the camera's event detection to detect 2-legged raccoons. That's when I discovered a problem. I don't know if it's dust, or bugs, and sometimes rain, but there's way too many zippy little things that trigger motion detection.
The solution, which is too bad, is to again not use the camera's own IR light but mount other IR lights adjacent to the camera. I figure that these zippy things get too close to the camera and get over-illuminated by the light. So if the lights are mounted probably even a few feet away (to the left or right or above or below) then that should solve the problem.
So now I'm looking for LED modules (I'm not going to buy entire IR illuminators again). I'll wire up the modules the way I want, power them with the right voltage and current, and place them as necessary.
Normally my go-to for discrete electronics is Digikey, sometimes Mouser. The best that Digikey has are made by New Energy. Single LED, Starboard product line. They consume about 5 watts and put out about 1.3 watts of IR. About $11 each. Mouser has some Osram mounted LED's that consume 8.5 watts (no mention of IR output) but these cost like $30.
Ebay is again my only source I can find for discrete Epistar LED modules, The 10 watt (3 x 3) module is like $6 direct from China (I'm sure the price is lower on Aliexpress and I've toyed with the idea of buying on that platform in the past but I think I'll pass for now and stick with ebay). I think I'll go straight to a 20-watt module for $12, buy a few of those and see how they solve my IR illumination needs. If I get really crazy I'll tap into the lights in the camera and physically disable them while externalizing their source leads to use as a control signal to turn on and off my external LED setup. Essentially convert the camera's internal LED power supply to use as a control signal to power a relay to switch on and off my external lights.
But I was wondering if anyone else on this board has putzed around with their own IR solution using discrete LED's and modules and what has gotten you the best bang for the buck.
What I've found on ebay are advertised as 10 (or more) watt IR lamps in weatherproof housings for $30 (direct from China). I've bought a few of these, but haven't been happy with the weather-proof aspect of them. So I've taken them apart to see what they're all about. They use Epistar LED modules, either a 3 x 3 matrix of LED's (for the 10 Watt units) or higher density and larger die for up to 100 watts (!). The illuminators have a built-in switching power supply (that is crudly mounted inside the enclosure) and it adds heat to the units in addition to the LED module. I found that these power supplies do not power the LED's at their full rated potential, probably because of heat issues. They also don't have auto on/off mechanism (to come on only at night) - well maybe some do.
So I've taken them apart, tossed the power supplies and re-wired them in series and powered them from an external power supply. I've mounted them in an adjacent window to the camera to prevent glare from the led's to read the camera. So there is no cover lens, the LED's are able to radiate heat much better. I know this is a rube goldberg setup, I'll improve on it later.
A second camera (HDW2431) that I've relied less on in the past I've now mounted outside. I thought great - I can now turn on it's IR light for night viewing and see how I can tweak the camera's event detection to detect 2-legged raccoons. That's when I discovered a problem. I don't know if it's dust, or bugs, and sometimes rain, but there's way too many zippy little things that trigger motion detection.
The solution, which is too bad, is to again not use the camera's own IR light but mount other IR lights adjacent to the camera. I figure that these zippy things get too close to the camera and get over-illuminated by the light. So if the lights are mounted probably even a few feet away (to the left or right or above or below) then that should solve the problem.
So now I'm looking for LED modules (I'm not going to buy entire IR illuminators again). I'll wire up the modules the way I want, power them with the right voltage and current, and place them as necessary.
Normally my go-to for discrete electronics is Digikey, sometimes Mouser. The best that Digikey has are made by New Energy. Single LED, Starboard product line. They consume about 5 watts and put out about 1.3 watts of IR. About $11 each. Mouser has some Osram mounted LED's that consume 8.5 watts (no mention of IR output) but these cost like $30.
Ebay is again my only source I can find for discrete Epistar LED modules, The 10 watt (3 x 3) module is like $6 direct from China (I'm sure the price is lower on Aliexpress and I've toyed with the idea of buying on that platform in the past but I think I'll pass for now and stick with ebay). I think I'll go straight to a 20-watt module for $12, buy a few of those and see how they solve my IR illumination needs. If I get really crazy I'll tap into the lights in the camera and physically disable them while externalizing their source leads to use as a control signal to turn on and off my external LED setup. Essentially convert the camera's internal LED power supply to use as a control signal to power a relay to switch on and off my external lights.
But I was wondering if anyone else on this board has putzed around with their own IR solution using discrete LED's and modules and what has gotten you the best bang for the buck.