Two IPC-HDW2231R-ZS for LPR?

[highsecurity]

Hi Everyone,

Will these cameras work for me for LPR?

I have an area between the sidewalk and the road where I would like to add two of these cameras in stealth mode inside two large PVC pipes with holes cut out for catching license plates from either direction going down the road.

The speed would be around 20 mph and the distance to the middle of the road about 15 feet.

I like the power to be POE.

I'd like to catch and record the plate I'm looking for with openalpr or similar software that will notify of a particular plate so I don't have to go through all of them.

I'd prefer to also not light up the car with IR so it is in stealth and hoping this camera in black and white mode with the starlight feature will catch the plate to record it.

Does anyone know how wide these cameras are if I hide them inside a large PVC pipe?

 

[bp2008]

Yeah those should work. However, they would not be my first choice.

For LPR you don't need a starlight cam, and at such short distance you could get away with a fixed lens model which gives the additional benefit of not having a stupid autofocus algorithm focusing on the wrong spot all the time. Autofocus is a common issue for LPR because you have the camera set to such a high shutter speed that the surrounding environment appears very dark, and when a license plate rolls through, the camera doesn't have time to focus properly.

I would even recommend a pair of Dahua's lite 8MP cams.

2.8mm lens: http://amzn.com/B07KQ4Z4QP
4mm lens: http://amzn.com/B07FP5HHSQ
6mm lens: http://amzn.com/B07NVK3DNG

For 15 foot distance, you could probably get away with any of the lens sizes. If you can cut out a satellite photo of the area you are putting these, we might be able to make a better recommendation.

 

[highsecurity]

Thanks, bp2008! Good to know.

I attached a satellite photo as recommended. As you can see I am thinking of putting them right next to the street beside two trees, not in the photo.

If that camera is better I appreciate the info. I want the best shot I can.

I do want to catch the plates during both night and day. There is a street light a couple of houses down.

I expect no lights come on via the camera at night ...right? ( I want it to remain undetected by passing cars)

Would you suggest 4mm lens? (Available quickest)

I see it is approximately 3" x 7" so I could still put it in a 4" pipe and have the camera sticking out and vines growing up and around.

Here is a link to the initial one.
EmpireTech IP Camera IPC-HDW2231R-ZS 2MP Starlight IR Eyeball Network Camera English Version
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRC93S8
Screenshot

 

[pb11186]

Thanks, bp2008! Good to know.

I attached a satellite photo as recommended. As you can see I am thinking of putting them right next to the street beside two trees, not in the photo.

If that camera is better I appreciate the info. I want the best shot I can.

I do want to catch the plates during both night and day. There is a street light a couple of houses down.

I expect no lights come on via the camera at night ...right? ( I want it to remain undetected by passing cars)

Would you suggest 4mm lens? (Available quickest)

I see it is approximately 3" x 7" so I could still put it in a 4" pipe and have the camera sticking out and vines growing up and around.

Here is a link to the initial one.
EmpireTech IP Camera IPC-HDW2231R-ZS 2MP Starlight IR Eyeball Network Camera English Version
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRC93S8
Screenshot

Im interested to see how well you LPR system will work. I am considering my own as well, just not sure where to put the cameras.

Question. I see from your pic, the red box looks like it is between the sidewalk and the roadway. Can you put your cameras there? Where i live, that land is usually owned by the municipality.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

 

[highsecurity]

Yes - the city does not maintain the space.

I hope to hear back from someone to confirm this is the best set up for me. I'll update and let you know depending on the best configuration.

 

[bp2008]

Well for best results you will probably want the cameras to have their IR LEDs on, but that is visible at night as a soft red glow. You can turn them off but you might not have any luck reading plates on vehicles that don't light up their own plates.

You also will have the most success with the cams seeing the plates straight on, not at a sharp angle. 60 PPF (pixels per foot) is a pretty good minimum for reliable LPR. One of those 4k cams with a 4mm lens should deliver this up to 34 feet away. 22 feet with 2.8mm lens. 61 feet with a 6mm lens.

I can't promise that any cam will fit in the pipe however it is you want them to. These are fairly compact cams but a 4 inch pipe doesn't give you much room to play with.

