atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Security, Alarms and Paging Best Camera

Have customer who wants good license plate shot at apartment complex gate with poor lighting.Have wiring for up to 2 cameras to get best shot Any suggestions

They have cameras designed for just that application...they are a bit on the pricey side though.

Here is an example:
https://www.123securityproducts.com/licplatcapse.html

yeah I have saw those before , this customer wants a decent night time camera that is going to do good for around $400-600 my cost?

In that case I would try a high res. camera with the appropriate lens, which will be determined by how far away the camera is Mounted.


something along these lines:
https://www.boschsecurity.us/index.aspx?prdctid=3233


You may also want to check out this article, it gives some good info on license plate capture.

https://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=455&id=1057

That's a good article.

I have tried to do this before and believe me, it's hard. I have experimented trying to capture plates at a gas bar that had a problem with drive offs on the far islands.

I originally mounted the camera on the awning looking down, no good. Some plates are tucked up under the vehicle too far. The best I got was mounting it on the awning posts about 4-5 feet off the ground. I now had to use vandal proof units because they were within reach. This meant changing to a board style mini dome. I also found that high resolution B/W infrared with a very narrow view (12mm) was the best (I tried day/night cameras thinking that plate color would be a good thing, didn't work). If the infrared is too strong though, it makes those reflective plates wash out.

I was thinking the same on the day/night I did not even think of wash out..

any particular model youve had luck with, I will be approx.4'6" high and about 15 feet back from car when they slow to go through gate, brake lights have been a problem because they are on, it looks like extreme uses a infared that allows infared light but takes out artifical light from the camera to get a good plate number, do you know of any reasonably priced cameras that will do this. I like when a customer will let you spend the money to do it right, but this has been a customer for 20+ years , so putting forth a little effort to try to find him something, and what a knowledgeable bunch we have here. I figured if anybody knew this you guys would. Appreciate your help in advance.

I tried to look up what I used but I couldn't find it. It was a few years ago but the unit looked identical to this:

I would have probably got it through Burtek and I know I was able to select the lens size (I used 12mm). I remember it being this vandal proof housing because I used conduit to feed it.

Did the camera have built in IR, or did you use a standalone illuminator?

Built in. It looked identical to the one in that picture. I'm assuming it was a National, but I don't see it in their catalogue now.