Blue Iris

We life in a fairly open space - there's a lake on one side of the house and 50yds of grass and trees, then a barn and a forrest on the other. The outdoor cameras are mostly OK, but they tend to have anything nearby ( a garden fence, say) brightly lit up, and the large background barely visible because things are so far away.

What if I installed IR flood lights, separate from the cameras? Does this work well for illuminating the open space and more distant objects? I can't use ambiant lights due to light pollution restrictions around here, and wouldn't want to anyway. Does the IR disturb the critters, or is it invisible to them as well? We have lots of deer, badgers, river otters, bats, owls, and similar out at night.

I added a "Tendelux 150ft IR Illuminator | BI12 90° Wide Angle 850nm LED IR Light for Security Camera (w/Power Adapter)" mounted behind a garage window about 40' away from the camera with the results as pictured below. If it disturbs the critters they haven't complained to me about it and there seems to be just as many of them.

Wow!! Thank you for the before and after pictures. I've thought about adding one as well but this is extremely helpful!

My understanding is the bugs are attracted to the IR light. So those cameras with a ring around the lens (mine ) just attract those spiders to web over the front. So added bonus for off camera IR flood.

For the technically determined (me! ) you can trigger lights to turn on upon motion or AI detection and then time out. So you could have the IR flood at night but then turn on a white light flood upon motion or detection.

WmG wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:18 pm I added a "Tendelux 150ft IR Illuminator | BI12 90° Wide Angle 850nm LED IR Light for Security Camera (w/Power Adapter)" mounted behind a garage window about 40' away from the camera with the results as pictured below. If it disturbs the critters they haven't complained to me about it and there seems to be just as many of them.

Just curious, I was reading over the Amazon posting for the light above (I see your post!) but noticed at least one person noting that their light came with only a network cable dangling out vs a power cord - presumably it's somehow PoE. That or someone previously returned that light, made a frankenstein concept, and the seller never rechecked the product. Anyway, does yours use the standard power adapter or the network cable? I also see note that apparently the light is full on all the time unless you separately control it somehow - with a smart outlet or something. Thoughts?

I also see my review of the (no longer available?) BI12 magically appeared on the BI8 listing. In 2018 mine came with a wall wart power adapter and a sensor that turns it off and on based on daylight. Who knows what the case is three years later? My guess is that somewhere along the line somebody thought it would be handy to have a POE light for your POE camera and, Amazon vendors being Amazon vendors, it might be a bit of crap shoot what you get. I've also seen purchasers be a bit careless about reading the description. And I get plenty of triggers from interested insects and the occasional spider build on my only halo IR cam but it's not too onerous - nothing like the incandescent bulbs

Critters such as raccoons, deer, hogs, coyotes etc will not be affected by the IR lights.
I have placed several units out 50 to 75 yards where I had a power source and they have been working great for over 2 years.
I powered them from 12 volt wall warts and they draw 1 amp each at 12v. This link looks like the cheap units that I bought. https://www.ebay.com/itm/143702590684?h ... SwJeRgOFvv

If bugs are a big problem you can also mount an IR a few feet from the camera and turn on the cameras IR.