Sensor location?

[amgleft]

Where exactly are the sensors on the camera? The reason I ask is that I made some little enclosures for my cameras that are mounted outside (because I was worried about the being stolen. The locations I wanted them would be easy to reach) and it seems like the night vision mode is being impaired somehow. maybe my enclosure is blocking a sensor? Thanks.

PS

These images shoudl be rotated, but there is no option to turn them the right way here on this forum (The originals were the right way. hmmm...)

[TomMac]

sitting below the lens in the gray  area ( ir works thru )

[amgleft]

Thanks. Are you sure though? What are the red lights that come on when it is in night vision mode? They surround the lens in the top portion.

[StevenL]

The red lights are the IR lights for night vision. What do you mean the night vision mode is "impaired?"  If you are getting a "washed out" or foggy look in night mode, the housing you built probably extends too far beyond the camera causing the IR light to reflect off the housing.  This happened to me with the skins that have the "hood" on the end.  Also, if the round portion of your housing that the camera sees through has a covering (glass or plastic), that also could reflect the IR light.

[amgleft]

Thanks Steven. Yes the night vision mode looks foggy. I think the IR lights are reflecting off the housing. I'm trying blacking out the inside of the housing I built to see if that helps. Also I'm going to open up the hole the camera sees out of so as not to block the sensors. I guess I'm trying to figure out if the entire face of the camera needs to be exposed or only the top half? There is no clear glass or plastic over the opening.

I don't want to open it too much — just enough, you know? So I'm trying to get a clear sense of what all needs to be exposed besides the lens. 

[jguerdat]

The camera has a 130 degree angle of view. Make a template of that with a point that will touch the center of the lens and then cut out a bit more beyond that to prevent vignetting and flare.

[StevenL]

Darkening the housing may improve it, but might not eliminate the problem.  When I had the "hood" issue on the skins I was using, I had white skins.  Someone on the forum had the same issue and switching to black skins fixed his problem.  I switched to black hooded skins, and that improved the night vision picture, but it still wasn't as good as no hood.  I eliminated the hood, and they're fine now.

[amgleft]

That is a great suggestion. I will do that for sure. Thank you.

Of course that leads me to more questions though — so are you saying that the only thing I need to be concerned about is the clear angle of view from the lens? What about the other sensors? Do they need a clear view as well? And if they do, a difinitive answer about where they all are would be great. Anyone seen a schematic drawing of the camera? That might clear up my confusion.

I've got answers here that the IR sensor is in the bottom half of the front in the grey area, and also that the IR sensors are the red lights that surround the lens. Is all that true? In that case they entire face of the camera needs to be clear of obstructions of any kind for night mode to work.

Thanks again.