Night vision on CCTV camera.

[aliciac 0]

Hi everyone!

 

I've had to replace one of the CCTV cameras on my system because the previous camera stopped working. It was an outdoor camera. I bought another outdoor camera online from a website for £50. I think it is a generic brand but has a SONY EFFIO-E 700TVL chip. The camera was installed and works well, in daytime at least. The camera certainly gives a sharper clearer image than the previous camera. The problem is at night when the camera continuously switches from night colour to night black/white every two seconds, non stop from dawn to dusk. However when a car passes by, the headlights from the car appear to keep the camera in night colour mode! I have tried changing the power supply but to no avail. All the LED lights on the face of the camera appear to be on at night. The camera has a small control unit built into the wire which provides an on screen menu. When I installed the camera, I did not change any settings (all have been left as default). I have checked the manual, but am unsure which setting it is that I need to adjust to ensure the camera remains in colour mode at night (if indeed this is a setting problem and not a fault with the camera).

 

I found this website, but am not sure if it helps my problem: http://www.eclipsecctv.com/OSD-security-camera-578-explanations.html

 

Please help someone! Any ideas welcome.

 

Thanks very much!

 

Alicia.

[Securame 0]

I found this website, but am not sure if it helps my problem: http://www.eclipsecctv.com/OSD-security-camera-578-explanations.html

 

If your OSD menus are like the ones on the link you supplied, tweak the following settings on your camera:

 

DAY/NIGHT Menu

 

This sub-menu governs how the camera handles color and how it changes between day and night mode and back. Four options are available, EXT and COLOR (no sub-menus), and B/W and AUTO modes, explained below.

B/W Mode

 

Sets black-and-white mode. The D&N B/W sub-menu appears, shown above.

 

BURST: Alters the color burst information passed to the video monitor. Since this is B/W mode, it doesn't effect color but can effect gain. If your monitor is showing a poor image and you are using long runs of cable, changing this setting from OFF to ON may improve the situation.

[aliciac 0]

Thank you the reply MindTwist. Sorry about the delayed reply, been so much else going on at work at the moment.

 

I've had a look through the small manual that came with the CCTV camera. Whilst the menus look similar to those that I posted a link to, they're not the same.

 

In the manual for my CCTV camera, in the section for "Day/Night mode", it says:

 

"Day/night mode.

Auto: Select this and the camera will show a colour image in high lux and will change to a black/white image in low lux.

 

I have five options to play with in this menu:

 

DAY/NIGHT - Auto.

BURST - On or off.

DELAY CNT - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 10.

DAY -> NIGHT - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 3.

NIGHT -> DAY - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 5.

 

I presume I have to change the latter two settings, but to what? I have a feeling you're going to say trial and error which means climbing up a ladder several times and waiting for night each time!

 

Any further comments most welcome!

 

Thanks very much!

 

Alicia.

[the toss 0]

Thank you the reply MindTwist. Sorry about the delayed reply, been so much else going on at work at the moment.

 

I've had a look through the small manual that came with the CCTV camera. Whilst the menus look similar to those that I posted a link to, they're not the same.

 

In the manual for my CCTV camera, in the section for "Day/Night mode", it says:

 

"Day/night mode.

Auto: Select this and the camera will show a colour image in high lux and will change to a black/white image in low lux.

 

I have five options to play with in this menu:

 

DAY/NIGHT - Auto.

BURST - On or off.

DELAY CNT - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 10.

DAY -> NIGHT - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 3.

NIGHT -> DAY - Choose number between 1 and 100. Default is 5.

 

I presume I have to change the latter two settings, but to what? I have a feeling you're going to say trial and error which means climbing up a ladder several times and waiting for night each time!

 

Any further comments most welcome!

 

Thanks very much!

 

Alicia.

 

The last two settings are as they say. The points at which the camera switches the IR in & out. The 1-100 scale is the amount of ambient light (1 being darkness & 100 being light) For most purposes the default setting will be ok. You cannot have the settings the same or you will get to a point where the light level is such that the camera won't know if it should go to IR or not & will rapidly switch between the two. I'm guessing that those default settings should be 30 & 50 not 3 & 5.

So for example (using the default setting of day-night=30 & night-day =50 ) you might have a lot of ambient light in the area and want to delay the switching to IR to retain colour information for a bit longer. Simply make the day-night setting 20 and it won't switch to IR until it is a little bit darker. But as I said there is usually no reason to change these settings.

[aliciac 0]

Thanks very much for your post The Toss!

 

Yesterday I tried to change the settings as you described. I attempted to change the 'DAY -> NIGHT' setting to 20 and the 'NIGHT -> DAY' setting to 50. However, when I moved the number for the first setting, the second setting also changed! I don't know why this would happen. As you explained, these two numbers should be different, but as soon as I started moving the first from 3 to 20, the second started moving by its own from it's 5 position to exactly the same as the above. Bizarre!

 

Unsure of what to do, I left them both on 20. Had no choice. I also changed DELAY CNT from 10 to 30 in case this helped because I had doubts the other changes I'd made would help. I also switched BURST to on.

 

And then about an hour before sunset, the camera switched to black/white mode. And just sat in that mode all night until an hour or so after sunrise. I think I might have made it worse! No colour at all in night mode.

 

Where am I going wrong? I don't want a black/white picture at night. I want a colour picture all through the night. I got this with the old camera, I should be able to get the same with the new one.

