Why winter sucks for LPR.

[Robert G.]

I know not everyone has this problem, some have no idea what snow even is.

My ability to capture plates in Winter drops a LOT. I would say by at least 50% at night, possibly more.

The main issue in Winter is the muck and slop from snow on vehicles.

I captured this shot, not from my LPR camera, it does a good job of demonstrating how the reflection at night that is needed to read plates is basically destroyed because cars are so dirty.

That entire area is flooded by IR light, you can see the clean police car has lots of reflection. The street sign on the right side, also lots of reflection. That dirty police car, would be able to drive up and down the street all night and my license plate system would capture nothing.

Those of you who have no snow, have the LPR challenge so much easier.

 

[genelit]

Yup, dirt and snow covered plates is a nightmare.

What's your exposure settings on the LPR Cam?
Short exposure / fast shutter is one of the key ingredients to LPR.

 

[Robert G.]

Yup, dirt and snow covered plates is a nightmare.

What's your exposure settings on the LPR Cam?
Short exposure / fast shutter is one of the key ingredients to LPR.

That image is not from my LPR camera. I just thought it was a good photo to demonstrate how drastic a change dirt makes. The dirty cop care would be invisible to my LPR system. I can grab LPR at night, but clean works best.

Here are a couple samples from my actual ALPR cameras. If anyone has a suggestion to improve them, let me know. I think my West viewing camera could have some improvements, but not sure what setting to adjust.

 

[genelit]

That's clear!

For the West camera I would first try to decrease the angle - move canera closer to the road. Alternatively (second choice) to increase IR.

 

[Robert G.]

That's clear!

For the West camera I would first try to decrease the angle - move canera closer to the road. Alternatively (second choice) to increase IR.

LOL, I wish I could move the cameras. I have them on the house, with is as close to the road as I can get. I have even thought about building a brick fence post or something like that to put cameras in. But in this area, they would almost certainly be stolen or damaged.

The only way I can reduce the angle is to capture farther down the street, but I'm all the way zoomed out already. Need a camera with more zoom...