Has anyone built their own IR illumination solution from discrete LED's or modules?

sumguy

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My post here is about IR LED's and lighting strategies. For years I've tried to get away with placing a few cameras in windows, and you realize that you can't use the camera's own IR light when you do that, so you look for external IR lights.

What I've found on ebay are advertised as 10 (or more) watt IR lamps in weatherproof housings for $30 (direct from China). I've bought a few of these, but haven't been happy with the weather-proof aspect of them. So I've taken them apart to see what they're all about. They use Epistar LED modules, either a 3 x 3 matrix of LED's (for the 10 Watt units) or higher density and larger die for up to 100 watts (!). The illuminators have a built-in switching power supply (that is crudly mounted inside the enclosure) and it adds heat to the units in addition to the LED module. I found that these power supplies do not power the LED's at their full rated potential, probably because of heat issues. They also don't have auto on/off mechanism (to come on only at night) - well maybe some do.

So I've taken them apart, tossed the power supplies and re-wired them in series and powered them from an external power supply. I've mounted them in an adjacent window to the camera to prevent glare from the led's to read the camera. So there is no cover lens, the LED's are able to radiate heat much better. I know this is a rube goldberg setup, I'll improve on it later.

A second camera (HDW2431) that I've relied less on in the past I've now mounted outside. I thought great - I can now turn on it's IR light for night viewing and see how I can tweak the camera's event detection to detect 2-legged raccoons. That's when I discovered a problem. I don't know if it's dust, or bugs, and sometimes rain, but there's way too many zippy little things that trigger motion detection.

The solution, which is too bad, is to again not use the camera's own IR light but mount other IR lights adjacent to the camera. I figure that these zippy things get too close to the camera and get over-illuminated by the light. So if the lights are mounted probably even a few feet away (to the left or right or above or below) then that should solve the problem.

So now I'm looking for LED modules (I'm not going to buy entire IR illuminators again). I'll wire up the modules the way I want, power them with the right voltage and current, and place them as necessary.

Normally my go-to for discrete electronics is Digikey, sometimes Mouser. The best that Digikey has are made by New Energy. Single LED, Starboard product line. They consume about 5 watts and put out about 1.3 watts of IR. About $11 each. Mouser has some Osram mounted LED's that consume 8.5 watts (no mention of IR output) but these cost like $30.

Ebay is again my only source I can find for discrete Epistar LED modules, The 10 watt (3 x 3) module is like $6 direct from China (I'm sure the price is lower on Aliexpress and I've toyed with the idea of buying on that platform in the past but I think I'll pass for now and stick with ebay). I think I'll go straight to a 20-watt module for $12, buy a few of those and see how they solve my IR illumination needs. If I get really crazy I'll tap into the lights in the camera and physically disable them while externalizing their source leads to use as a control signal to turn on and off my external LED setup. Essentially convert the camera's internal LED power supply to use as a control signal to power a relay to switch on and off my external lights.

But I was wondering if anyone else on this board has putzed around with their own IR solution using discrete LED's and modules and what has gotten you the best bang for the buck.
 

Agoins6

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I've been starting to experiment with the cheap ir lights from Aliexpress. They are like 8 bucks for the 4 bulb ones. I've got a bunch of different focal length lenses ordered to play with. 2 bucks for ten of them.

I've got 4 and 6 diode lights up and running for nearly a year now with no issues. I bought a 15 bulb one just to see, man it brightens up my yard but powering it is a problem as it draws around 20 watts. (I would want to run it off of a switch, my 40 dollar enterprise switch is only 18 watt). It appears all of the leds in these lights are 1 watt diodes.

I've toyed around with retrofitting a poe led driver module into them(6 diode and larger lights) but it seems cost prohibitive from what I have played with so far.

There are some 50 and 100 watt IR cobb lights on there cheap that maybe fun to play with. Mount it to a CPU cooler that I have laying around.
 
