New member. Have some questions pertaining to IP camera's. (pictures included)

[bp2008]

I also plan to expand more camera's in the future so wireless is the best for me on that point.

That is actually an argument in favor of a true ethernet cable and a PoE switch in your outside box. Multiple cameras on wireless, especially when pushing the range the limits of conventional WiFi, rarely works well. If you are really against running an ethernet cable, then an Ubiquiti device like I mentioned a moment ago would be a much easier alternative. That way you have one very capable radio sending the data from multiple cameras, so you don't have a bunch of wifi devices all fighting with each other for airtime.

 

[jmw132001]

Ok. It is extremely likely that your foggy night image is due to IR light bleeding inside the camera as I described earlier. If the IR is getting in through the front of the lens then there is little you can do besides using 3rd party IR illumination, but this assumes you can disable the IR LEDs on the camera and still have the mechanical IR filter functioning normally. However if the IR is getting in through gaps near the image sensor or IR filter, then you should be able to solve it by wrapping the area with black electrical tape as this will stop IR from bleeding in. Inside the camera, you will likely find the imaging sensor just a few millimeters behind the lens, with a small mechanical IR filter between them (this may have its own wire, making it easy to identify). If there is any possibility that scattered IR inside the camera enclosure is making it through a gap in this area, it could be the source of the IR bleed.

If you decide you need a different camera, the Hikvision is a really good choice. Yeah, I know you'd prefer one with WiFi but I think you'll find that all the really high quality cameras only ever have WiFi on their indoor models. Ideally you would run shielded ethernet from inside your house but if that is not possible you can try Powerline networking gear from Amazon. Pricing varies... I tried this one http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B006L6X7PM which is about $50 for the complete kit. I installed my powerline wall warts on separate circuits at opposite ends of the house and got about 40 Mbps throughput. Kind of crummy for something that advertises 500 Mbps, but it has been rock solid for over a month. Another alternative would be a a wifi adapter that you could use to connect the camera to your home network. An Ubiquiti Nanostation Loco M2 with its power output set to the minimum would do the job nicely, assuming you have a sheltered place to make the power and ethernet connections for it.

Thanks again for all the help. I did just go outside (night time here) and I took the front glass off to just see. With the glass off, it was pure white and could not see anything. The seal is good around the lens and it is not getting any "leakage" behind the led's (checked that while I was their too). I did try some tape in the area's you suggested, but it still done the same thing. I believe now it is just not a good night vision camera.

 

[fenderman]

If you have aluminum siding it should be easy to punch out a line and run it under siding. Wireless is always going to be troublesome particularly if you are going to add more cameras in the future. You are really limiting yourself to low end junk...Although as vector and BP2008 point out powerline may best a nice middle ground.

 

[jmw132001]

That is actually an argument in favor of a true ethernet cable and a PoE switch in your outside box. Multiple cameras on wireless, especially when pushing the range the limits of conventional WiFi, rarely works well. If you are really against running an ethernet cable, then an Ubiquiti device like I mentioned a moment ago would be a much easier alternative. That way you have one very capable radio sending the data from multiple cameras, so you don't have a bunch of wifi devices all fighting with each other for airtime.

I had actually looked at going that route for later on when I get more. Just right now it is not in the budget

 

[bp2008]

Thanks again for all the help. I did just go outside (night time here) and I took the front glass off to just see. With the glass off, it was pure white and could not see anything. The seal is good around the lens and it is not getting any "leakage" behind the led's (checked that while I was their too). I did try some tape in the area's you suggested, but it still done the same thing. I believe now it is just not a good night vision camera.

With the glass off, you probably took away some of the barrier that was blocking the majority of the scattered IR, so I guess it makes sense for it to show pure white as you were letting more scattered IR light in Definitely sounds like a tricky one. I've seen tape fix them before but that was with an IPS camera that used a CS mount lens. Kinda looks like yours uses an m12 lens which is a totally different shape.

 

[bp2008]

Whatever you do, don't buy more outdoor cameras with their own WiFi. About $42 will get you a TP-LINK TL-SF1008P which is a PoE switch with 4 PoE ports and 4 regular ports. Then about $52 will get you either a powerline kit or an Ubiquiti radio that you can use to link back to the house. Together, that is about the cost of one good camera and will set you up for mounting 4 good PoE cameras like the Hikvision 2032.

Well off to bed. Good luck.

 

[vector18]

I think you keep missing some of my points? I mentioned a wifi bridge in your box and than power the camera and bridge in your surge protector, than you can chose any camera that you want. The wifi bridge will pick up your wifi signal and give you an ethernet port to plug your camera into. Since it won't be POE, you would need to power the camera. In this scenerio, you can chose any camera that
your want. A hikvision or Dahua camera will be much better at night vision than any wifi based camera. Or, another route, like BP mentioned is a powerline adaptor. You plug one in in your house by your router, than you plug the other half of it by the camera, and bam, you have ethernet.

 

[jmw132001]

I think you keep missing some of my points? I mentioned a wifi bridge in your box and than power the camera and bridge in your surge protector, than you can chose any camera that you want. The wifi bridge will pick up your wifi signal and give you an ethernet port to plug your camera into. Since it won't be POE, you would need to power the camera. In this scenerio, you can chose any camera that
your want. A hikvision or Dahua camera will be much better at night vision than any wifi based camera. Or, another route, like BP mentioned is a powerline adaptor. You plug one in in your house by your router, than you plug the other half of it by the camera, and bam, you have ethernet.

Probably did, it has been a rough month or so (lost my grandpa) and gotta say I have a lot on my mind. I do get what you are talking about. I just now sent an email to zmodo about the camera, so we will see what they say about it. I guess what really get's me the most is I paid 35 bucks for that original cheap camera and it has a better night vision view then this 90 dollar camera..lol

Like stated, I appreciate all the help from all of you and will definitely try to figure out what my best option is for another one in the future. When that time comes, I will start asking more question on here I am sure!

 

[jmw132001]

Just wanted to update every one on what the official Zmodo tech support replied with via email.

Hello Justin,

I apologize for the issues with the night vision of this camera. The only way to improve the image would be to add more lighting in that area. Since the camera is 720P, the power needed to maintain the image quality and support the IR lights is redistributed and the clarity is affected. This is actually common in higher resolution cameras. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Best regards,

[FONT=times new roman, serif]Jamie


[/FONT]
Zmodo Technical Support

LOL

 

[bp2008]

LOL indeed.

Only experience I have personally had with zmodo is with analog cams and a DVR and they were bad. I think they buy the cheapest of the cheap and slap their brand on it.

Anyway that problem is not due to a lack of power. It is a clearly IR bleed or reflection off the front glass. Perhaps you could overpower that foggy effect by adding more external IR lighting, but the problem would still be there

Hikvision had the same problem with some of their domes but that was fixed with a new hardware revision over a year ago. Usually when you see a cam with bad IR bleed/reflection it is a dome, but you were unlucky enough to get it with a bullet cam.

 

[jmw132001]

LOL indeed.

Only experience I have personally had with zmodo is with analog cams and a DVR and they were bad. I think they buy the cheapest of the cheap and slap their brand on it.

Anyway that problem is not due to a lack of power. It is a clearly IR bleed or reflection off the front glass. Perhaps you could overpower that foggy effect by adding more external IR lighting, but the problem would still be there

Hikvision had the same problem with some of their domes but that was fixed with a new hardware revision over a year ago. Usually when you see a cam with bad IR bleed/reflection it is a dome, but you were unlucky enough to get it with a bullet cam.

If it were not for bad luck, I would have no luck at all