IPC-HFW2100 IR Problems

[Papillon 0]

Hi all,

 

I've received my replacement IPC-HFW2100 after my 1st had a problem rebooting and i now have a problem with the infrared LED's flickering

 

Video from camera

http://youtu.be/y8vZC0jyx4c

 

Filming the LED's with my phone (ignore the TV!)

http://youtu.be/Uu2OoHxIb_0

 

Is there any way of solving this or do you think this is a fault that warrants returning camera number 2?

 

Thanks

[vector18 1]

How are you powering the camera? What kind of connection are you using? POE or a transformer? Did you put the cat5 ends on yourself? Can you point the camera in an environment where the light is not changing, like

not near a TV? Do you have another camera to try with the same wiring?

[finalwish 0]

Hi all,

 

I've received my replacement IPC-HFW2100 after my 1st had a problem rebooting and i now have a problem with the infrared LED's flickering

 

Video from camera

http://youtu.be/y8vZC0jyx4c

 

Filming the LED's with my phone (ignore the TV!)

http://youtu.be/Uu2OoHxIb_0

 

Is there any way of solving this or do you think this is a fault that warrants returning camera number 2?

 

Thanks

 

I had this same issue for my HFW3200 camera after upgrading and rebooting, and the flickering

continue for like an hour. Then the problem went away on its own and haven't had seen it since.

 

Try to reset to default settings and wait for awhile.

[Papillon 0]

How are you powering the camera? What kind of connection are you using? POE or a transformer? Did you put the cat5 ends on yourself? Can you point the camera in an environment where the light is not changing, like

not near a TV? Do you have another camera to try with the same wiring?

Hi,

 

1. I am powering using a Netgear GS108P PoE switch. 1 camera plugged in only. (I have also tried 2 other GS108P's with same results)

2. I am testing using a a 1m patch lead at the moment, although cables i have made myself and other patch leads have the same result.

3. The camera has been mounted outdoors and it does the same flickering in low light.

4. I have another HFW2100 (in my parents) which is fine with both my wiring and my PoE switch - the camera there is running the same setup flawlessly.

 

The next video is from when i first got the replacement camera and tested it in my parents attic, no lights on at all and it's flickering.

http://youtu.be/Gsn5FULO0ho

 

I think i've been extremely unlucky here with these cameras

 

Thanks,

[vector18 1]

Sounds like you have your troubleshooting down. Like previous poster mentioned, try to totally default camera and do a full reset.

Otherwise, sounds like whoever is sending you these cameras doesn't like you.

[dexterash 0]

take the top cover off the camera and test without it (might be IR reflection from it and too much light flooding the sensor)

 

also, try to cover the image sensor... does it do the same?

 

you'll have to figure out if it's a power related problem or an image/IR control related problem

[martop1 0]

Papillon,

 

In your first youtube video you show the leds flickering, if you look at the reflection of the camera you can see that not all the leds are powering up, it looks like two groups are not working, given that the IR leds are connected in groups I would suspect that either there is something wrong with the circuit around that group of leds or something wierd is happening to the power supply.

 

As your feeding this camera with poe power I would suggest you power it up from a seperate power supply, 12 volts of at least 1.5 amps using the power lead connector on the camera, this is just to test if the poe swtich is causing the problem.

 

Somebody has to be unlucky and get the duds, in this case it looks as if its you and me as I had one replaced too

[finalwish 0]

my camera is starting to exhibit this flickering issue last night.

 

I had to switch it to color mode for now until I figure out what's going on.

If I take the glass cover off the IR doesn't flicker, so I'm wondering if it's the sensor has gone bad.

[dexterash 0]

IR is reflecting from glass to sensor... check if the lens are completly isolated from IR (lens/lens surrounding should be tight to front glass)

[finalwish 0]

IR is reflecting from glass to sensor... check if the lens are completly isolated from IR (lens/lens surrounding should be tight to front glass)

 

I will check it when the rain stops and I have a chance to get up there to take a look.

[MaxIcon 0]

Yes, sounds like the IR is reflecting back into the sensor, causing an oscillation.

 

The Dahua doesn't use the lens signal to turn the IR on and off, just the sensor on the IR board, so loss of lens isolation shouldn't cause flickering IR. The sensor for the IR responds very quickly, while the through-lens response for light levels is quite slow.

 

It sounds like either the sensitivity of the sensor has changed, causing it to turn on and off with the IR, or there may be an IR filter that goes over the sensor that has fallen off. This would make sense, if the sensor sees IR at all, as you only want it to respond to white light, not IR, to prevent this type of problem.

 

CdS sensors aren't very sensitive to IR, while Si sensors are, so it'll depend on what kind they use.

 

I haven't looked closely at mine to see if there's a filter or not. Sounds like another weekend project.

[finalwish 0]

It does look like a bad IR sensor. I swapped the IR panel with one from another camera and it seems to work fine.

 

When I moved a finger close to the problematic sensor, the IR starts flickering.

[dexterash 0]

check for the IR filter in front of the sensor (if it's still there)...

[MaxIcon 0]

I took a look at my HFW3300C and HFW2100, and the sensor is a tiny chip on the bottom of the IR board.

 

It's hard to tell if it's got an IR filter over it, as I didn't have time to take anything apart, but it would need one if it were IR sensitve, since you'd get quite a lot of reflection from the back of the glass.

 

If you can compare the boards easily, you might be able to tell if there's a difference between the sensors.

[finalwish 0]

Agreed. Can't tell if it has IR filter on it or not, and no difference between the working vs non-working sensors.

 

Saw this thread viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33075 and the sensor is similar to the pictures in the thread.

[MaxIcon 0]

I took my HFW3300C apart this weekend, and got some pics of the sensor up close. It's still hard to tell, but the black rectangle on top could be an IR filter over the actual sensor. It should be pretty obvious if this is different from yours.

 

It appears the IR is directly controlled by the electronics, not by the CPU and software, as it will turn on and off as soon as the camera's powered up, long before it's booted.

 

My front glass also had some haze on the inside surface, which took a little effort to clean off. If there's residue on the glass that's IR reflective, it could cause flickering.

 

The good news is that it will work fine with the IR board disconnected, which is different from cameras that use the IR board sensor to control the day/night transition (like the Vivotek 1MPs). It's the only way I know of to disable it, for those who want to use external IR.

 

[finalwish 0]

It looks like mine is the same.

 

 

 

I took my HFW3300C apart this weekend, and got some pics of the sensor up close. It's still hard to tell, but the black rectangle on top could be an IR filter over the actual sensor. It should be pretty obvious if this is different from yours.

 

It appears the IR is directly controlled by the electronics, not by the CPU and software, as it will turn on and off as soon as the camera's powered up, long before it's booted.

 

My front glass also had some haze on the inside surface, which took a little effort to clean off. If there's residue on the glass that's IR reflective, it could cause flickering.

 

The good news is that it will work fine with the IR board disconnected, which is different from cameras that use the IR board sensor to control the day/night transition (like the Vivotek 1MPs). It's the only way I know of to disable it, for those who want to use external IR.