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[nybuck]

I have been experimenting with the floodcams and X10 wide-angle color cams, and have found that I don't see much unless the area in view is pretty bright.  Even my indoor home lights don't allow for a clear picture sometimes.

Has anyone had any luck with IR illumination or the low-light cameras?  Unfortunately when I bought them, I opted for the color cameras, not realizing they need more light.  In some cases, a LOT of light.  I was going to try IR illuminators for the baby cam....

Thanks! 

[Tuicemen]

Non of X10 cameras are true night vision cameras.
The only ones that come close are the Sentinel and Vanguard cams in starlight mode.
The good news is IR cameras have come way down in price and can be picked up from places like Walmart for basically the same Price as X10 cameras.
These cameras work well in a X10 setup you just need to add a appliance module to them so you can turn then on/off.
Draw back is picture can appear washed out during a sunny day.
I have one mounted to a pan & tilt ninja base with the aid of a street light 200 feet away I can see my full yard.

Now I have seen on the web many mods to turn a camera into a true night vision cam. Doing this mod will allow your x10 cams to work with IR illumination. One such post

[HA Dave]

I was going to try IR illuminators for the baby cam....

I'd think twice about that myself.

Although humans don't use IR lightwaves for gathering visual data... some think we do actually use that part of the light spectrum in other ways. I honestly don't have a clue myself. I am sure a little Interweb searching can provide you with all the data and misinformation anyone could want.

But the IR Illuminator's I have seen are powerful spotlight like light sources... albeit IR light.. I would not point one of those things at my baby. I think I would purchase one of the (IR baby monitor) cameras (designed for baby monitoring as they seem to have a less powerful light source). Then I would put the camera on a switchable powersource.... maybe using a appliance module. That way the IR light would be limited to when I was peeking in on the child.

[paizano1]

just wanted to add that there are plenty of very nice cameras that are color/BW.  The cameras that i use are color during the day and then they have a light sensor that as it gets darker they turn on the surrounding IR LEDs and the camera then becomes BW and see very nicely in total darkness.

I took a chance on this system that is sold at harbor freight tools.  I was leary but figured i could return it the store if wasnt satisfied.  It was a 4-channnel system with DVR for recording.  The cameras are waterprooof and housed in metal cases, no audio though, unless you run a seperate mic or use a different camera.  The cameras come with 2 of them with 6mm lens and 2 with 3.5mm lens.  the small number is the wide angle lens.  recording is either timed, motion, or full time.  uses camera logic and monitors the picture to determine when motion is detected, really cool so far.

As for sensitivity of the nightvision.  I must say it is very very nice.  One thing that was impressive is in total darkness it actually picks up little dots of light that are traveling erractically around my walls like a disco ball.  At first didnt know what this was, then realized it was my PIR motion sensor that was in the room creating this weird pattern on the wall.  I have to say that this is something i have never seen before on a camera.


As for the x-10 cams i have found that you really must adjust the brightness and contrast on your video display then your cameras wont need as much light . Plenty of times there is enough light for the camera but the internall settings are different then your display, so try and increase the brightness of your tv or computer and see if this helps.

[HA Dave]

........ I took a chance on this system that is sold at harbor freight tools. 

I looked over the 4 camera DVR system you mentioned. I even Downloaded the PDF and read through the information there. At $299 (sale price?) the system certainly deserves a review. I am familiar with the Harbor Freight brand and have even owned some of their cameras (B&W and Color). I like the little B&W camera because of it's rain/sun hood and tiny size. I currently have one of the chunky [metal] color cameras on an X10 Ninja mount (easy for the bad guys to spot and avoid).

Does/will the DVR record over old images (after a period of time)... or does it need regular monitoring. With such a large HD (250 gig) it would be nice to think it could run indefinitely and require little attention.

[paizano1]

the system so far is nice and working pretty good.  I have checked on it everyday and did some back tracking of the footage to see what has been happening.  All looks good so far.  I have only used it on motion sensing so far and it has been just about 11 days worth of recording. I have used 11% of the harddrive thus far. So approx, 1 day 1%.  Quality is nice, each camera adjusted independently, you can set it up to re-record over the oldest footage once capacity of harddrive is reached, or tell it to stop.  I did have a freeze-up once and had to turn off and back on. I just check each morning and everything has been fine so far since. 

The one really important selling point was this, The local store had it for $329, but they matched the online add for $299, then of course I had a 20%off coupon from the paper, so at $240 was definiately worth it. And as i stated earlier the picture quality is quite nice. 

[HA Dave]

..... you can set it up to re-record over the oldest footage once capacity of harddrive is reached, or tell it to stop. 

Pretty impressive! This is good technology. 

[nybuck]

Thanks for all the replies.   

You have given me a lot to think about / experiment with.

That site Tuicemen offered up seems interesting.  It seems that the cameras may have an IR filter in them - Removing it would allow more IR illumination.  I will open up one of these Xcams and see if it has a similar design.  They put in a "sunglasses" filter, which seems to only allow non-visible light.  Perhaps that won't be necessary as I want to see the visible light during the day as well.  My experiment of pointing an IR remote at the camera in the dark shows a white glow, so the Xcam is sensitive to some IR light.

As far as not aiming an IR illuminator at a baby, I am not so nervous.  I may do a Google search, but I did have an over-the-counter video baby monitor with an [8-LED] IR illuminator and dedicated monitor.  Unfortunately, the 7" CRT monitor died, and I can't seem to isolate the video output.  I am not about to shell out hundreds for another wireless cam when I have 3 Xcams sitting around...    

Maybe I can teach the baby to sleep with the light on?   

[nybuck]

 ... By the way, I have stopped my weekly treks to Harbor Freight, as I was spending all my lunch money... 

Now it all goes into X10 orders!   

[dave w]

... By the way, I have stopped my weekly treks to Harbor Freight, as I was spending all my lunch money... 

Well tell me how you did it!
I'm addicted to those $1.99 (on sale) digital multi meters. Gee whiz the probes are worth 2 bucks! I now have digital voltage and current meters on two bench power supplies. A digital power line monitor, a digital battery monitor for the lawn tractor, and one more Harbor Freight DMM in the drawer waiting for a use. I think my wife is planning another intervention for Harbor Freight addiction. 

[hawk1]

I believe the xcams have a coating as a ir filter and you have to carefully scrape it off the lens.  I remember reading where someone did this kind of mod.  I will try to find it and post.

[nybuck]

Thanks, Hawk1.  I opened it up and looked.  No obvious red lens like in the previous link.

I ordered a 10-IR LED board from Ebay.  I will try it out and post my results.