Dahua IPC-HF5421E
6-60mm F1.6 1/3" DC Driven Auto Iris Vari-Focal, CS mount lens
850nm 4500mW 3-LED Adjustment Focusing IR Illuminator
only issue I can report is the illuminator+camera is a bit too much combined load apparently for a cheap 12v PoE Splitter, so I am going to run another ethernet cable and power the illuminator separately.. then at least if the splitter dies again it wont impact the camera..
watch the IR cannon, it goes on sale for for ~$55 from time to time.. if you are going to sling this commercially try to snatch a few then or talk about a bulk orders perhaps.. I doubt you'll find anything better suited for LPR, its got a varifocal lens as well and its very ideal for this use.. you can get lower power versions for cheaper too if your looking at shorter distances.. that would help with overloading the PoE splitter.
the gun camera is the industry choice for LPR, its the most flexible with good quality varifocal lenses avilable cheaply from wide angle to >130mm.
my 180-200ft distance is about as far as you can expect to get a ANPR system setup I believe, to go out any further you'd have to stack those IR cannons and focus them all at the same point.. it'd be diminishing returns and the farther away you go the more the environment can fuck with you (rain/fog/snow+distance=noise)
the amount of IR needed is kinda variable, but the more you have the lower your gain and the sharper the plate.. I have no problems getting speeders doing 60mph through my residental area @ 1/500 shutter speed but I am at a shallow angle so the relative motion is not as bad.. as you increase the angle of attack your shutter speeds are going to have to increase to maintain quality at the same speeds.. having an IR cannon that is variable is handy.