IR illuminators allow around-the-clock surveillance.
Infrared lighting has always been an important part of CCTV surveillance but in the past it has been cumbersome, expensive and unreliable. With the development of advanced led technology, IR lighting is now an affordable and essential part of CCTV design. The popularity of Clarius IR illuminators has grown recently as well because of fears over light pollution.
The Clarius white light illuminator is also available as well and if you ask most end users, and their preference would probably be for the Clarius white light. The benefit of white light illuminators of course is that this allows the capture of colour images at all times. It also allows lighting to offer secondary benefits, such as enhancing general security and safety where as infrared illumination uses light frequencies that cannot be viewed by the human eye.
IR illunination though is growing fast but why? Benchmark tell us with this review. they say”
“The reality is that rules governing light pollution are often misunderstood, as is system design that remains sympathetic to ‘dark sky’ thinking. Regulations can change from area to area, and a more intelligent approach to lighting design can add costs and time to installations that might be price sensitive. The simple solution is infrared illumination, and rightly or wrongly it has become a favoured approach for security applications.
In general, if installers and integrators stick to established manufacturers that specialise in the surveillance sector, they shouldn’t end up with a poor quality illuminator. The most important issues are light quality – does the illuminator achieve the stated range without a drop in light intensity – and light consistency – does the level of illumination remain consistent across the viewed scene?
Of course, other issues do come into the debate, and these involve additional functionality such as power control or intelligent intensity, ease of installation, switching options and price! Finally, there are a raft of claims and counter claims made about illumination products, and whilst the science behind lighting is admittedly fairly complex, the reality is that most installers and integrators will buy these products for one reason only – to achieve genuine around-the-clock surveillance!