Tendelux IR illuminators

[ctgoldwing]

Just a note here from a newbie thanking everyone for their useful info. I came from zero 8 months ago when I decided to put up some cctv cameras. This site has been a valuable resource for good info.

One bit of info I gleaned from reading comments was about the Tendelux illuminators. As my primary use of the cameras is to video the animals that wander through our wooded property, I needed IR for nighttime recording. Tendelux seemed to be highly thought of here. I now have 10 of them (BI8, BI18 and AI4's) mounted on trees in the woods and I am very happy with their performance.

They just work. No failures, seemed to be well made and they do the job.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I've been using an AI4 for a couple of years with the same result of working, no failure, and does the job. I've also had good luck with the CMVision IR40, and have adopted that one as my "standard" illuminator. Those and the Tendelux are all I have left of the 4-watters because the other brands I tried either failed or had an illumination pattern I didn't like.

 

[btb601]

And my luck, Currently unavailable on both the B18, B14. Curious on you setup? Like how you powering them, etc. That's what I was going to do, I ended my setup at my house, and have plenty of critters here. But still would like to set some out in my woods. Turkey, deer, possums, armadillos, bobcat, raccoons, and skunks are come by and visit here. Not to mention a crap load of humming birds. Still need to get my bird seed out. Always something to do.

The two IR light I use are these -Currently unavailable too (what the hell Amazon): Univivi IR Illuminator 90 Degree Wide Angle 8-LEDs IR Infrared Light for Security Cameras.
I've had one up now for two years in the weather without issue.

 

[ctgoldwing]

And my luck, Currently unavailable on both the B18, B14. Curious on you setup? Like how you powering them, etc. That's what I was going to do, I ended my setup at my house, and have plenty of critters here. But still would like to set some out in my woods. Turkey, deer, possums, armadillos, bobcat, raccoons, and skunks are come by and visit here. Not to mention a crap load of humming birds. Still need to get my bird seed out. Always something to do.

The two IR light I use are these -Currently unavailable too (what the hell Amazon): Univivi IR Illuminator 90 Degree Wide Angle 8-LEDs IR Infrared Light for Security Cameras.
I've had one up now for two years in the weather without issue.

This is the 1st 'waypoint' on my outdoor camera route :


I come into the waterproof box on the lower right with 1" pvc. I eventually brought 4 cat6 cables in there as well as 14/2 (its the flat cable coming in). I feed 48 volts into that cable. On the upper left of the box, on the outside is a 48 to 12 volt waterproof converter. That's what powers the camera and 3 IR illuminators at this location. The 4 small wires are connected to the 12 volt output and the 48 volts in and go back into the house. They are connected inside to small voltmeters so I can monitor the actual voltage outside.

From this location I ran a cat 6 and the 48v to location 2 where I have another down converter to power a small switch, 2 cameras and 3 larger illuminators.

There is also location 3 and 4 where I repeat the process. At night my 48 volt current is about 3 amps (almost 150 watts). If I ran 12v out there the voltage drop would have been a killer. The way it is now it really doesn't matter if the 48 volts drops because the down converters take anything from 24 to 48 and work fine.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm powering the illuminators in a bunch of different ways:

1. Hack camera to send 12 volts out of its power input. It's a simple hack, jumpering over one diode in the camera, and makes for the easiest installation. I began with all chinese market cameras and accepted the possibility of ruining the cameras (which it didn't). The biggest illuminator that can be powered this way is 4 watts. I continued doing this with the 2 MP starlight cameras. I'm abandoning it with the 4 MP starlights because ruining a camera costs more, they already run pretty hot, and the physical geometries are smaller inside.

2. Use a POE splitter at the camera. This is the direction I'm going now even thought it's more hassles and more wires. I ran into an issue that at the end of a several hundred foot cat6, some splitters work better than others.

3. Use a POE splitter to power only the illuminator. I ran into one case with 8 watts of illuminator where the splitter had trouble powering the illuminator and camera at the same time (poe, not poe+ splitter). I made splitter and combiner cables to carry a 2nd switch port on the 2 unused pairs of the cat6. The camera runs off one port carried by the cable, the splitter+illuminator off the other port.

To agree with the prior post, carrying 12 volt power over the network cable is a not very good thing to do.

 

[AeC26NzGcH0C]

I'm powering the illuminators in a bunch of different ways:

1. Hack camera to send 12 volts out of its power input. It's a simple hack, jumpering over one diode in the camera, and makes for the easiest installation. I began with all chinese market cameras and accepted the possibility of ruining the cameras (which it didn't). The biggest illuminator that can be powered this way is 4 watts. I continued doing this with the 2 MP starlight cameras. I'm abandoning it with the 4 MP starlights because ruining a camera costs more, they already run pretty hot, and the physical geometries are smaller inside.

2. Use a POE splitter at the camera. This is the direction I'm going now even thought it's more hassles and more wires. I ran into an issue that at the end of a several hundred foot cat6, some splitters work better than others.

3. Use a POE splitter to power only the illuminator. I ran into one case with 8 watts of illuminator where the splitter had trouble powering the illuminator and camera at the same time (poe, not poe+ splitter). I made splitter and combiner cables to carry a 2nd switch port on the 2 unused pairs of the cat6. The camera runs off one port carried by the cable, the splitter+illuminator off the other port.

To agree with the prior post, carrying 12 volt power over the network cable is a not very good thing to do.

How did you identify the 4W maximum for powering an illuminator from the 12V power input of the camera? I'm looking at doing this with an Amcrest IP4M-1028E.
After noticing that it's 12V input is hot (I power it over PoE).

I'm mildly concerned about cooking the camera but would really only be bothered if I started a fire; which seems unlikely.

 

[tigerwillow1]

How did you identify the 4W maximum for powering an illuminator from the 12V power input of the camera?

It's more a judgement call as opposed to a hard limit, based on 2 things: (1) How much the external illuminator pulls down the voltage from the camera's 12 volt supply, and (2) The wattage of the internal LEDs running at full blast.

After noticing that it's 12V input is hot (I power it over PoE).

I'll bet my figurative nickle that you're measuring this with a high impedance input meter, and that input will get pulled to 0 volts when any useful load is placed on it. Just an educated guess.