Supercharge the Night-Time Performance of Your Bullet Camera

Bullet cameras offer a cost effective and compact solution for general surveillance applications and many also include integrated LEDs to deliver short range night-time images. But now with the latest developments in LED lighting, you can supercharge the performance of your bullet camera with even the smallest Raytec VARIO 2 illuminator and cover impressive distances at night.

Despite their popularity, bullet cameras do have some significant disadvantages. Generally their night-time performance is limited to 15-20m. The in-built LEDs also don’t have the same heat management as dedicated external illuminators which can reduce their operating life. Most significantly the heat generated from the in-built IR attracts insects, spiders and their webs, which degrades both the image and the performance of video analytics – leading to higher cases of false alarms. In fact this problem is so significant that bullet cameras cannot be deployed within any remotely monitored site. The latest British Standards for remotely monitored CCTV sites (BS8418) states that ‘IR illumination should not surround the camera lens on external cameras’.

With the launch of VARIO 2, the latest generation of LED illuminators are more powerful than ever before. This means that bullet cameras can be supported by smaller illuminators that keep costs low and the installation neat and tidy. You can almost double the distance of your IR bullet camera by adding only 10Watts of dedicated Infra-Red lighting. With the latest IR illuminators the question isn’t whether to use a separate camera and external IR illuminator or a fully integrated camera – it’s whether to use a small IR illuminator to extend the performance of an installation that has specified bullet cameras.

David Lambert, Managing Director (Joint) comments “We are frequently asked for lighting to support the performance of existing bullet cameras installations at night. Due to the latest generation illuminators making a quantum leap in terms of performance, it means that even our smallest, most cost effective IR illuminator – the VARIO2 i2 – can be used to supercharge the performance of bullet cameras at night up to 78m”.

Watch the video to see how even the smallest Raytec illuminator can extend and transform the capability of a bullet camera – or indeed any surveillance camera at night.