IP Camera Suggestion for reading licence plate from tree?

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I posted on here and got some great suggestions for Camera's and I ended up getting some Dahua 2MP starlight cams from Andy which have been great

But, if a car goes down the street there is no way I can get its license plate, even if I went to a 4K cam I think it would impossible from the angle as distance. So, I want to trench some cat5 out to a tree past my sidewalk and aim a camera down the street each way. Do you have suggestions on a camera?

See the attached pictures for my street and where I might put cameras on the trees near the street

 

[Sybertiger]

I'm interesting in reading what others suggest for your situation. I've been thinking about mounting a cam on a tree near the street too. Not necessarily for LPR (but may as well) but also to have a cam looking back at the house. I was thinking a PTZ may give flexibility to use primarily to look back at the house but also at night to get some closeups of car handle pullers and just odd walks through the community in the middle of the night. I noted that two cop cars with flood lights came though the neighborhood at around 2am this morning (tripped an IVS event because of brightness). Then I went back on the recording to check to see what they were looking for...it was a dude walking through the community (dead end neighborhood of 62 houses) with a flashlight. Looks like my neighbor with IP cams up the street called the cops. If I had a cam in a tree near the street I could have gotten a good face pic.

I was thinking about an inexpensive PTZ such as Dahua SD49225XA-HNR which is 2MP but I understand there's a 4MP version out. I haven't had time to look at the details on whether or not it's mediocre/good/excellent but maybe good enough for the $$$ to use for my purposes.

 

[Sybertiger]

I posted on here and got some great suggestions for Camera's and I ended up getting some Dahua 2MP starlight cams from Andy which have been great

But, if a car goes down the street there is no way I can get its license plate, even if I went to a 4K cam I think it would impossible from the angle as distance. So, I want to trench some cat5 out to a tree past my sidewalk and aim a camera down the street each way. Do you have suggestions on a camera?

See the attached pictures for my street and where I might put cameras on the trees near the street

My understanding that for the non-cam issue that you may want to run cat6 in a PVC conduit underground and you should use underground/outdoor cat6. Curious to know if there may be issue as the sidewalk and trees along the street are probably in the City or County right-of-way so don't know if that may be an issue or could become one. Also, what height would you mount it in the tree to get a good shot and to avoid someone talking a baseball bat to it.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

My understanding that for the non-cam issue that you may want to run cat6 in a PVC conduit underground and you should use underground/outdoor cat6. Curious to know if there may be issue as the sidewalk and trees along the street are probably in the City or County right-of-way so don't know if that may be an issue or could become one. Also, what height would you mount it in the tree to get a good shot and to avoid someone talking a baseball bat to it.

Yep I plan on getting Outdoor UV rated Cat5e and running it inside schedule 40 conduit under the ground and then up the tree

Its their easment/right of way, but I don't see why I couldn't run a cable under. I'm just going to do it regardless

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Thinking about this some more, I wonder if a verifocal camera would make 2PM good enough?

 

[StratRider]

My own concern with putting a cam too near a street or sidewalk (and needing it low enough to be effective) is that the IR is still a visible red light that a pedestrian may want to investigate or mess with.
Although you would certainly get a good video of their face. Folks are less likely to walk a few steps onto your yard to do that,

 

[Sybertiger]

Its their easment/right of way, but I don't see why I couldn't run a cable under. I'm just going to do it regardless

Something like this I think it better to "beg for forgiveness than ask for permission". Most likely no one will say anything especially if you do a good job making it less noticeable and it's a clean install.

 

[StratRider]

It is my understanding that you can do most anything you want in the easement but if they need to tear it up (for maintenance or something) then you just have no recourse.
After all, you are maintaining their grass for them .

 

[bp2008]

I agree that vandalism is a real concern there, with the cam mounted between the street and sidewalk. But if you want LPR then it is your best option. Varifocal cams aren't ideal due to autofocus issues but it is a lot trickier getting sufficient zoom with a fixed lens. I suggest you play with IPVM Camera Calculator V3 at your location and see what field of view and resolution you need to get a solid 60+ pixels per foot (PPF) across the entire roadway.

 

[Sybertiger]

This is the tree I'm thinking about. We don't have sidewalks and you have to walk into "my yard" to get to it. If you mounted it at 8 feet does that minimize vandalism...maybe?

 

[bp2008]

8 feet is still easily reachable with a bat or stick. But if made to camouflage itself well, most people shouldn't even notice the cam.

 

[Sybertiger]

8 feet is still easily reachable with a bat or stick. But if made to camouflage itself well, most people shouldn't even notice the cam.

If it's a PTZ it would probably stick out like a sore thumb. And, as they are walking by the noise from the PTZ tracking them would get their attention...LOL.

 

[bp2008]

Yes, that would stick out, and more people would therefore take offense.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I'm not too concerned about vandalism, I'll cross that bridge when I get there

 

[sebastiantombs]

My to cents. Maybe install some sort of "architectural" ornament out there that will give you a way to conceal the camera. You'd still need to trench and use conduit, but it would make it far less likely to be tampered with by curious passerby types. I have two camera mounted in trees about 40 feet off the street, it is fairly "open" here. If I wanted to do LPR I'd just use another camera with a big enough zoom, or fixed lens, to let me get a decent angle from farther away.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I think if I get a dome style camera and spray it brown, it won't be very noticeable

 

[sebastiantombs]

If you get a dome style camera, don't paint the dome .

Seriously, a dome is no more vandal proof than a turret. Either one mounted low enough, looking at your photos and the angles involved, will be a target for anyone walking by. A turret is probably even more vandal proof if it's all metal versus the plastic dome on a dome. In either case a tree is going to have a serious wart on it even with the camera painted to camouflage it.

 

[looney2ns]

Be sure to go here and see what many others have accomplished. LPR | IP Cam Talk
Popular cam for LPR is: Review-Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E AI Varifocal Bullet | IP Cam Talk

 

[Purduephotog]

I took a starlight camera, put a fixed focus 50mm on it (35mm equiv of 400mm). I then ran into focus issues and are trying to surmount that now. I have an IR-PASS 850nm filter coming so that during the day the camera is only seeing IR, and at night it'll switch over to the 'clear' window to be illuminated with 850nm IR light.
I also have an 808nm laser coming, with an optical grating, to make a beam expander and an IR light source. Practicing indoors with the read laser and a proper power meter, too.

All because some FFFFFF keep egging cars.

 

[2ndLeaf]

I put a camera on the tree in my front yard recently. The road in front of my house is 25' wide. The camera is located 10' high. I use IPC-HDW2231R-ZS with maximum Zoom and IR. I follow the suggestion from LPR forum to set up the camera. So far it has been working well. During day time, I can catch both license plates and faces. At night, I can only see license plates. I don't worry too much about vandalism. In the worst case I lose a $130 camera. I am more concerned about someone can hack into my home network via Ethernet cable. So I enable 802.1x authentication on my switch and camera.