Can a IR Day Night Camera be rendered useless with a beam of light? from Harrasment Victim
by Arby
(New York)
Daylight
nighttime with floods on
nighttime - no extra light
Question:
We are having problems with trespassers harassing us on our property and we bought some of those multi-LED day-night vision cameras.
Is it possible to aim some kind of light or beam at them to render them unable to work in the dark any more?We noticed them flashing brighter and dimmer and now, though they still work during the day, at night all we can see is a blurry fog. We wondered if our harassers were disabling them with some kind of beam.
NOTE: cameras 7 and 8 are camcorders (2d line at end), not IR
Answer:First of all let me say I am sorry that you are being harassed on your own property. I hope I have some thoughts that can help.
The simple answer to your question is YES. Day/Night IR sensitive security cameras can be blinded by strong IR light or bright lights. In Night and IR mode they become much more sensitive to the available light.
I would guess that you may have purchased some lower end cameras with your system. The IR cameras look like they do not even show good color even in the day time. The clouding that you are seeing is most likely the IR reflecting off the inside of the lens cover. I would try to get the cover on tighter or see if there was some type of rubber insert that separated the IR from being reflected off the lens cover.
I know you have flood lights and being out in a wooded area like that you probably get a lot of natural wild life. However, it may be a good idea to get motion sensors attached to the lights. That should help in getting better video and possibly scaring people off.
You might try to replace one or two of the more important cameras with something better and see if you get better results. (see my recommendations below by clicking the links)
Or if you can afford it hire an armed guard a couple of nights to see if they can do anything to help.
Those are my thoughts. Please let us know how things turn out.
Peter Brissette
Security Camera Expert
Color Night Vision Camera 5-50mm Varifocal Lens


All-Weather High Resolution Color Sony CCD - 100' IR


Color Nightvision Camera 8-12mm Varifocal Lens
