IP Based Security Cameras with Motion Detection

[Duke5A]

This forum seemed more appropriate than the security forum for this question... We run four CCTV servers in my district with roughly 200 IP cameras. All of them are various models of AXIS POE cameras. I've been trying to squeeze every last ounce of storage on the servers to maximize our retention and just recently noticed where all my space is going - most of the cameras are recording all night long. Looking at traffic graphs all four servers are being hit at night and times coincide with sunset and sunrise. The cameras that record all night are setup for motion recording. I'm thinking the flicker of fluorescent lights in the absence of natural lighting is tripping the motion trigger. Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior before? Thanks!

[Marci]

Yep, that'd do it - both lighting flicker from power wave not matching camera fps, and just the change in ambient light (all the camera usually does is look at pixels from frame to frame for a change). Is there a frequency selector on the camera to switch from 60Hz to 50Hz / vice versa? If so, ensure it's on 60Hz iirc for US use. You should be able to define the AREA of motion detection on a per-camera basis rather than using the entire picture... so that you can block out anything likely to trigger such as your lights.

[pete]

Yup. Also spiders, cobwebs blowing in the wind and getting lit up by the IR, cats sitting on them and draping their tails over the lens and occasionally an ambitious swallow attempting to build a nest.

 

We found that moving cameras slightly or swapping a bulb out for an LED version fixed the problem regarding flickering outdoor lights and sunrise/sunset.

 

Axis allows you multiple trigger areas per camera if I recally correctly - can you move them around so they're not covering areas of maximum flicker/reflection?

[Duke5A]

Just an update. The flicker setting was buried under exposure control on the Axis cameras. By default it is set to auto, so I flipped it to 60Hz and it solved the issue on most of the cameras. Thanks again guys.