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tigerwillow1

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I'm not answering you directly so feel free to ignore if you wish. Even if I had the DIY energy of being 20 years younger I don't think I'd tackle this one. I've got 15 outdoor cameras, all with external IR illumination. Besides the snow/rain reflection you noted, other reasons are less attraction of bugs to the camera, and a less-worse center hot spot compared to the camera IR lights. My main illuminator is the 4 watt CMVision IR-40, currently using 12 of them over a few years. With them I've had zero failures and zero moisture intrusions. I tried a bunch of other makes and models, and with one exception, every one of them (including other CMVision models) either failed outright or had moisture intrusion. The one exception is a Univivi 6 watt illuminator that has been trouble free, but since I have only one and it's somewhat protected from the elements, it's not a good example either pro or con. There are 3 things in particular I think make for difficult DIY: (1) A weatherproof case, (2) The lenses on the LEDs to create the light distribution pattern, and (3) The constant power LED drivers. The photocell circuit to turn the LEDs off during the day also adds to DIY complexity. Even though the illuminators I use are better on the hostpot than the camera LEDs, they could do even better if they'd just point the LEDs a little from pointing the same exact direction. In a couple of cases I use dual 4-watt illuminators pointed a bit off from one-another to disperse the hotspot. In the IR-40 and some other models I've looked at, the LEDs are permanently bonded to a metal plate, and the entire outer case is used to dissipate the heat.
 

Agoins6

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I'm not answering you directly so feel free to ignore if you wish. Even if I had the DIY energy of being 20 years younger I don't think I'd tackle this one. I've got 15 outdoor cameras, all with external IR illumination. Besides the snow/rain reflection you noted, other reasons are less attraction of bugs to the camera, and a less-worse center hot spot compared to the camera IR lights. My main illuminator is the 4 watt CMVision IR-40, currently using 12 of them over a few years. With them I've had zero failures and zero moisture intrusions. I tried a bunch of other makes and models, and with one exception, every one of them (including other CMVision models) either failed outright or had moisture intrusion. The one exception is a Univivi 6 watt illuminator that has been trouble free, but since I have only one and it's somewhat protected from the elements, it's not a good example either pro or con. There are 3 things in particular I think make for difficult DIY: (1) A weatherproof case, (2) The lenses on the LEDs to create the light distribution pattern, and (3) The constant power LED drivers. The photocell circuit to turn the LEDs off during the day also adds to DIY complexity. Even though the illuminators I use are better on the hostpot than the camera LEDs, they could do even better if they'd just point the LEDs a little from pointing the same exact direction. In a couple of cases I use dual 4-watt illuminators pointed a bit off from one-another to disperse the hotspot. In the IR-40 and some other models I've looked at, the LEDs are permanently bonded to a metal plate, and the entire outer case is used to dissipate the heat.

Have you ever thought about using different lenses in your IR lights? Lets say you get a light and you have a big hot spot at the distance you are trying to cover with it. Typically these lights have a 90 or 60 degree lense in them. Maybe swapping to a 120 degree lense would lessen the problem. I want to try mixing a few different lenses in a light to see what that will do. Im imagining that it will decrease the overall width of the light but help throw the light farther into the distance.

10set High Power 1W 3W 5W LED Lens 20MM PMMA Lenses With Bracket 5 8 15 25 30 45 60 90 120 Degree For 1 3 5 Watt Light Beads|Light Beads| - AliExpress

Escam Cctv Leds 4 Array Ir Led Illuminator Light Ir Infrared Waterproof Night Vision Cctv Fill Light For Cctv Camera Ip Camera - Transmission & Cables - AliExpress
ESCAM Array IR illuminator infrared lamp 6pcs Array Led IR Outdoor IP65 Waterproof Night Vision for CCTV Camera 90 60 45degree|Transmission & Cables| - AliExpress
Small Surveillance Led Night Vision Fill Light Infrared Light 16w Infrared Waterproof Dc12v Ir Light Illuminator Light - Transmission & Cables - AliExpress
 

