IR Camera at night fades

[dandonjam 0]

Here’s the issue...

We have an 8 way DVR recording from a mixture of traditional and dome type cameras. After about 3 days one particular camera started to have a night time IR issue, when it got dark on the 6th day the IR seems to run full power and then gradually fade out ending up with complete darkness. Then some times a limited range picture comes back, but it looks like IRs aren’t illumining very well, then goes black again?!?!

The camera is on a reasonable length co-ax run, we think the cable length is about 50 meters. Originally the camera was powered from a central 12v power supply at the DVR end, we figured it could be a volt drop issue, so metered the camera end under load at got a reading of about 11.8v. We figured it still could be a volt drop issue so give the camera a local power supply. The issue remained, so we figured it was a duff camera...

So whilst we were getting a replacement we put up a low quality IR Camera, and it worked fine for an extended period, so figured it was the duff camera.

Guess what, the new high quality camera arrived - new camera worked fine, then after about 6 days the same happened again, the IR fading starts again.

As the fault has occurred twice on 2 separate camera’s and we know voltage is good, we wondered if there could be something else affecting the camera.

The camera is pointing down a dark alley so don’t think there’s any visible or non visible IR affecting it. And if there was why didn’t the cheaper IR have the same issue?

Our next step is to take the external camera down and install close to the DVR indoors and review. Know it’s hard to tell from the flakey discription but has anyone else experienced similar symptoms?

Any help would be most appreciated...

[irishkc_1 0]

I'd bet it was a power issue, but you need to realize that most IR cameras illuminators have a very limited range and don't work very well. Also these cameras have a huge problem with overheating in summer months. I'd suggest a stand alone IR illuminator and a low light day / night camera.

[rory 0]

If you are getting video loss at night only then its likely the IR drawing too much current - check power requirements of camera, and the power supply amps.

 

However as it is coming and going, it sounds like it might be an Iris issue, although again the AI may not be getting enough power.

 

If its random video loss day or night, and you already changed the camera, and changed the power supply or switched to a known good power supply - then it could be a bad cable, meaning replacing the entire video/power cable. Ive seen the fading out from bad cable, its rare but it happened.

 

So questions:

 

-what kind of power and video wire is being used?

-what type of power supply is being used?

-what are the power requirements of the camera.