Swarm of bugs overnight attracted to IR
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That might not be bugs. It might be pollen or dust or any other airborne debris.
The best thing you can do to reduce it is to get a standalone infrared illuminator to place near the camera (perhaps 1 or 2 feet away) and turn off the infrared LEDs in your camera. This way the light source is separated by some distance and the particles in the air directly in front of the camera will not be illuminated brightly enough to be visible. A side bonus is that spiders and other bugs will be attraced to the infrared illuminator instead of the camera.
Not all cameras allow you to turn off the LEDs, so that is something you would want to test first.
The best thing you can do to reduce it is to get a standalone infrared illuminator to place near the camera (perhaps 1 or 2 feet away) and turn off the infrared LEDs in your camera. This way the light source is separated by some distance and the particles in the air directly in front of the camera will not be illuminated brightly enough to be visible. A side bonus is that spiders and other bugs will be attraced to the infrared illuminator instead of the camera.
Not all cameras allow you to turn off the LEDs, so that is something you would want to test first.
nayr
IPCT Contributor
looks more like dust particles.. Ive got a camera that gets that when the wind is blowing right.
turn off alerts, imho image based motion alerts outdoors are way to noisy to be considered... an alert that is false more than it is true is never going to work, are you going to get out of bed at night if you think its just some bugs?
video motion detection is okay for flagging video for review, its not okay for triggering recordings or sending alerts.. most of the time its simply not reliable enough in an outdoor environment.
turn off alerts, imho image based motion alerts outdoors are way to noisy to be considered... an alert that is false more than it is true is never going to work, are you going to get out of bed at night if you think its just some bugs?
video motion detection is okay for flagging video for review, its not okay for triggering recordings or sending alerts.. most of the time its simply not reliable enough in an outdoor environment.
@bp2008... you may be right, I didn't consider that. I won't be installing separate IR illuminators so I think I'll let it ride. @nayr... the alerts I'm using are coming from Sighthound which I'm currently evaluating. What type of alerts do you suggest? I haven't tried the motion alerts built into the camera via the config page. I'm also going to evaluate Blue Iris to see how it does with motion alerts too.
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nayr
IPCT Contributor
there are outdoor motion sensors that use both RF and PIR to detect the presence of someone, they do a pretty good job at killing all the false alarms.. bugs, small critters, weather and light changes such as someone turning around infront of your house wont trigger them.
you can also use IR beam sensors like your garage door has as a safety device, if you have a front porch you could put a pair of those on the steps and get an alert any time someone passes through.
there are lots of things depending on what your needing, devices to detect vehicles entering a driveway, opening a mailbox, stepping on a mat, etc..
there are some more adavnced video motion techniques that would be decent for alerting, such as face detection.. but few cameras offer such features and I am unsure how reliable they are.
you can also use IR beam sensors like your garage door has as a safety device, if you have a front porch you could put a pair of those on the steps and get an alert any time someone passes through.
there are lots of things depending on what your needing, devices to detect vehicles entering a driveway, opening a mailbox, stepping on a mat, etc..
there are some more adavnced video motion techniques that would be decent for alerting, such as face detection.. but few cameras offer such features and I am unsure how reliable they are.
wxman
Pulling my weight
I may be wrong, but it looks a bit like a spider web blowing in the wind to me. It's common to get them near IR lights. They can be small and still cover all (or a large part) of the camera view due to being close to the lens. They'll typically only be noticed at night when the strong IR light illuminates them. I'd check for that first. If it is a web, it may be easier to find it using a flashlight at night.
Lunchietey
n3wb
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That is dust, mist or heavy fog partcles. It is not bugs or a spider web.
nayr
IPCT Contributor
it was likely wind/weather related... I have one camera that is on the corner of the house above a fence, when the wind blows at the camera there is an updraft infront of the camera and you can see all the dust in the air.. Looks just like its snowing upwards.. this is caused by the air blowing up and over the fence and the camera happening to be in this stream.
