HFW5241E-Z12E and DahuaSunriseSunset Utility

[DLONG2]

I have this Z12 camera at full zoom for LPR collection, and am using the DahuaSunriseSunset utility to force the day and night modes. Day mode starts an hour before sunrise, and night mode starts at sunset. For the most part, the DahuaSunriseSunset utility works, but not all the time, as occasionally I'll return from work and see that the day focus is off, thereby losing a day's worth of plates. I am wondering if there's a way to serially push a command to the camera for assuring the day and night mode/focus settings are registered with the camera, say, a few times after sunrise and a few times after sunset. As it is, I keep the DahuaSunriseSunset app running for the ease of pressing the 'Simulate Sunrise" or the "Simulate Sunset" buttons whenever needed, which is too often. The utility log stubs the correct events, even when the focus later or never changes: "8/21/2020 5:27:09 AM TriggerSunriseActions" appears. Any pointers appreciated.

 

[wittaj]

@DLONG2 - Try this first. In the area that says Seconds Between Lens Commands - change the number from the default 4 to a higher number. Sometimes the camera is a little slow and this accounts for it. If that doesn't work, they you can create a script to run in Task Scheduler to send a focus command every X minutes or hours, but try the first option.

Also, take a look in the errors.txt file and see if it shows any errors.

 

[DLONG2]

Thanks, wittaj. I changed the seconds from 4 to 12 as a trial. The error log never shows any errors. Hope this helps.

 

[DLONG2]

Moving the seconds setting to 12 seconds didn't help with the focus at sunrise today. How would I go about sending a periodic command to the camera for day and night mode?

 

[wittaj]

@DLONG2 - that is a bummer. Try running this command in CMD and if it works, then set it up as a Task Scheduler

http://admin:yourpassword@CAMIPADDRESS/cgi-bin/devVideoInput.cgi?action=adjustFocus&focus=0.5

Obviously admin:yourpassword is what you use for the camera. CAMIPADDRESS is the IP of the camera. and change the 0.5 for focus to what your focus number is in the utility.

 

[biggen]

A couple things. You have it going to day mode an hour before sunrise when it still pretty dark and harder for the camera to focus. Try switching it to day mode 45 minutes or so after sunrise. That way there should be plenty of ambient light for it to focus properly.

Secondly, I have my 5442-Z4E set for manual focus. That way there is no auto focusing at all when switching profiles. I'm not sure if you can do that with your camera or not however.

 

[wittaj]

Oh yes, I missed that - definitely leave it night time settings until AFTER sunrise. You probably had some days that were clear that maybe the camera could find a focus, but on cloudy days it couldn't when it switched to day.

I ran mine for a year on full-time night setting. The night setting should be acceptable until enough daylight exists to switch it to day settings.

 

[TheGooginator]

You might also want to get current focus when you have the setting right and enter in there I do that and change it right on the sunrise and sunset and have not had any issues so far but I set a specific focus between night and day.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Stupid question time but why do you need to use this util? On my 5231-ze I just use the inbuilt which seems to work fine, is there a benefit to using the util except that you can control exactly when to switch?

 

[biggen]

The camera auto function can be confused. Lightning or strong headlights at night can flip it back to day. Also, I've found that it wants to hold on to daylight far too long before making the move to night. By the time it switches to night you may have a hard time focusing with an LPR camera since you are working with real fast shutter speeds.

 

[wittaj]

The issue with the schedule in the camera (the Z12 anyway) is you can't set it and forget about it because of daylight savings time, sunrise/sunset different each day (granted you can do it in blocks), but the biggest thing is the utility allows you to put in the manual focus number which is critical for LPR at night running fast shutter speeds.

Using the camera as a plate camera requires a fast shutter speed. Most use 1/2,000 and the image is completely dark so the camera hunts for focus unless it is manually set. You cannot use autofocus at night at that shutter speed unless you are in a fully lit stadium LOL, so you need the utility to force a manual focus number that you have already pre-determined during the day. The focus number is different between color and B/W as well.

Or you run the camera 24/7 B/W at the same shutter speed day/night.

If you are NOT using the camera for reading plates, your image will then at night have either enough ambient light and/or IR so that you can actually see something on the screen and thus the camera can focus with autofocus and you can get by with the schedule in the camera.

 

[Sybertiger]

Anyone notice that DahuaSunriseSunset "all of a sudden" stopped working? Even though I continue to see it running in the background it's not running the Sunrise or Sunset anymore and my cams stay in the same mode...or is it possible some of the cams just don't respond anymore.....

 

[sebastiantombs]

Worked for me last night and this morning like it normally has for at least a year. Anything else change(d) on your system?

 

[Sybertiger]

Worked for me last night and this morning like it normally has for at least a year. Anything else change(d) on your system?

The only thing that happened was we had a thunderstorm that caused a momentary power outage...I don't think this is a coincidence that I'm seeing this issue. However, if I manually simulate sunrise or sunset with DahuaSunriseSunset the camera(s) respond. And the only other thing is I upgraded my BlueIris to a newer version but that should not have any impact whatsoever.

I haven't taken the time to figure out if it's two cams or all the cams but I do know that a IPC-T5442TM-AS and IPC-HDBW4231F-E2-M are having this issue.

p.s. I really ought to get a UPS

 

[sebastiantombs]

I'd suspect the power failure screwed things up based on you being able to manually trigger them. Maybe, just as a CYA, re-install the sunrise/sunset utility in case something went corrupt in it.

I had a UPS going for years, then the batteries died and I didn't bother replacing them. Last "Black Friday" I picked up a new one for only a little more than the batteries would cost for the old one. Last 24 weeks it's showing over 65 interruptions, outages and noise, and I have the sensitivity set to low. Worth every penny and then some. In fact I'm ordering new batteries for the old one to handle additional equipment, just to be safe.

 

[looney2ns]

When I was running a business, I learned the hard way that a GOOD UPS's can indeed save your bacon.
UPS's on everything important here at home.

 

[DLONG2]

FYI, after changing the sunrise hour offset setting from -1 to +.75 there hasn't been any focus issues on this camera. Thanks for all your assistance.