Review-Dahua/EmpireTech Dual lens IPC-HDBW5441F-AS-E2 (The Boobie Cam Upgrade)

amrogers3

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From the spec on page 1:
Need to supply own mic and speaker but appears to be supported.
I see it is supported but how would you actually attach a speaker? The audio out cable would be exposed to the elements. How would that work exactly if this is mounted outside?

Would like to broadcast warning message.

Screen Shot 2022-01-29 at 12.19.10 AM.png
 
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sebastiantombs

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The connections need to be inside a weatherproof enclosure. You would also need an amplifier and speaker, the output from the camera is at "line level" with a relatively high impedance.
 

Marlboro36

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I bought two of the 2MP boobie cams a couple of years ago and they're still running fine, but two of the four domes have scratches and I'd like to replace the domes or figure out a way to remove the scratches. Any ideas or links? Thanks in advance for any possible help and thanks for the boobie cam threads on this forum that really helped me install them and get them running. And thanks to empiretech for the support on these forums and the great prices!
 

CCTVCam

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I bought two of the 2MP boobie cams a couple of years ago and they're still running fine, but two of the four domes have scratches and I'd like to replace the domes or figure out a way to remove the scratches. Any ideas or links? Thanks in advance for any possible help and thanks for the boobie cam threads on this forum that really helped me install them and get them running. And thanks to empiretech for the support on these forums and the great prices!
You could contact Andy to see if Dahua can supply parts.

Alternatively if the domes aren't coated then something like these (and many other options):


 
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nbstl68

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Got it thank you; by any chance do you know if a cam where it can be treated as a single cam but it can have a wide angle?
I am trying to knock both these sections off with a single instead of having 1

View attachment 109644
Just browsing old posts here. Dahua has some nice 180 multi-lensed cams that have 3 or 4 cameras stitched together as one image feed. They are a lot bigger and more expensive of course but I love the coverage.

I have the 2mp 5231 2.8mm cam and the 4x2MP pano bullet style cam, (IPC-PFW8802-A180 A newer model is now available), on my house above the garage. Here is a comparison of the FOV, (as seen in my BI feeds).
The pano cam covers the front yard from edge to edge with 1 feed and very little warp IMO.

1644498343564.png

1644498962410.png
 

Marlboro36

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You could contact Andy to see if Dahua can supply parts.

Alternatively if the domes aren't coated then something like these (and many other options):


Thanks for the link! I was able to reposition the scratched domes so that the scratches are no longer in the cams' fields of view, but I'll try out the polish if I get some more scratches and let you guys know how it works out.
 
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tedrpi

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I bought the PFA200W hood to attach with a PFA137 junction box as mentioned in post #52 and shown in post #53, recognizing the image in post #53 shows a different camera. Unfortunately, the bracket for the PFA200W does not align with the screw holes that must be used between this camera and the PFA137, at least not when the PFA137 is mounted in its normal orientation. I've taken and labeled a few pictures to show the problem.

In the first image below, you can see the PFA200W hood on the left, PFA137 in the middle, and IPC-HDBW5441F-AS-E2 on the right. I've labeled the 3 mounting points in the PFA137 and camera that must align. Since it will be relevant for subsequent comments, note that the PFA137 is oriented properly in this picture and you can read the "top" and "bottom" text within it, with conduit openings on the bottom and right, as shown in the image that Andy included in post #53 of this thread.

In my second image below, you can see (unfortunately) that the mounting bracket for the PFA200W covers the necessary mounting points on the PFA137. Ironically, if you rotate the mounting bracket 180 degrees, it is possible to get the mounting points to be accessible, but then the hood itself would be upside down which clearly defeats the purpose.

The only alternative here seems to be to mount the camera and PFA137 upside down. The camera lenses will each rotate 180 degrees so the image will be upright even without needing to flip the images in software, but then conduit openings on the PFA137 will then be on the top and left side. I'm mounting this on the top of a fence with conduit coming up from below, so that's a problem for me.

@EMPIRETECANDY , other than mounting the PFA137 upside down, is there any other alternative? Is there another junction box which is like an "upside-down PFA137"? What junction box is shown in the image you included in post #53 since I now do not believe that could be a PFA137.

View attachment 114991



View attachment 114992

@carteriii - Did you get the PFA200W, IPC-HDBW5441F-AS-E2 on a PFA137 box combo to work? Looking to do the same thing on my.
 

carteriii

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@@carteriii - Did you get the PFA200W, IPC-HDBW5441F-AS-E2 on a PFA137 box combo to work? Looking to do the same thing on my.
Yes, I did, but it took a lot more effort than I hoped. You have to make screw holes in the mounting bracket for the hood and that's not as easy as I had hoped because (1) the metal of the bracket is really thick/strong AND slippery, combined with (2) the ideal hole location overlaps with the cuts that already exist.

