Review- New Design Tendelux 10 Watt IR illuminator.

[Mike A.]

Yeah, with the cam on the same run and IR on 10 Watts is going to put you very close if not over @ 15.4 limit for af. I have one run with two cams on a splitter that puts me right at the edge. I have to keep the IR on one with higher draw below ~50% or it's too much and kicks the other cam off and on.

 

[TheWaterbug]

I just remembered the diffuser material I bought awhile back, and I Just tried that. Big difference! Here's the IR40 without the diffuser:



and with the diffuser taped over the front of it:



The hotspot is pretty much gone, and the exposure evens out quite a bit. Here's what that looks like in motion, without (left) and with (right):



Since there's actually less light I didn't expect to see any different in the shutter speed and subsequently the motion-blur, and I got pretty much what I expected. Not much improvement in video quality, although the stills definitely look much better. Then again I'm also wearing a white shirt. We'll see what happens when the coyotes run by tonight.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Yeah, with the cam on the same run and IR on 10 Watts is going to put you very close if not over @ 15.4 limit for af. I have one run with two cams on a splitter that puts me right at the edge. I have to keep the IR on one with higher draw below ~50% or it's too much and kicks the other cam off and on.

Yeah, I'd have to change some wiring around if I want to use this, here, where I've got 3 cameras and 2 illuminators running off of one POE port. But if I do that, the 10W Tendelux light with the diffuser would probably be pretty nice.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Camera install bit low place effect the nearby pics, has some washout in the center, esp the 1st pic, but 2nd pic is bit better and sharp.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Camera install bit low place effect the nearby pics, has some washout in the center, esp the 1st pic, but 2nd pic is bit better and sharp.

I bought a few sheets of this diffuser gel material a few months ago, for $19 off of amazon. I cut a 3" x 3" square of it and taped it over the CMVision IR40 illuminator for the 2nd photo and for the right half of the video. The camera and illuminator are otherwise the same in both.

 

[TheWaterbug]

We'll see what happens when the coyotes run by tonight.

Here's a comparison of coyotes without the diffuser (top) and with the diffuser (bottom), with the coyote in approximately the same location:



There really isn't much difference in the visibility of the coyote, but the environment definitely looks better with the diffuser. The leaves aren't as blown out, and there's less vignetting around the edges.

The setup very temporary right now (Scotch tape), so I need to find a way to incorporate the diffuser material more permanently into my setup.

Video 1 (without):



Video 2 (with):

 

[TheWaterbug]

There really isn't much difference in the visibility of the coyote. . .

Actually I'll retract that. Here's a still from one of my January captures, and the coyotes are completely washed out when they run through the hotspots:

 

[TheWaterbug]

The setup very temporary right now (Scotch tape), so I need to find a way to incorporate the diffuser material more permanently into my setup.

Good grief; that's ugly!!!



I need to get a 3D printer and print some sort of retainer ring to slip over the diffuser and the body of the illuminator. The diffuser material itself is plasticky, so it'll probably last awhile before the UV weathers it.

 

[sebastiantombs]

A cable tie will handle that very nicely and extremely easily. May not be the most elegant solution but I don't think the coyotes will mind.

 

[TheWaterbug]

A cable tie will handle that very nicely and extremely easily. May not be the most elegant solution but I don't think the coyotes will mind.

Great idea! Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

Thanks!!!!

 

[sebastiantombs]

I made "rain hats" for some of my turrets out of slats from a discarded vertical blind for a sliding patio door and attach them with a cable tie. Elegant, no but very functional, quick and easy. Incidentally, using those slats makes it easy to make the "hat" as long as you need it and a second, or even a third, can be added to create more of a tunnel effect.

 

[TheWaterbug]

I am now using that 10W Tendelux illuminator in my lower garden. It lights up the whole space!

Here's pre- and post-installation:



Waiting for tonight's coyotes . . . .

 

[TheWaterbug]

Waiting for tonight's coyotes . . . .

Yesterday's coyote footage is up.

 

[105437]

Was working on one of my cam locations tonight adjusting the angle of the 10 watt IR. I noticed it was hot to touch and I checked it with a temp gun I have. Measured 121° on the heat sink. Seems really high, but I can't find any info on the operating temp.

 

[looney2ns]

Was working on one of my cam locations tonight adjusting the angle of the 10 watt IR. I noticed it was hot to touch and I checked it with a temp gun I have. Measured 121° on the heat sink. Seems really high, but I can't find any info on the operating temp.

Yep , they run rather warm. Mine is in the same range. Been running since the review.

 

[105437]

Yep , they run rather warm. Mine is in the same range. Been running since the review.

I really like the light they produce. Allows for a higher shutter speed for sure.

 

[tigerwillow1]

It's a 10 watt heater that produces some light as a side effect. How hot should the case get with a 10 watt heater in it?

 

[TheWaterbug]

Yeah, I'd have to change some wiring around if I want to use this, here, where I've got 3 cameras and 2 illuminators running off of one POE port. But if I do that, the 10W Tendelux light with the diffuser would probably be pretty nice.

I changed the wiring. Originally I had one POE cable running to this fence post, so I had 3 cameras, a POE extender, and two of those CMVision IR40 illuminators (4W each?) all running off that one cable run, off of a single POE+ 802.3at port from an Amcrest AMPS5E4P-At-65. It will allegedly deliver 30W to one port and 65W to all 4 combined:



I ran a second cable* out of the POE+ switch to power one camera and one illuminator, which reduces the load on both the POE extender and that one POE+ port:



It works! I ran the 10W illuminators for 5-6 minutes last night, and nothing shut off like it did last time.

I need to find some daytime when I can mount the two Tendelux illuminators, and I also want to zip tie some of that diffuser material onto them, so it'll be a few days before I get new and improved coyote footage.

* running that second cable was supposed to take 20 minutes, but it took 2.5 hours because my pulling eye got unscrewed from the fish tape in the middle of the conduit, so I ended up with an empty conduit and no pull string . The conduit run is only about 30', but it has a few bends that I can't push through, so I had to vacuum a new pull string through it, which required me schlepping the shop vac and 3 extension cords down to the trail. But at least it worked!!

 

[Mike A.]

Glad you guys mentioned these. I've bought several of the 10W recently. Like them a lot. Much better than what I had up.

For whatever reason my Dahua cams seem to have a much better image when not using the onboard IR. I can tweak them all day (or night I guess) but they won't look as good as they do when that's turned off. Even though it's adding light the cam seems to do some kind of internal adjustment that just ends up looking better without.

 

[wittaj]

Glad you guys mentioned these. I've bought several of the 10W recently. Like them a lot. Much better than what I had up.

For whatever reason my Dahua cams seem to have a much better image when not using the onboard IR. I can tweak them all day (or night I guess) but they won't look as good as they do when that's turned off. Even though it's adding light the cam seems to do some kind of internal adjustment that just ends up looking better without.

I think it is similar to the white LEDs that some cams have - having that light source, whether visible or IR - that close to the lens can mess with the exposure of the camera. My cameras all look better not using the onboard lighting if I have enough light provided elswhere.