DH-SD3E405DB-GNY-A-PV1 - Warm light illumination conundrum

[war4peace]

Hello everyone.
As stated in the thread title, I recently bought a Dahua DH-SD3E405DB-GNY-A-PV1 TIOC camera.
I have some problems properly setting up the Illumination mode.

What I want to happen:
- The Warm Light Illuminator should turn ON at sunset and turn OFF at sunrise (+/- 30 minutes, it doesn't have to be extremely precise).

What actually happens:

No matter which combination of settings I try, the camera seems to want to do its own thing.
(yes, I have read the manual here, for Web 5.0 interface, but the Illuminator section doesn't match the web interface entirely)

Under Camera / Image, I have two options at the beginning (radio buttons): Self-Adaptive and Customized Scene.
Under"Self-Adaptive", "Illuminator" section, I have several options, as seen below.

If I choose "Warm Light Mode", the "Mode" below has only one option: "Auto". No idea what "Auto" means.
If I choose "Smart Illumination", the "Mode" below still has only one option ("Auto"), but it has one extra option called "Illuminator Delay" (value between 30 and 300 seconds). Again, this is not documented in the manual (page 23).

Now, if I choose "By Time", I could set start and end time for Warm Light mode, but I live at parallel 45 north, which means in the summer the Warm Light will stay on well after sunrise, and turn on well before sunset, while in the winter it will turn on well after sunset and turn off well before sunrise.


I would much appreciate for someone to advise me on the correct combination of settings to have white light turn on and off based on ambient light.
Thank you very much!

 

[bigredfish]

I dont have that camera but I do run a fixed 'Schedule" on many. Is taking 5 minutes 2-3 times per year to adjust the time that much of an inconvenience?

 

[war4peace]

I dont have that camera but I do run a fixed 'Schedule" on many. Is taking 5 minutes 2-3 times per year to adjust the time that much of an inconvenience?

It's one more thing to note and remember, besides the other 1000 things I have to note and remember. At some point it becomes a burden, the proverbial straw, and I'm the tired camel

 

[war4peace]

Update: I just don't get how those settings work.
I have configured "By Time" yesterday evening, and today at 10 AM the LEDs were still ON.
Schedule settings are below. Note: There is no option for OFF, only "Smart Illumination", "Warm Light Mode" and "IR Mode".


Right now, the LEDs are ON 24/7 with the setting above.
Something seems wrong with the camera itself, or I just don't understand the settings.


Later Edit, a few minutes later: I just re-applied these exact settings, and Warm light LEDs turned off.
I bet come evening they will not turn back on - which strongly suggests the settings are not read by the camera unless manually applied from the web interface.

 

[bigredfish]

I’m thinking that like the way I use it, you would need to choose Customized Scene when using the time schedule…?

 

[war4peace]

In that case, the UI is truly borked.
If that option would only work on customized scene configuration set, then:
1. It should not appear at all in Self-Adaptive
2. It should not successfully change Illuminator state when settings are applied.

I will try Customized Scene as well after I confirm tonight whether LEDs turn ON or not.

 

[JDreaming]

In that case, the UI is truly borked.
If that option would only work on customized scene configuration set, then:
1. It should not appear at all in Self-Adaptive
2. It should not successfully change Illuminator state when settings are applied.

I will try Customized Scene as well after I confirm tonight whether LEDs turn ON or not.

I've read from other members here that some cameras needs to use the 24-hour clock instead of the 12-hour clock for it to work properly with some of the settings.

 

[MYKMACSJ]

@war4peace I don't have the same model camera as you, but I set up my camera "in "Warm Light Mode". It turns on and off at sunset and sunrise.

About your camera can you post a video at night? With that PTZ camera, I wanted the spotlight (white light) to only come on when it saw people walking by.

(my new camera IPC-HDW3849H-AS-PV-S4 (S4 Version) TiOC2.0)

 

[war4peace]

Somehow, the camera works as expected, despite the settings introduced. The settings have the camera turn on and off at fixed hours (which is, as stated above, less than ideal), but instead turns on and off at sunrise / sunset, as I originally wanted.
I am honestly afraid of even loading the Web GUI anymore, because from what i could gather it looks like something is very badly configures as far as saving those specific settings is involved.
Maybe I got a bugged firmware on that camera, but I'll live.
@MYKMACSJ - I don't use the camera app, it's not connected to cloud and never will be. I picked Dahua and Hikvision specifically because I can use them without someone else having a chance of peeking into my recordings, everything is locally saved.
Sample video below.

View attachment Gate.20240326_160221_2.mp4

 

[MYKMACSJ]

@war4peace thanks for the video. Yeah I understand about them being on the internet.

 

[war4peace]

Just note that the video settings can still be improved, but I simply can't bear myself going into that UI again

 

[MYKMACSJ]

Just note that the video settings can still be improved, but I simply can't bear myself going into that UI again

Their UI is a lot different from Hikvision.

 

[war4peace]

Yes, I know, I own both brands. Dahua's UI 5 is a horrible mess, to be honest.

 

[wittaj]

Yes, I know, I own both brands. Dahua's UI 5 is a horrible mess, to be honest.

LOL and I think Hikvision's is a horrible mess

 

[war4peace]

Compared to Dahua's Web 5.0, any UI is better.
They made the UI in such a way you have to go into settings and click on entries to have them displayed as... tabs of all things.
Don't even ask me how long it took me to figure out I have to click on Home in order to access their AI / camera tracking menu, took quite some googling to find that out.

 

[wittaj]

Compared to Dahua's Web 5.0, any UI is better.
They made the UI in such a way you have to go into settings and click on entries to have them displayed as... tabs of all things.
Don't even ask me how long it took me to figure out I have to click on Home in order to access their AI / camera tracking menu, took quite some googling to find that out.

Yeah, I am a fan of the older GUI!

 

[war4peace]

Indeed, the older UI is much more intuitive. It has its (general) quirks, valid for pretty much anything that comes from China, namely obscure acronyms with no explanation, but at least you can navigate from menu entry to menu entry.
In the, ahem, "new" UI, it's a pain in the buttocks.

 

[MYKMACSJ]

@war4peace
here is the webpage config

 

[war4peace]

I know where the settings are, what I am wary of is actually saving those settings. It looks like my camera UI doesn't properly apply/save settings.
That's the reason for creating this topic in the first place

Later edit: I don't even have the "Day / Night switch" radio button in my camera UI.

 

[bigredfish]

That sounds like a browser issue. A number of FW versions are known to have problems including missing controls and failure to save settings with various browsers.

On the latest UI I get best results running Edge in IE mode