Next to useless outdoor cameras...

[cmr]

Now, I am being a bit harsh as in the daytime both the MV72X and MV73X are excellent with great focus, clarity and good coping with shadows and other variable light conditions.

However at night the infra-red is too bright and not configurable, if you want to mount the cameras on a wall, the slightest rain makes the picture super blurry and they are generally a very poor version of their daylight selves.

Here is a picture taken when it was raining earlier, but is actually not even raining now:

I haven't blanked out the number plate, that's what the infra red does, massively over saturating the image on both models.

I wish the infra red could be turned down and there was an accessory 'hat' to protect the lens from the rain.

/rant

[alemabrahao]

Perhaps (if possible, of course) placing a light source nearby will help.

I understand that its purpose is to have better IR quality, but I think of this as a "quick" solution. 🙂

[cmr]

There is a light on the wall about 30cm above it, but even with that on, it doesn't provide enough illumination to take the camera back to daylight mode and I can't put a brighter light on as we are in a dark skies area where you are not allowed very bright outdoor lighting...

[alemabrahao]

Oh, I got it.

[cmr]

Do you know of any 3rd party camera 'hat' makers for Meraki cameras?

[cmr]

This is the sort of thing I am looking for:

[alemabrahao]

I know the camera in the photo (I worked with Axis cameras for many years 😄 ), but I don't know of any third party vendor that provides this same type of accessory for Meraki cameras 😞

[BlakeRichardson]

A 3D printer might be your best bet in this case or install the camera using the mounting bracket.

I agree for the price that MV cameras are not great at night in bad weather, I've had no end of problems with motion alerts and rain drop. I've spent hours fine tuning sensitivity settings and duration to try and find that sweet spot. 

Disabling IR and relying on other artificial light has been the best solution I've come up with. 

[PhilipDAth]

What happens if you turn IR off?  Is it maybe better with only the other light source?

[cmr]

It is too dark as the other light isn't (and can't be) particularly bright...

[ConnorL]

Firstly (and I'm sure you've done this), make sure you remove the protective plastic dome that the MV ships with, the one with the tab with the ⚠️ on it.

You may find some success with hydrophobic coating such as RainX or Gtechniq G5 Water Repellent Coating

which is used for motorcycle helmets or car windows, we don't officially endorse any but any coating that doesn't harm plastic or glass should do the trick to help prevent moisture or water droplets from clinging to the outside of the dome.

[cmr]

Thanks Connor, I'll see if I can get some RainX etc.

I have removed the shipping cover 😉

Is there any way of 'turning down' the infra red power?

[ConnorL]

It's on or off unfortunately.

[BlakeRichardson]

The protective cover caught me out, I had contractors install an outdoor MV, tested after install that all was well and it wasn't until footage was reviewed after a night time incident that it was noticed.

The cover got dirt in behind it and had moved slightly that the IR created a halo effect. The same contractor came to look at the issue and was very embarrassed. 

[BHC_RESORTS]

We also have this problem. A hat is indeed needed. RainX is an interesting solution though, haven't tried that. I also wish we could control the IR because sometimes it reflects inside the dome and just makes a mess. In some situations we have turned the IR off because the ambient light is "good enough" compared to the washed out IR. A few situations we have actually got a PoE powered IR flood and used that instead of the camera IR, this also works pretty well.

We also have our maintenance teams clean the cameras very often which helps as well but is annoying for 100s of cameras. We've done quite a few case studies and betas and on every one we have recommended a hat...