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A decent Infra Red LED spotlight

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tytower

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I just spent $100+ on a couple of LED lamps to try them with infra red leds .30 leds in one and 50 in another . 9 to 12 Volts drawing up to 250 mA Absolute dismal failure.

I want them to light up a surveillance area at night so a camera can see people. What I got I could just see if I held my camera about 200 mm away or closer . Totally useless


Anybody know anything that would be suitable ? Hopefully you will have some knowledge in this field and will have tried a few .I've done all the guessing I can afford
 
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Hi tytower,

arrange the LEDs in a pattern so their emission angles will vary and use reflectors for all of them.

IR-LEDs normally have a radiation angle of 25degrees. Tilting individual LEDs on their seating planes will increase angular range.

Reflectors are available at OSRAM. Just slide the reflectors over the LEDs and you're done.

Boncuk
 

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Maybe your camera has an IR filter that needs to be removed.
 
Yes that is a thought !

I don't know . I used a hand held cheap video camera (Sanyo) first and then my phones camera (Nokia)
Do you know?

I baulked and bought a Jaycar IR spotlight for $39 and will try that tonight -Part No QC3650
 
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My security cameras work fine at night. Most hand held cameras have a filter, and aren't very sensitive to low light either. One thing you should know, too much IR can be bad too. One of my early lamps was much too bright, and everything looked white up close, reflective surfaces were extremely bright. I moved it up on the roof, still a little much I think. B/W cameras or more sensitive I think, but always looked for low lux numbers... Lamps aren't complicated to make, but tedious soldering all those leads. I use all-holes perfboard, and the leads for connections. Think they work a little better with some space between the LEDs, rather than trying to pack them tightly. They do get a little warm, so helps a little too. 940nm is invisible at night, 880 nm, you can see a dim red glow if you look straight on to the lamp, 850 nm is pretty noticeable. 940 nm doesn't show on the camera as well, as the 880 nm. The 850nm appears about the same as the 880 nm.
 
I just spent $100+ on a couple of LED lamps to try them with infra red leds

The amazing thing is that you can spend a large amount of money on something and still end up with a piece of crap! :eek:
 
The above spotlight from Jaycar turned out a lot better . I could see that it was a beam and I could see it with my phone cam from about 6 feet away .
The LEDS can bee seen as a red glow at night to the human eye which is not good for surveillance
I am working on the facts that:-
A.The Jaycar beam is brightest
B.The phone camera may have an infra red filter and
C.The black and white camera I am using for security will probablywork a darn sight better
 
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