 

[bigredfish]

Careful as @bp2008 mentions above, you're not going to get plate captures at anything close to that angle. More like the blue lines below. Might want to consider a variable focus cam and measure to a spot where you can get less than a 30 degree angle.

 

[highsecurity]

Thanks @bigredfish I meant to point to where the cameras will go. Not the angle of the camera.

How about I point them as you suggested these cameras in each direction? 4mm lens: http://amzn.com/B07FP5HHSQ

I like the idea of setting them at 30 degrees horizontal and measuring to that if optimal.

34 feet might be about right.

Regarding IR. The car I'm tracking is a yota 2018. So I expect it has a light on the plate.

How about the height? Should that be exact height?

 

[bigredfish]

Knowing the distance to the plate that achieves less than 30 degree angle is most important thing, without knowing that distance you can't be sure that camera will work. And I think as @bp2008 mentions, you'll find you'll need to use IR at night unless its very bright where the plate capture is going to happen.

Example: Height is relative to the angle/distance.
This camera is actually 18-20ft higher than the capture spot, but at 120ft distance it provides a relatively good angle of attack. I'm actually on the edge of a bad (>30 degrees) angle here. The overview camera shows the capture spot, the plate capture is done with a 5231E-Z12E focused tightly at 120ft.

 

[highsecurity]

I got two of the cameras suggested by @bp2008 . I set one up to test at a 30 degree angle and 30' away from the where the cars drive by.

Except I can't see the plates. I searched this forum and didn't see settings from others capturing tags with this camera IPC-HFW1831E 4MM Lens IP Camera 8MP WDR IR Mini Bullet

What would be the suggested settings for day and night?

 

[bp2008]

What do you mean you can't see the plates?

 

[bp2008]

The main setting you should change for good plate readability at night is the exposure time. I'd start with about 1/2000 second and see how that works out, and tweak it up or down as needed to reduce blur or increase image brightness. With any luck the same settings will work during the day and you won't have to worry about scheduling profile changes.

Reducing 3D NR (3D noise reduction) and making sure that WDR is off can help if you get any doubling of the plates.

 

[highsecurity]

@bigredfish you can focus your camera? I can set the camera at 35' away and less than 30 degrees angle. But not focus in on the area. My lens is a wide-angle and fixed as suggested.

Do you suggest an ability to focus to be important? It makes sense to me as I'm getting a wide angle of moving trees etc on the sides and people walking. I'm not focused on the area and can't see the plates.

I don't have a zoom on my camera. Do I need to zoom on my camera? I think that is part of my problem is not having the ability to zoom. The overall image is nice but getting a plate going by is a different thing. I think this where a zoom comes in handy.

Do you zoom into the spot with the camera and hold it there? Without a zoom on the camera, this seems an important part that is missing for LPR.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Post pictures of what you are getting ... Both night and day.
Post picture of the camera location and mounting , back for the expected target area.

 

[highsecurity]

OK I'll see what I can do as I'm not getting anything to show. I can send the shot of the street.

I have been tweaking all the settings and running ALPR for a week and haven't caught a license plate day or night.

I thought I need to zoom into the area as a basic need for ALPR and LPR.

Are you running LPR and or ALPR?

 

[bp2008]

You need to get us at least a native resolution snapshot, or preferably video, of a vehicle driving by.

 

[highsecurity]

OK I was hoping that would work since the software doesn't capture cars going by I don't have a video of a car going by.
I have been testing this before setting up purchasing blue iris to make sure I have the right camera.
I have been testing all the settings described on this forum and through the setup of Open ALPR
That image doesn't help? Is it too big or too small? That's how it is coming through the video at that resolution.
It's set at 1080 P.
Are you guys capturing license plates without a zoom function on ALPR?

 

[bigredfish]

What camera model is that?

No the image is not full 1080p

 

[highsecurity]

This is the camera IPC-HFW1831E
OK, that is how I set the camera up. I'll get a camera image and send it.

I don't want to waste more time or lose the opportunity to return the other camera I haven't used yet.
It seems everyone is using the zoom but not to exceed 80%.

 

[bigredfish]

Without seeing a full resolution (8MP) image/video its hard to say as @bp2008 has mentioned.

Generally speaking I try to get the smallest angle from the camera to the plate, which in your case would mean capturing closer to the Green X