Do I need IR LEDS?

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#1

Hi, I have been looking at the Raspberry Pi Camera Board - Night Vision & Adjustable-Focus Lens (5MP) and trying to work out if the LED intensity is adjustable to cut down on heat and power draw. I want to use it in a rig for a trail cam. Most nights the position will have some “very small” urban light spill. Does anyone have any experience with this? The subjects would be around 3 metres from the camera at any one time.

Just another thought, if the LEDs are not adjustable, maybe hooking up motion detection would be the best alternative.
Thanks Brock

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#2

I think this post may give you some clues: Spy on Garden Critters with Raspberry Pi-Powered Night Vision | Make:

As far as I know, it’s not possible to adjust the LED intensity. Let’s see if anyone has succeeded in doing otherwise.

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#3

Hi Brock,

The Raspberry Pi Camera Board - Night Vision & Adjustable-Focus Lens (5MP) has a photoresistor to monitor for when the IR LEDs should switch on. There is also an adjustable resistor that lets you set the ambient light threshold before they are triggered, but they will be either on or off, you can’t adjust how much IR light is added.

You might be onto something with adding a motion detector to try and trigger the IR LEDs that way as it could save a lot of power.

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#4

Hi Trent.

Thanks for your response. That gives me a great insight and a way forward.

Brock

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#5

Thanks for the article and your time in responding. I’ll check it out now.

Brock

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#6

Didn’t know about the ambient light threshold control. Thanks to @Trent and best of luck to @Brock204347
Thanks a lot to you both.

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