Review-Dahua IPC-HFW1831C-PIR 4k Mini Bullet

Just got one of these a few weeks ago from @EMPIRETECANDY, great service as always from Andy, and delivered to the UK within a week (including a address redirection).

I have it set up by front door, have PIR enabled, and white light set to come on (if between 4pm and 7am, set via the schedule in camera).

I have set the camera up in BlueIris and have enabled pull subscription, and BlueIris can then alert when the PIR goes off, so far I don't think I have had any false alerts (but have had a few where the PIR has been set off by a cat or fox).

However I have noticed a few things, and wondered if there is any way to "fix" them.

1. I only get 1 picture in the alert e-mail that gets sent, include pre trigger picture is selected, but doesn't make a difference. Not sure if it\s possible to get it to send 2 anyhow.
2. I have set the light on period using the camera schedule, however as the sunset and sunrise times change I will have to manually change. Is there anyway of having BlueIris set the light up times.
3. I have motion detection set to off in the camera, but if I make a config change to the camera in BlueIris when the camera "resets" after the change it seems that Motion detection turns back on. I then suddenly get a load of alerts from BlueIris as these motion events are picked up by the pull subscription. It seems sdl0311 mentions something about this. Not sure if the motion switching back on happens with my other Dahua camearas, and I just haven't noticed it, or whether it just happens here because pull subscription is enabled. sdl0311 are you able to share the CURL command to make sure camera motion stays switched off.

sdl0311 said:
So after a few days of testing and getting assistance from @aristobrat, I've been able to reduce false alarms by about 90%. I originally had 3 cross zones in BI set up that helped reduce some of my false alerts, but the shade from my truck and house (during the day) and the headlights of veh's (during night) were still triggering a few false alerts. What I ended up doing is similar to aristobrat, which was to disable all motion detection in BI and dahua settings. He then walked me through with setting up a curl script in alerts to keep the dahua camera motion detection settings from turning on each time a change was made. Now I use strictly the camera's PIR settings to trigger my alerts. I created two regions because my american flag kept triggering the one region. So now I have one region that is very sensitive which is where I get most foot traffic, and the other region is covering the flag. I'm still playing with the sensitivity and threshold settings, but so far, I have not missed an important trigger (ie, someone walking to or from my house), and have reduced false alerts significantly. In case anyone else has this camera, I recommend giving it a try if you are getting a lot of false alerts. I also can't wait to see how well Sentry Smart Alert works once it gets incorporated with Blue Iris. Thanks again to all those that provide their time and knowledge to this forum. It is much appreciated whether you know it or not. :)
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"2. I have set the light on period using the camera schedule, however as the sunset and sunrise times change I will have to manually change. Is there anyway of having BlueIris set the light up times."

I should add to this, I have tried setting the light to on in the camera night profile, and setting it to off in the day profile, and then using the sunset utility to switch between day and night profile, but it seems the light setting is independent of whether the camera is in day or night mode.
 
iandrews said:
are you able to share the CURL command to make sure camera motion stays switched off.
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Here's how I have mine setup under Camera > Alerts > Actions > On Alert...:

Screen Shot 2019-11-06 at 8.45.03 PM.png

The parameter line reads:
Code: 
-g --user username:password --digest "[URL unfurl="true"]http://CameraIPAddress/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&MotionDetect[0].Enable=false[/URL]"

iandrews said:
"2. I have set the light on period using the camera schedule, however as the sunset and sunrise times change I will have to manually change. Is there anyway of having BlueIris set the light up times."
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Not a direct answer because I have no idea if it'll actually work, you might be able to able to use the Camera > Schedule > Event schedule... option for this as it has a "relative to sunrise/sunset feature" that can let you call a camera function (like IR LEDS on, IR LEDS off, etc). I only played around with those two and unfortunately they didn't turn the cameras LED lights on/off <because that would be too easy, right?>.

But if you found a CURL command to turn the lights on off, you can (under Camera > PTZ/Control > Preset Motions > Edit presets...) edit one of the pre-sets. Pick a pre-set number, click the On call... button and you'll see it gives you the same options as above (i.e. Run a program or script). Once that pre-set is setup to run the CURL command you want, I think you can then use the Schedule tab to call that preset at the appropriate time and it'll do what you want (i.e. turn on LED, etc).
 
That sounds a bit like Mrs Bigredfish when she sees a new firearm purchase on my credit card statement ...
 
