what is my camera doing

[marvelusmarvcus 0]

just hooked up my outdoor bullet camera with ir.

 

at the time of day when it starts to get dark, the cam starting flickering back and forth between the color and ir.

 

not sure why, dvr did indicate video loss when i first hooked up, but i did not see any problems until the flickering happened 6 hours later.

 

any ideas? it is a long run.

[todoenred 0]

Maybe power issues.

Regards

[marvelusmarvcus 0]

would it be power, the camera was working fine for 6 hours.

 

it was exactly the time of day when the camera would change to ir. it just could not make up its mind and kept going back to color.

[Soundy 1]

Does it settle in to B&W once it gets a little darker, or does it keep switching through the night? Look for any other light source that could be affecting it - I believe most have a separate light sensor to trigger the switch, much like the systems that turn building and street lights on at dusk.

[marvelusmarvcus 0]

thanks for the help guys

 

i think it would settle to ir if it was full night, its just at that time of the day where the switch takes place, and it cant seem to make up its mind.

 

i do have an outdoor flood lamp pointing at the camera, could this be the problem?

 

video or power runs being too long would not cause this correct?

[Soundy 1]

Power is PROBABLY not the issue, but to be sure, check the voltage at the camera, WITH the camera powered up. It's possible that the IR LEDs kicking in are dropping the voltage enough to cause the camera to revert to color. My guess would be that the light sensor is just getting confused... and yes, a flood light pointed toward the camera could be affecting it as well.

 

One thing you can do to test the theory, is to cover the light sensor with something like a small piece of black tape, and see if the camera goes to IR mode and stays there. It may not be enough to fully block it in the daylight, but it might cut the light interference that's causing it to keep reverting to color as it gets dark.

[marvelusmarvcus 0]

thanks for the help thus far guys.

 

i think i may have it figured out. the camera does fine until it needs to switch on the ir. i would imagine that the long power run works fine for the color day mode, but when the ir kicks on, it draws more power, and it is not enough to keep the ir powered up.

 

i am going to try some more tests tonight. i will post my results.

[marvelusmarvcus 0]

found the problem

 

there is a little cover that goes over the ir sensor on the camera

 

this cover had fallen off and was blocking the light sensor

 

reattached the cover and we are all good now

 

thanks for the help guys