LPRs

[Mike A.]

1/120 is fast enough to get a person moving pretty well but likely won't be enough to get a vehicle going by quickly. Yes, it will get much darker as you step up. You've already got a good cam with a good sensor and sounds like you're pushing gain already so likely the only real good answer is to get more light out there. Turn Smart IR off and IR to manual and 100% may help some. The DI10 is very wide. Maybe try turning it a little more in that direction and that might help without hurting what it's lighting now. Backing up the zoom a little also might help some.

Not sure what your purpose is for this cam. You seem to have kind of a neither here nor there use case. You're not trying to get plates where you could turn shutter up and forget about it being dark for the rest. But you still want to stop motion well for something crossing a relatively narrow field of view quickly and near perpendicular so that makes it more difficult.

You might also try shutter priority mode set high and let the cam do its thing as far as the rest. I've had some mine where that seemed to look better that way at least in terms of overall average view.

 

[Ssayer]

@Parley
Haha, I was up and down the ladder on that tree about 15 times in the last 3 days PLUS the thought of burying another cable... I'm feeling my age...

 

[Ssayer]

@Mike A. Thanks

I don't have the DI10 out there, just another cam that is for a different area. As to this one's use: After the break in over the holiday in the area, I just want a cam that can tell what cars and what people are going by (as that is what the sheriffs came in and were looking for). As you say, the stop motion that I would like is a tough one with what I have light-wise so I'm just trying to get it for all it's worth. I've not tried shutter priority so that will be another for tonight's testing.

 

[wittaj]

It is a balance that is unique to every camera and every field of view.

Running a 1/250 shutter but then cranking gain to 100 and brightness to 100 to make the image brighter will result in a motion blur capture and you may get a better overall quality with a slower shutter of 1/120 and gain at 55 and brightness at 60 as an example.

Shutter priority will crank the gain up to 100, so you will see a brighter static image at the same shutter speed, but motion will be worse than you have now.

 

[Mike A.]

Maybe put a splitter and a DI10 on the same run? If you have POE+ can do easy. POE will be close to the limit. Can't remember how much the B5442 uses alone without IR. I can look tonight when mine switch over.

 

[Ssayer]

I have POE+

On the one run, I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JS45B89

Are you saying that I can run 2 cams and an IR by splitting after the split from this?? If so, I hadn't even considered that possibility as I've always been under the impression that 2nd splitter of which you speak would remove power from the cat connector side.

 

[wittaj]

I haven't tried it with that one, but I have done it with this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Loryta-Extender-Repeater-Ethernet-Splitter/dp/B07RQ569MF/ref=sr_1_43?m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&qid=1697658952&s=merchant-items&sr=1-43

But I don't see why you couldn't with the first one.

 

[Ssayer]

The one you listed is actually shown as a switch while the one I'm using is shown as a splitter. I believe that it makes a difference, no?

 

[Mike A.]

Wasn't thinking that you already had a splitter on that run. That makes it more complicated. You'd also need a way to get the power out to a barrel connector @ 12v for the DI10. I use a TP-Link "splitter" (the other kind) to do that for mine but they're protected from weather. Might find a better one for use in a tree but something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Ethernet-Splitter-TL-PoE10R/dp/B003CFATQK?th=1

They are a little different. The one acts as a switch, the other just uses two ports over different pairs to split things.

Looking back, the other cam on that run is a PTZ? Need to check that you wouldn't be at the limit for POE+. With the splitter that you have you're running off of two ports though so maybe OK in that case.

 

[Ssayer]

Yep, 2 ports, each with 30w max. The cams are set.

 

[Parley]

Now if you really want to light the place up you might want to consider this.

Amazon.com: TRENDnet 10G PoE++ Injector, Supplies PoE (15.4W), PoE+ (30W), or PoE++ (90W), Converts a Non-PoE Port To A PoE ++ 10G port, Metal Housing, Black, TPE-319GI : Everything Else

 

[Mike A.]

Yeah, you're good now. I meant after adding the DI10 @ 10w. Running from one port you'll be close but maybe still OK. If so, then you could use a single port to a 3-port switch and just split out power from one to the DI10. Which would be cleaner. Otherwise you'll have 2 ports > 1 cable > splitter > another splitter > another 12v splitter. Not sure how that all works out. lol

 

[Ssayer]

 

[Ssayer]

Thanks guys! I didn't even think to turn off Smart IR. That brightened it up a lot so I was able to use 1/250, turn the gain and brightness down some. I've also turned down sharpness as was suggested and am getting much closer to what I'm thinking I can get with where I live (sans an external IR).

 

[Mike A.]

Much better. Getting there.

Just FYI with IR and PTZ moving my switch shows 13-15w for the SD4A425DB-HNY. I don't have a B5442 + DI10 on the same run. A T5442T with IR at 100% + DI10 shows 15w. With cam IR off = 12w. A B5442 with IR at 100% shows 9w. With IR off 3w. So, by difference, you'd likely need to run from 2 ports if you wanted the PTZ+B5442+DI10 with IR running at 100% on both cams (15+10+9=~34w). If you turned off IR on the B5442 and just used the DI10 for its IR, then you might be able to do it from one port (15+10+3=~28w). That's getting close to the limit though and some cams pull a little more when starting up. Might be a problem, for example, if you had a restart at night with all coming on at the same time and bouncing a little over. Then you can get into a cycle with the cams coming up and down trying to start over and over (been there, done that).

 

[Ssayer]

Thanks, good info! I'm considering getting one of these since my switch will do 60w on port 1:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XFJ5SR1

Still undecided, but just seems like it should do the trick...

 

[Parley]

Thanks, good info! I'm considering getting one of these since my switch will do 60w on port 1:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XFJ5SR1

Still undecided, but just seems like it should do the trick...

I think you are heading in the right direction. The pictures associated with that unit show it supplying an external IR illuminator. The best IR illuminator that I now have is 1 Amp at 12VDC which equals 12 watts.

 

[Ssayer]

Ok, I put the new PTZ at the road along with the bullet from Andy yesterday (still have a TON of tweaking to do on both! Anyway, today just for shits and giggles, I pointed and zoomed the PTZ to the only spot that I might get a good shot of a plate. It took two dozen or so vehicles, but I finally got one that wasn't so dirty that all I saw was dirt. Because of that, I won't waste too much time playing with this aspect of a cam at the road.
View attachment 175237

An update on the PTZ part of my post. I just sent back my 3rd try at a cheap 18x PTZ (different brands/models) to go along with the good bullet from Andy at the street. The 4th try will be tomorrow. I know there are good enough ones out there for me and I WILL find one. The first two had real issues. My wife was happy enough with the last try even with it's deficiencies, but I wasn't because it had a modified version of the OLD Dahua Web GUI and I just wasn't able to tweak it well enough for me to ever be happy with it.

 

[wittaj]

Buy once, cry once LOL.

Many of us have been there with the cheap PTZs.

My first PTZ was a Sunba and it lasted about a year before I upgraded to a real PTZ. The Sunba was $100 less than a real one because I wasn't quite ready to spend that much yet on a camera. That was money wasted LOL.

Our time is worth something. Sending 3 cameras back has a time and hassle factor to it.

Get a real one and be done LOL

 

[Ssayer]

Funny, my oldest cam is a PTZ by Sunba (as was this 3rd try that I just sent back). I think it was like... June of 2016. That thing just keeps on working without a single issue.

I have a lot of time but not so much money and since we like cams everywhere for the critters, something has to give. In the meantime, I play with a bunch of different cams. If my cams were for actual needed surveillance, it'd be a different story, but they're just for enjoyment...