I wasn't able to use a simple drill & bit because the drill bit would keep slipping into the existing cuts. I'll repeat one of the earlier pictures I posted here to make that point more clear. Location #1 is at least feasible to do with a drill bit, but of course it has to go through a lot of metal and it's still difficult to keep in the right position, even hammering a divot into the metal surface to try to keep it in place. You can actually see part of the screw hole in the PFA137 for locations #2 and #3, and that's where I was unable to keep a drill bit in the proper location. The drill bit kept slipping into the adjacent open channel. I'd say it's "nearly impossible" to use a hand-held drill for locations #2 and #3. A drill press might be able to hold everything place, but I don't have one.

Ultimately I used a Dremel with a cutting disk and made some very ugly cuts that were enough to break off pieces with needle nose pliers. It wasn't pretty, but no one will ever see it once the camera is mounted on top of it.

dahua-hood-mounts.png
 

tedrpi

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Yes, I did, but it took a lot more effort than I hoped. You have to make screw holes in the mounting bracket for the hood and that's not as easy as I had hoped because (1) the metal of the bracket is really thick/strong AND slippery, combined with (2) the ideal hole location overlaps with the cuts that already exist.

I wasn't able to use a simple drill & bit because the drill bit would keep slipping into the existing cuts. I'll repeat one of the earlier pictures I posted here to make that point more clear. Location #1 is at least feasible to do with a drill bit, but of course it has to go through a lot of metal and it's still difficult to keep in the right position, even hammering a divot into the metal surface to try to keep it in place. You can actually see part of the screw hole in the PFA137 for locations #2 and #3, and that's where I was unable to keep a drill bit in the proper location. The drill bit kept slipping into the adjacent open channel. I'd say it's "nearly impossible" to use a hand-held drill for locations #2 and #3. A drill press might be able to hold everything place, but I don't have one.

Ultimately I used a Dremel with a cutting disk and made some very ugly cuts that were enough to break off pieces with needle nose pliers. It wasn't pretty, but no one will ever see it once the camera is mounted on top of it.

View attachment 127357
Did you have to cut any of the mount away to allow for the camera cable?
 

carteriii

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Did you have to cut any of the mount away to allow for the camera cable?
Ooops, yes, I completely forgot about that which was a bit of a nightmare and required much more cutting. For that, even the largest drill bit wouldn't really work. Serious Dremel cutting is required to create a big channel, and the metal of the mounting plate really is stronger and thicker than you might expect.

My camera is mounted so I'm going from memory and this next picture is not perfectly accurate, but the green lines below show roughly the Dremel cuts that I made for the screw hole and the cable, and as I said, I used pliers to break off the cut pieces. I thought I would be saving time by bending the cut piece to pull it out and break it off, but that wasn't a good idea. I should have spent more time cutting with the Dremel because the mount ultimately has to be perfectly flat or else the camera screw won't even reach the screw hole on the PFA173 because of the extra thickness of the mount plate itself plus any mis-alignment from using pliers. I ended up needing to hammer on the mount plate to flatten out some edges that I bent when trying to use pliers. With the benefit of hindsight, don't use pliers at all. Just take more time to cut away everything necessary. I probably spent 2-3 hours working on this but could do it again in less than an hour (maybe even 30 minutes) if I ever do it again.

dahua-dremel-cut-lines.png
 

kumar2020

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Has anyone found a better solution to the plugin problem? I've tried getting this setup from 2 different Win 10 computers. I don't have IE on either of them. I change most of the settings I need, but trying to setup IVS without the preview is an exercise in madness. My 5442 camera work fine in any modern browser, so not sure why these don't (despite having basically the same firmware version).
 

kumar2020

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I have uninstalled IE from all of my machines since I never use it. I guess I'll have to reinstall it for one. Hopefully the firmware will be updated to not need that garbage.
 

nbstl68

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What options are left when moving to Windows 11? I think IE11 will no longer be included. I don't like having to do chinese mfg viewer add-ins like some offer. Who knows what those really have access to on the computer once installed.
 

wittaj

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Being discussed here, but no clear winner...

 

tedrpi

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Anyone having an issue with the built in IR illuminator on channel 2? Mine doesn't appear to be coming on ever. I can clearly turn the illuminator on and off in conditions settings and see the difference in the video for channel 1. Changing to manual and sliding the brightness has no impact on channel 2. I'm running the last firmware from here and wondering if there's a bug:


@EMPIRETECANDY - is there older firmware I should try out?
 
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