IR Dome Camera Selection Tips

Infrared dome cameras are widely used in various indoor environments due to their ease of installation, beauty, and concealment. However, due to the complex indoor working environment, all kinds of strong and weak electric cables on the ceiling are criss-crossing, seven to eight, and video from cameras. The signal inevitably has interference. So how do we choose a good infrared dome camera?

A good performance IR dome camera must have the following capabilities:

1. Infrared lamp operating conditions

In general, the infrared lamp radiation power is proportional to the forward operating current, but near the maximum rated value of the forward current, the temperature of the device rises due to the heat dissipation of the current, and the optical emission power decreases. Infrared diode current is too small, it will affect the radiated power to play, but the operating current is too large will affect its life, and even make the infrared diode burned.

When the voltage crosses the positive threshold voltage (about 0.8V or so), the current begins to flow, and it is a very steep curve, indicating that its operating current requirements are very sensitive. Therefore, it is required that the operating current is accurate and stable, otherwise it will affect the performance and reliability of the radiation power. The increase in radiated power with the ambient temperature (increased ambient temperature due to its own heat generation) will reduce its radiated power. Infrared lamps are particularly long-range infrared lamps. Heat consumption is a problem that should be considered when designing and selecting.

Therefore, the use of infrared lamps must have a good constant current power supply and a good heat dissipation design. Midway Communications' zoom MCD, MDD, MED, and MBB series cameras have installed high-power infrared lamps (up to 24) and are powered by a high-power constant-current power supply. The internal circulation heat dissipation design enables them to reach remote nights. According to the effect (up to 220 meters) and the long life of infrared lamps.

2. Infrared light utilization and red storm issues

What is Redstorm? Redstorm is due to the fact that the emitted infrared light contains visible light components. Infrared lamps can be completely red-free (using 940-950nm wavelength infrared tube) or only a weak red storm. Middle Road Communications adopts AUCSITER infrared technology to reduce the infrared lamp's own heat consumption and to adjust the angle of infrared light to ensure that the infrared lamp's effective utilization rate reaches 90%. In the selection of infrared lamps, infrared light with a relatively large wavelength (910 nm) was selected, and red storms were strictly reduced to achieve a reddish effect.

3. Fogging and Frosting of Infrared Cameras

The formation of fog and frost is caused by the condensation of saturated steam in the air, which is condensed into frost and fog due to the strong and weak cold environment. In the work process of infrared cameras, especially outdoor cameras often cause fog or frost on the protective window glass due to seasonal changes, temperature difference between day and night, and rain and snow conditions. As a result, cameras cannot see objects and directly affect the monitoring results. Midway Communications adopted the advanced electronic defrosting circuit to effectively control the saturated water vapor concentration in the chamber and achieved automatic defogging and defrosting.

4. Infrared camera window glass cleaning

Infrared dome cameras work in rainy, snowy or dusty environments, and the window glass of the protective cover is prone to dirt, which can block the camera's line of sight. The solution is usually to add a wiper to the hood, and to control the wiper to clean the glass; another option is to use an invisible wiper window glass. Compared with ordinary window glass, invisible wiper window glass has the function of repelling water, dust, and snow.

5. Infrared camera temperature

Due to the configuration of infrared lamps with a large amount of heat, after the infrared lamp is started, there will be heat concentration in the front part of the infrared dome camera during the entire working period (in 12 hours), that is, the front end temperature inside the chamber is too high. It will affect the normal operation of cameras and other components. Middle Road Communications Co., Ltd. has solved this problem by designing and using an automatic air-conditioning system with forced cooling and cooling.

Automatic cooling and air conditioning adopts Peltier effect principle, temperature measurement control circuit can be automatically adjusted, the temperature inside the protective cover is constant within the normal operating temperature range of the camera, the temperature inside the cover is set at +5°C below the heating, +40°C above cold. Experiments show that the infrared hemisphere camera can work normally in an outdoor natural environment of -40°C to +70°C (direct sunlight).

6. Infrared camera is fully enclosed

In addition to the constant temperature, another advantage of using an automatic air conditioning system is that the infrared camera can be made fully enclosed, without leaving any cooling holes to prevent the entry of dust, moisture, and corrosive gases, enabling it to adapt to the harsh environment of dust. Such as large coal mines can also be used normally.