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aristobrat said:
Not a direct answer because I have no idea if it'll actually work, you might be able to able to use the Camera > Schedule > Event schedule... option for this as it has a "relative to sunrise/sunset feature" that can let you call a camera function (like IR LEDS on, IR LEDS off, etc). I only played around with those two and unfortunately they didn't turn the cameras LED lights on/off <because that would be too easy, right?>.

But if you found a CURL command to turn the lights on off, you can (under Camera > PTZ/Control > Preset Motions > Edit presets...) edit one of the pre-sets. Pick a pre-set number, click the On call... button and you'll see it gives you the same options as above (i.e. Run a program or script). Once that pre-set is setup to run the CURL command you want, I think you can then use the Schedule tab to call that preset at the appropriate time and it'll do what you want (i.e. turn on LED, etc).
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Thanks, I have found the commands to set if the White light comes on or not with PIR Motion (as per the below camera page).

Screenshot 2019-11-14 at 20.24.05.png

To enable the white light (tick in box) use:

Code: 
CURL -g --user username:password --digest "[URL unfurl="true"]http://192.168.1.101/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&Alarm[0].EventHandler.LightingLink.Enable=true[/URL]"

and to disable the white light (no tick in box) use:

Code: 
CURL -g --user username:password --digest "[URL unfurl="true"]http://192.168.1.101/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&Alarm[0].EventHandler.LightingLink.Enable=false[/URL]"

Haven't tried your idea of PTZ presets yet though.

I did also try doing some Wireshark tracing to see if I could find the command to switch the white light on demand, you can do it in the camera web page (the lightbulb icon below - its orange as I have just pressed it)

Screenshot 2019-11-14 at 20.28.48.png

but the request seems to be going as a "form" and not a cgi-bin request, so not got anywhere with that.

Screenshot 2019-11-14 at 21.00.49.png
 
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I’m having the same problem on a long run split to 2 cameras. Fixed and vara focal. Vara focal not working after a day and its fogged up. I think it needs a poe injector somewhere down the line. What say you?
 
I took the camera that wasn’t working down and hooked it up on the bench. Still no video but a green light comes on and you can hear the lens make a clicking nose when powered up. The message on BI say’s “check IP address and Port”. But it all worked before! By the way, what’s the little button for that’s on the circuit board? And I was wrong about it being a vera focal, It’s the fixed version (4231 i think). Thank’s all.
 
1fxman said:
I took the camera that wasn’t working down and hooked it up on the bench. Still no video but a green light comes on and you can hear the lens make a clicking nose when powered up. The message on BI say’s “check IP address and Port”. But it all worked before! By the way, what’s the little button for that’s on the circuit board? And I was wrong about it being a vera focal, It’s the fixed version (4231 i think). Thank’s all.
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The button is to reset to factory defaults. Hold for at least 15secs while powered up.
 
Just purchased this camera. My plan like others is to use it for a front door cam and utilize the two way audio. Has anyone attempted to hook it up to an external amplified speaker? I have not opened it up yet.
 
Not sure how to open this bullet camera up. Dahua did a pretty good job keeping someone from getting in. There has to be a way, no one would make the internals inaccessible.
 
1831C mini bullet - confirmed

My only guess is the camera attaches to the housing with screws hidden under the front black plastic/glass. Anyone done this type of surgery before. (heat gun, suction cups, ?)
 
jjhdtv said:
1831C mini bullet - confirmed

My only guess is the camera attaches to the housing with screws hidden under the front black plastic/glass. Anyone done this type of surgery before. (heat gun, suction cups, ?)
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I see, you want to get to the guts.. that I'm not sure
 
Well, a little heat, prying, and patience, the front plastic cover came off. Four hidden screws held everything together. Removed board and solder on extension wires to the existing internal speaker wires and ran them outside the housing. Hopefully I can get an external amplified speaker to work. Re-assembled all seems working. Suppose my warranty is void now. oops.
 
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jjhdtv said:
Well, a little heat, prying, and patience, the front plastic cover came off. Four hidden screws held everything together. Removed board and solder on extension wires to the existing internal speaker wires and ran them outside the housing. Hopefully I can get an external amplified speaker to work. Re-assembled all seems working. Suppose my warranty is void now. oops.
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Awesome!!
 
I have this IPC-HFW1831C-PIR and the IPC-T5442. Great cameras. I know the PFA130-E can work for the IPC-T5442 but is there a junction box that could work for the IPC-HFW1831C? Maybe the PFA134 with the included swivel mount? It's got about a 2" diameter 3-hole pattern and no cable management (I hate the mounting for it).
 
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