D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => IP Cameras => DCS-2330L => Topic started by: cmontyburns on September 02, 2014, 06:42:25 PM
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(Cross-posting this in the 2332L forum.)
If you use your 2330L outdoors, you know how terrible its night vision is. Once my exterior lights turn off for the night, the feeds from my cameras (mix of 2332L and 2330L) goes to pixelated mud. So I decided to throw a bit of extra illumination into the mix. For testing, I've deployed one of these:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cIOPaaJVL.jpg)
(Here's the link (https://www.amazon.com/CMVision-IR3-WideAngle-Degree-Illuminator/dp/B008GTAPSO/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_product_top?ie=UTF8) to the product page on the US Amazon.com site.)
This is a 3-LED cluster IR lamp. The results so far are really good. This thing throws IR light at least 40 feet (as much as I've needed) and allows the 2332/2330 to produce a very usable image in the dark. It's IP65 rated, same as the cameras, so should be good for basic outdoor use (although I will need to test for a while to see how it really holds up), and it has a photocell so it comes on automatically at night. At $16 USD, it's a bargain. The only downside is that you have to provide a power supply separately, but those are not expensive either.
The light beam is a bit directional; the product is advertised as wide angle, but it's not a flood. So if you need wide coverage, you probably would want to look at something different. Otherwise, based on my initial testing, I recommend this as an inexpensive upgrade for your cameras.
Thought I would share for interest.
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Thanks for the info. Disabling infrared on the camera and using an external illuminator makes a huge difference for any camera. On the 2330L, masking the on-board infrared lamp so that the lens is somewhat shielded is helpful - but then the mask will collect snow, so there is no point in doing the masking to begin with.
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Dumb question on this, do you connect it to the camera in any way? Or it just has its own power and comes on at dark and stays on until light?
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It has its own power and does not need to connect to the camera in any way.
You have to buy a power adapter separately. From one of the questions on the amazon page, you can use "CMVision 12V DC 500mA UL Listed Regulated Power Adapter".