 

Next time I think I better call in a professional to install a new CCTV camera. This is a lot of work when you don't know what all the settings mean and do!

 

Anybody feel free to offer any other suggestions on settings changes to get colour back in night mode.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Alicia.

[the toss 0]

Thanks very much for your post The Toss!

 

Yesterday I tried to change the settings as you described. I attempted to change the 'DAY -> NIGHT' setting to 20 and the 'NIGHT -> DAY' setting to 50. However, when I moved the number for the first setting, the second setting also changed! I don't know why this would happen. As you explained, these two numbers should be different, but as soon as I started moving the first from 3 to 20, the second started moving by its own from it's 5 position to exactly the same as the above. Bizarre!

 

Unsure of what to do, I left them both on 20. Had no choice. I also changed DELAY CNT from 10 to 30 in case this helped because I had doubts the other changes I'd made would help. I also switched BURST to on.

 

And then about an hour before sunset, the camera switched to black/white mode. And just sat in that mode all night until an hour or so after sunrise. I think I might have made it worse! No colour at all in night mode.

 

Where am I going wrong? I don't want a black/white picture at night. I want a colour picture all through the night. I got this with the old camera, I should be able to get the same with the new one.

 

Next time I think I better call in a professional to install a new CCTV camera. This is a lot of work when you don't know what all the settings mean and do!

 

Anybody feel free to offer any other suggestions on settings changes to get colour back in night mode.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Alicia.

 

You won't get any colour information when operating under IR. It looks like the settings relevent to each other are set & cannot be changed. I'm thinking this is a fairly cheap camera

[Horizon 0]

Hi aliciac.

 

Did you try to change the "night to day" setting up from 20?

 

You might want to change the "day to night" setting back down to where you had it (try 3), and set the "night to day" a bit higher (7, maybe 9), and just play with these settings until you are happy, (or get too frustrated).

 

You want the camera to go into night mode when it gets dark (at the 3 setting), and to leave night mode when it becomes lighter (the 7 setting). Logically, the "night to day" setting must be greater or equal to the "day to night" value, so the camera will auto adjust this if you don't set it yourself.

 

The DELAY CNT is a time delay, so that brief bright events (like car headlights) won't make the camera switch out of night mode. It's probably in seconds??

 

Actually, if you want colour at night, try changing it from "DAY/NIGHT - Auto" to "DAY/NIGHT - day" and see if that's any better. You might have enough light there without the IR LEDs.

[shockwave199 0]

This is from another manual that may be more specific for you about these particular settings. I ran into the two numbers 'chasing game' with a camera as well. Change one, the other changes. I don't remember which number I had to change first, but it can be done. You just can't make each number too close or else they lock together and change together. Keep noodling- you'll get it. Good luck.

 

Burst On/Off – When leaving this setting on, the video signal will maintain the color burst signal when switching to B/W mode. This will boost your signal during times of low light which will result in a less noisy picture.

 

Delay CNT – This setting tells your camera how long to delay before switching to either day or night mode. This setting is handy as it will prevent the camera from switching over to either mode too quickly because of a temporary light change. The higher the setting, the longer the delay

 

Day-Night – Tells the camera when to switch over from day mode to night mode. The higher the setting, the less light that is required for the camera to switch over. For indoor scenarios, we recommend keeping this setting somewhere in the 40-75 range. For outdoor scenarios, we recommend keeping the setting around 150.

 

Night-Day – Tells the camera when to switch from night mode back over to day mode. The higher the setting, the more light is required for the camera to switch over. For indoor scenarios, we recommend keeping this at 50-85. For outdoor scenarios, around 175.

 

**** Please set the values between Day-Night and Night-Day to be somewhat distinguishable. If the difference between the values between these 2 settings are minimal, then you may have a problem of the camera switching between modes repeatedly. Also, you will notice that the Night-Day setting must always be higher than the Day-Night setting. This is a value that may take a few days to toggle with in your scenario to get the right

setting.

[aliciac 0]

Thanks for your detailed posts the toss, Horizon and shockwave199. The camera was £80, so not very cheap, but yes, not particular expensive either. I concede I did make the mistake of not getting it installed by a professional though! Would have saved me this bother. Armed with the excellent advice I have received here, I will have another play about with the camera this weekend and try and get a decent gap between the DAY -> NIGHT and NIGHT -> DAY numbers, with the latter being distinguishably higher than the former. Will leave BURST on and DELAY CNT as 30.

 

Will keep you guys updated on how I get on!

 

Thanks for now! Appreciate your time!

 

Alicia.

[shockwave199 0]

Don't feel bad. An installer wouldn't stick around at night and fiddle to get it just right for you. They pop 'em up, leave at default settings, take your money, and away they go. The best person to dial in just the perfect picture and balance between your day and night shot is you. Nothing great comes easy- it takes fiddling. And no one setting is a guarantee to work for your situation. Consider it a learning experience. Good luck and keep at it.

[cleomar77 0]

Hello everyone,

I have similar issue regarding our camera video that display night vision during daytime.

Camera: Samsung SDC-8440BC 720p HD Weatherproof IR Camera,

DVR: SDR-C5300

I believe camera sensor is very sensitive on a weak light during the day even if the lights is on.

Is there any settings on the camera or our DVR to adjust, in order to display colored during daytime?

 

thanks,

 

cleomar