acti 1231 IR question.

[dopalgangr 1]

So I want to upgrade the IR's on a couple of my Acti-1231 cams (no other light source available at their locations). I purchase some IR replacements off flebay and noticed that the Acti IR have two sets of wires going to them. One set of two and one set of three, each having there own port on the board. All the ones that I purchased only have the one - two port connection. Does anyone know what the additional three port connection is for on the Acti original? Thanks

[buellwinkle 0]

I would not mess with trying to replace the circuit board with the IR illuminators with a brand X one as you may hit other problems like light bleed onto the lens, the pattern created may not be what you expect, you may fry the camera's circuit board.

 

Just get an external IR illuminator and use it together with the one from the camera to create a really fantastic image at night. I use the Okeba that you find on eBay or Amazon. Has 8 huge LEDs, rated for 263' and a 45 degree viewing angle and is made of cast aluminum. Runs about $40 give or take. I have mine offset from the camera at about 30 degrees to balance out the shadows created by the camera IR LEDs.

[dopalgangr 1]

Thanks for the info. Do you have a link for the one you use? A search on ebay only came up with this http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=Okeba&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

On Amazon it was this one http://www.amazon.com/Control-vision-Infrared-Illuminator-packing/dp/B009O39DKW/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1351971059&sr=8-10&keywords=okeba is this it?

 

Edit, Im thinking this is it http://www.amazon.com/vision-Infrared-Illuminator-Camera-visual/dp/B008JSLJEG/ref=sr_1_35?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1351971172&sr=1-35

[hardwired 0]

So I want to upgrade the IR's on a couple of my Acti-1231 cams (no other light source available at their locations). I purchase some IR replacements off flebay and noticed that the Acti IR have two sets of wires going to them. One set of two and one set of three, each having there own port on the board. All the ones that I purchased only have the one - two port connection. Does anyone know what the additional three port connection is for on the Acti original? Thanks

The other set of leads is for the photocell that controls the day/night cutfilter. without it connected, the camera will not switch day/night modes properly. As Buellwinkle indicated, the best choice is going to be using an external IR unit.

[dopalgangr 1]

Thanks again guys!!

[buellwinkle 0]

Yes, the last link. If you search ebay or amazon for 263' IR Illuminator, you'll see more.

[dopalgangr 1]

Thought of something else. Besides the obvious of updating firmware, device packs, cleaning the lens, refocusing, etc. Is there any other routine maintenance that you would do on this specific model? I have had these up for about two years and it seems that the picture is a little grainier than I remember it when I first got them. Maybe its me and I'm just used to seeing the higher MP one out there on other systems, but is there any parts on these that degrade over time? Like the ccd or light gathering ability or something else?

[buellwinkle 0]

I have one that's 4 years old that's better than the one that's 1 year old and I never do anything to them except once in a while clean the glass and remove spiderwebs.

[dopalgangr 1]

I have one that's 4 years old that's better than the one that's 1 year old and I never do anything to them except once in a while clean the glass and remove spiderwebs.

 

If you wouldn't mind and have a chance, could you post a night shot pic from one so I can compare it to mine?

 

[buellwinkle 0]

I actually have mine down now while I review a bunch of Axis cameras that came in. Also, I reviewed the ACM-1231 before and that's my oldest camera and it's on my blog with day and night shots.

[MaxIcon 0]

I have one that's 4 years old that's better than the one that's 1 year old and I never do anything to them except once in a while clean the glass and remove spiderwebs.

 

If you wouldn't mind and have a chance, could you post a night shot pic from one so I can compare it to mine?

 

That image has quite a lot of sharpening - too much for my taste. I don't know if you can adjust that in the setup, but I'd want to smooth it out a good bit if it were mine.

 

Lots of modern cameras over-sharpen by default, and it really shows at night. I find it wipes out the detail, especially in low-contrast parts of the image.

[dopalgangr 1]

I have one that's 4 years old that's better than the one that's 1 year old and I never do anything to them except once in a while clean the glass and remove spiderwebs.

 

If you wouldn't mind and have a chance, could you post a night shot pic from one so I can compare it to mine?

 

That image has quite a lot of sharpening - too much for my taste. I don't know if you can adjust that in the setup, but I'd want to smooth it out a good bit if it were mine.

 

Lots of modern cameras over-sharpen by default, and it really shows at night. I find it wipes out the detail, especially in low-contrast parts of the image.

 

Thanks, I can adjust the sharpness. I had it at 192 and dropped it to 125. Cleaned it up a little. I also changed the AGC from 60 to 100 like buelwinkle said in his blog but the daytime picture was too washed out so I moved it back to 60.

[cicek 0]

You can either use the photocell provided on the camera or you can insert a manual switch in there as well. A photocell requires two lines and the third line is for control.