I have another camera on the back of the house that see's the exact same thing when the dryer is running at night and the wind is blowing the exhaust towards the camera.
The first camera mentioned see's these conditions regularly, not much I can do but try to relocate the camera but the main job is to watch that gate its installed over so I just deal with it.. the second camera very rarely see's the conditions.
I have another camera on the back of the house that see's the exact same thing when the dryer is running at night and the wind is blowing the exhaust towards the camera.
The first camera mentioned see's these conditions regularly, not much I can do but try to relocate the camera but the main job is to watch that gate its installed over so I just deal with it.. the second camera very rarely see's the conditions.
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I had the exact same thing for a while. I turned off the camera's built in IR, and used other light sources, like that one beside your patio door. If you were to use it, maybe aim the camera a slight bit so that light is out of the frame. Also, a low power CFL or LED bulb would save you some power.
If you stick with the built in IR, stuff like that is going to happen a lot unfortunately outdoors.
If you stick with the built in IR, stuff like that is going to happen a lot unfortunately outdoors.
ruppmeister
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It's interesting that none of the bushes in the video are moving. I think it was probably dust, but odd that nothing else looks to be affected by the wind.
BTW - nice Kamado grill. Nothing cooks better IMHO.
BTW - nice Kamado grill. Nothing cooks better IMHO.
MikeSav
n3wb
It happens on my cams every week, twice a week, when the street sweeper goes past my house. It kicks up enough dust that it is even picked up by my back door camera, 50ft from the road.
alastairstevenson
Staff member
I've seen the same images a few times from a slight mist, on a still, cool Scottish night. The tiny particles of water look much bigger because they are strongly illuminated and close to the camera.
Right now though, in the summer, it's the moths, insects, flies and bats all night long. And of course the spider webs. And the showers of rain.
So you can guess that email alerts just aren't a feature in my setup.
Right now though, in the summer, it's the moths, insects, flies and bats all night long. And of course the spider webs. And the showers of rain.
So you can guess that email alerts just aren't a feature in my setup.
nayr
IPCT Contributor
yeah video motion alerts are only practical for most people when used indoors, they can do a great job of alerting you that someone is in your garage or shed.. but thats only because the environment is static, once you get outdoors there are just too many dynamic variables you'll never get out ahead of.
an alert that almost never gives a false alarm is an order of magnitude more effective than one that only gives false alarms every once and a while.. its human nature, if your smoke alarms went off every week for no fire would you ever get up when your house was really on fire? of course not.
ps: you can use alerts fine for remote logging, for example I get an email with a picture every time the front door opens.. but I have a mail filtering rule that marks the email as read and puts it into a folder.. its keeping me an offsite log of people coming and going and does a good job..
an alert that almost never gives a false alarm is an order of magnitude more effective than one that only gives false alarms every once and a while.. its human nature, if your smoke alarms went off every week for no fire would you ever get up when your house was really on fire? of course not.
ps: you can use alerts fine for remote logging, for example I get an email with a picture every time the front door opens.. but I have a mail filtering rule that marks the email as read and puts it into a folder.. its keeping me an offsite log of people coming and going and does a good job..
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wxman
Pulling my weight
That can have a lot to do with weight. Leaves are much heavier than dust particles, pollen, spider webs, etc...Even the lightest, undetectable breeze (less than 1 miles per hour) will blow dust around while it will take at least a couple miles per hour breeze to start shaking leaves.
Yep, it's a Big Green Egg and I love it. Had it for almost 4 years and it cooks great. We use it 3-4 times a week.
ruppmeister
Getting the hang of it
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Not to get off topic here, but, I didn't know about Kamado cooking all that well and thought the price of BGE was crazy so started off with a Char-Griller Akorn. I have been using it 3-5 times a week for the last year (even through winter in Colorado) and would have zero issues paying for a BGE now. It will be my next, and hopefully last, cooker.