IR Illuminator Location

[fmflex]

Hello all

Just after some advise on where the optimum location would be for some external IR illuminators. See the attached snapshot of one of my cameras. It's from the right most camera on the next pic. Basically I've purchased some external IR tri-illuminators from AE which look exactly like the ones sold by Wrightwood. The purpose of adding these illuminators is to brighten up the area for improved night time clarity at the back of the utility as I had a breakin on Christmas eve and so far they have returned another 3 times, once to attempt to break in again and twice more to attempt to steal the dark horse ladder on the ladder racks. The footage I have of the low lifes is fairly heavy with noise which makes identification much more difficult.

The next attached pic is the front shot of my house. The red squares are locations of cameras. The green circles things are LED flood lights controlled off the PIR you see mounted in the middle of the wall. The orange cross/star things are potential locations for the IR illuminators. My question basically comes down to do I mount the illuminators on the lower eaves or the upper eaves for best performance. The advantages of the lower eave is I can easily wire the illuminators off the PE cell to turn on at dusk/when the light level falls below threshold. The disadvantages of the upper eave is that I cannot connect the subcircuit off the PE cell, the advantages is that I also have socket-outlets installed up there for connection off a either a PE cell or PIR which are yet to be installed. They are wired back to a location where I can connect them off a timer.

The distance from the front of the power eaves to approximately the rear area at the back of the utility is 10-12m.

What are people's thoughts?

 

[Kawboy12R]

I'd mount them at least a few feet away from each camera at roughly the same level, although a bit higher on the upper level won't hurt too much and would be more tamper-proof. The closer they are to sharing close to the same view of the camera the better the chances of not having shadows interfere with the camera's view. Don't worry about wiring into switched power. They'll turn on and off at dusk to dawn anyway via their own photocell and you'll appreciate having the IR light when the motion lights aren't on.

 

[fmflex]

Thanks for the reply Kawboy12R, I should have been more clear, in the upper eaves, I've already got socket-outlets prewired and installed for potential connection of IR illuminators although I wasn't sure if I was going to need them but figured it wasn't going to hurt to have them up there. There's 4 spaced across the front eave and another 4 down each side. Although they were wired for a PIR or PE cell, I have a bypass toggle on a light switch so I can essentially liven up the circuit without the PIR or PE cell installed. If they turn on themselves by their own PE cell I can save myself by no having to install anything else.

Would the shadowing from the illuminators being mounted higher up affect the image that much as it'd likely be behind the subject I'm trying to get a good shot at?

The only disadvantage of having them up that high would be the adjusting where they are directed.

 

[Kawboy12R]

I'd almost bet you'd notice an improvement or no disadvantage in shadowing from the vehicles by mounting a bit up higher, plus the IR would overshoot targets walking up closer to the camera and would be less likely to be overexposed. Sooo, probably a number of advantages to the higher mounting spots.

 

[riceandbeans]

@fmflex - you may want to consider something like this. I personally haven't used it, but I'm all about investing a little extra for a setup tool to dial in the spec. I'm probably going to order one (or something like it) to get the luminosity and angle dialed in, and then parlay the spec into a fixed, lower-cost solution. Also something to note is that some cams really don't like to have external IR put into their field of view. They'll sweep through their exposure modes and basically make the image you get from them unusable (too light, then too dark, etc in cycles).

 

[fmflex]

Thanks for the link riceandbeans, I personally purchased this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wholesale-45M-Waterproof-Outdoor-3PCS-IR-Array-Light-Illuminator-Aluminium-Metal-Shell-For-Security-CCTV-Camera/1014089316.html

I bought 5 of them as I planned on adding external IR both at the front of my house and at the rear.

In hindsight, what you're suggesting would probably be a better option in the long run but I'm realistically just chasing a single goal which is to light up around the back of the utility as that's where they seem to be focusing most of their attention. Based on the review from NCC, I'm pretty sure they'll do the job I want them to. Who knows I may upgrade if it turns out they won't cut the mustard but I'll test fit in different locations to see how they perform before mounting permanently.

 

[Kawboy12R]

...
I'll test fit in different locations to see how they perform before mounting permanently.

Ding ding ding! Words of wisdom here.

 

[riceandbeans]

@fmflex - would you mind posting up NCC's review of those? I can't seem to find anything on the forums.

 

[nayr]

The closer they are to sharing close to the same view of the camera the better the chances of not having shadows interfere with the camera's view.

While this is true there are advantages to putting some distance between the illuminators and the camera, for example the higher up the bigger the spread will be by the time it hits the ground.. Secondly reflectors on vehicles wont cause flare issues if the illuminators are not inline with the light.. Also it helps keep those bugs and dust particles close to the camera from being illuminated and creating artifacts.

Shadows are the least of the concerns, and can be overcome with having multiple sources of light.

 

[fmflex]

@Kawboy12R - not that easy a task when you really need night and a second person to assist. My partner has semi permanently banned me from working on rooftops at night as I still have the dent in the top of my head from the last incident.
@riceandbeans - http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=2434

 

[Kawboy12R]

@fmflex Gotcha. My head is luckily undented and my climbing privileges have yet to be revoked. I have hung one-handed sideways off the top of a fully extended extension ladder lodged into tree branches while screwing in a birdhouse-mounted game camera to catch a vandal so my judgement might not be the safest to follow. Video of me doing that would probably have made a good demo clip on why women live longer than men.
@nayr My shadows concern was more of a generic warning and yes, it looks like with the angles on this install, particularly with multiple illuminators, shadows from off-angle lighting definitely won't be an issue.