Using The Dahua IPC-B5442E-Z4E As A License Plate Camera

[Parley]

I have been juggling some cameras around and one of them was moving a LP camera from the eave of the house out to a spot on my tree next to the road for a much better view. While setting the camera up for the new location I discovered something new to me. That is under the Profile Management there is a section that is Day/Night. So, I clicked on that section and started to set up the camera to see how that would go. IMHO this is the way to go. You have color during the day and black and white at night. IMHO this adds to the usefulness of the camera.

So, under Exposure, I either set the camera up for 1/1000 shutter speed or 1/2000 shutter speed for the day time part. I think this depends on the view and the vintage of the camera. For the night setting I use 1/2000 shutter speed. Now, I also may have to adjust the brightness or the gamma depending on how much light I need. This camera is so good that I am getting license plate readings that I know I would have missed in the past. I just ordered a fourth camera to replace one of the older 2MP camera that will become a spare. As to distance, maybe 150 feet is my longest distance. The 4mp really helps. Here is a daytime picture from one of my cameras. The shutter speed is set to 1/2000.

 

[wittaj]

Hopefully that profile management works for you.

From my experience all that selecting day/night does is it randomly picks a day or night profile and then simply changes to color or B/W based on light. So for a few days it works and then it picks day or night profile and would only switch color or b/w based on light.

 

[Parley]

Hopefully that profile management works for you.

From my experience all that selecting day/night does is it randomly picks a day or night profile and then simply changes to color or B/W based on light. So for a few days it works and then it picks day or night profile and would only switch color or b/w based on light.

We shall see. I have only been doing this for maybe 3 days now. So far, my 3 IPC-B5442E-Z4E's have been working just fine. However, my HFW5241E-Z12E has started doing what you describe. However, it is still getting the license plate numbers.

 

[Parley]

Moving the LPR camera from the eave of the house to the tree was a huge success, so I just moved another LPR camera to the tree from the eave of the house. Here are a couple of pictures. One with the camera in the tree and then a photo from the camera in its new location.

 

[bigredfish]

I mostly use the "Schedule" profile. Which means picking a fixed day/night switch time. It means forcing the switch from B&W to Color 30-45 min before sunset to make sure you get a good focus before dark. And It also means I have to change the switch time about 3-4 times per year due to that damn orange ball in the sky changing how long it stays lit.

 

[Mike A.]

Some of my Dahua cams work fine with the built-in switching. Others don't. I usually try the auto and then if it doesn't work go to BP's utility. Which also doesn't work on a couple of mine. In that case I go with the schedule and adjust it a few times every year. I need to look at doing it in BI but just haven't gotten around to that.

 

[CamCrazy]

I am running a 2MP version and it is bullet proof both day and night, using the Dahua Sunrise Sunset application to adjust focus correctly. Settings grabs from my HFW5241E-Z12E if it helps.

 

[Parley]

I have 4 of the Dahua IPC-B5442E-Z4E cameras mounted as license plate cameras. Here is what I wound up with for the night time exposure. Camera #1 is at 1/4000. Camera #2 is at 1/500. Camera #3 is at 1/2000 and camera #4 is at 1/1000. The one I had the most trouble with was Camera #1 at an exposure speed of 1/4000 and HLC at 50. I never dreamed I would have to go to 1/4000. None of the others have HLC on as of now. By the way cameras 3 and 4 are the ones mounted in the tree and closest to the road.

Seeing this time of year has the longest daylight time it took a while for me to do the adjusting on Camera #1. I am in bed by 9PM. So, I would have to make the adjustments during the day and check the footage the next morning from the previous night.

 

[Parley]

Now that I have the cameras pretty much dialed in, I can say I am in the high 90% for reading license plates. So far, I have had only one car that I could not read a front or rear license plate. This car had no front plate and I would suspect some type of plastic covering over the rear plate. This is the best that I have ever had.

Edit: I wanted to add a little more IR light and I happened to have an identical camera right next to the LP camera with an ever so slightly different angle. So, I turned the IR light on that camera. I am sure that it helped some what, but it is not overwhelming in the least.

 

[Parley]

Here is a picture from one of my license plate cameras that I moved to the tree. Having your camera close to the road really helps in getting the vast majority of the plates. The 4MP does not hurt anything either.

Edit: One more thing. On two cameras I now have the HLC on and they are both set at 60.

 

[samplenhold]

I would suspect some type of plastic covering over the rear plate

That seems to be the thing lately in parts of the country. I am on a trip in our RV right now and have seen so many smokey plastic plate covers that makes it very hard to see even in the daytime. Seen these in IL, IN, OH, and GA.

 

[Flintstone61]

The nice thing about having 2 on duty is that as the sun angle changes throughout the day. One cam may lose out on a plate but the other probably got it.
But at night they both do a good job, I'm doing pretty much what @Parley is doing. Although his images look better. I'm about max distance for plates in this set up. But I'm impressed with them nonetheless.
But at night

 

[Flintstone61]

 

[Parley]

If you are not at the limit of the camera, I would try to zoom in little more. Like in the top photo, say between the metal pole and the tree.

 

[Parley]

Okay, I decided to post some pictures from the 4 cameras. Front and rear and two problematic plates in the next post.

Camera LP1. Shutter speed at 1/4000 and HLC at 60.



Camera LP2. Shutter speed 1/500 and HLC at 60.





From Camera LP3. Shutter at 1/2000 and so far no HLC.




From Camera LP4. Shutter speed 1/1000 and so far no HLC.

 

[Flintstone61]

Here's one of mine. I gotta run to work now....One is day one is nite. No backlighting turned on.
I believe the other one is set to 1/1000 shutter.

 

[Parley]

Here are the two problematic plates. Between the front and rear pictures I can determine the plate number. Also going frame by frame helps. It helps to have a 4K 28" monitor.

Here is the first one. I believe the plate number is DZIL PWR.





Here is the 2nd one and I believe the plate number is K966Z0.

 

[bigredfish]

Big difference. Like they arent getting enough IR.....?

 

[Parley]

Big difference. Like they arent getting enough IR.....?

On LP1 that one has the IR from two cameras turned up to 100. On LP4 I could turn up the IR to 100. Right now it is around 40. On the vast majority of the plates there is no problem. For some reason these plates are not that reflective. I will turn up the IR on LP4 and see what happens.

 

[bigredfish]

Ok yeah it could be yucky plates, I thought it was a persistent problem across all plates on those cameras...