mhidnhite

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So I too have been toying at the idea of some discrete IR illumination. I've looked several products up that struck home for me. I'm a younger master electrician but I dabble in electronics more so on the side.
IR LED strip lights were my first thought along with embedding them in some kind of extruded aluminum diffuser of some kind. Check out "LED strip aluminum profiles" you will find catalogs of different types of channels for just about any application from mud-in to indirect cutoff for like a consistent spread of light down a hallway or my idea was to take it around the perimeter of the eaves of my house where it wouldn't look stupid but I would have the added benefit of lighting up surrounding area hopefully more esthetically pleasing than any of these flood light style china junk.
Idea number 2 was maybe integrating those IR modules you speak of into some mid grade landscape light housings after you gut them and possibly add a PIR which would turn them on if something happened to pass by it's vicinity.
All this being said, I understand the IR lighting market is definitely a niche corner of lighting and nothing seems to be reasonably priced for the purpose it serves honestly, one other thing I've come across is on ebay I saw a guy who had some retired military "blackout" humvee illuminators that resembled Hellas, for "blackout driving missions where they didn't want to be seen" (talk about trusting the technology lol) driving with nothing but IR nightvision.. I imagine they are some pretty legit lamps but something to ponder on..
 

CaptainCrunch

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I understand the satisfaction that comes from designing a solution and building something yourself. And Aliexpress can be a great source of small electronic parts to help with that. I've done a bit of shopping on there when I don't mind waiting for a part. But in some cases when requirements add a bit of complexity to a design, it might just be easier, and sometimes more cost effective, to find something commercially available. The light reviewed in the below link is a 10w and they claim an effective range of 80-150 feet with a viewing angle of 90 degree. They have a 20w version with a claimed effective range of 150-240 feet. I have the 20w version and I'm pleased with it. But it is mounted outside. I suppose you could mount it inside at a window. I think if I did that I would have to consider building a box to send all of the ir light out the window and minimize ir bouncing back in the room.

 

sumguy

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At the end of january I ordered what is known as an "LED COB Chip Light IR" from ebay. These are arrays of LED's mounted on a backing plate. They come as small as 3 x 3 LED's up to I think 10 x 10. What I got were advertised as 30 Watt (3 lines of 10 LED's). They were about $20 each, I got 3, direct from China. Shipping was super fast, I had them 8 days after placing the order.

I hooked one up to a lab bench power supply so I could get a good idea what voltage to drive them at. I looked up various sources and these were rated at .9 amps, which took 15 volts to get that. I could see the red glow with my own eyes (850 nm) and most IR cameras are pretty good with that wavelength. Any higher than 15 volts and they really start to heat up, so you have to regulate these things with a 10'th of a volt accuracy if you want a good balance between intensity and heat and longevity. So for me, these are consuming about 13 watts of power, not 30. At 30 they would fry themselves.

I mounted them to some old Intel P4 heat sinks I had (big aluminum block with deep fins, about 4" x 3") and mounted these outside without an enclosure. I ran some cable to them and wired them up to some adjustable DC/DC converter modules (about $3 or $4 each) that were fed 19V from some old laptop brick power supplies. I have some WION smart plugs that I bought locally, new, for $9 each, flashed them with Tasmota, and use the timer function on the smart plug to turn these lights on at sunset and turn them off at sunrise. Because I can access the smart plugs over the network, I can turn them on and off while watching the camera to see how much the LED's illuminate the scene. A simpler way to power them would be to buy 15V wall-wort power supplies, which Digikey sells for $15 - $20.

They have I think a 120 degree pattern. Making a proper enclosure and sourcing a lens is probably more work than I want to do. I think putting these in a metal can that you can crush / bend to give you the aperature you want is the way to go to give you the beam pattern you want.

LED.jpg
 

alastairstevenson

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Any higher than 15 volts and they really start to heat up, so you have to regulate these things with a 10'th of a volt accuracy if you want a good balance between intensity and heat and longevity.
The power supplies in commercial products are usually constant-current as opposed to constant voltage so as to allow for changes in forward voltage due to temperature etc.
But if constant voltage is the only source available, a series ballast resistor can reduce drive current variation at the expense of some extra power consumption.
 
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