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FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Hardware/software/hints and tips/discussion/webcam links etc
Austin
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Austin »

Found the problem. It was stuck on one of the inside modes, and apparently to change it to outside you have to unplug it and plug it back in, the image is much better now! and the IRs aren't on. I mean it isn't the best image I've ever seen, but it way better then before. I'm thinking of switching the lens out for a wide angle lens.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-8mm-16mm ... pack-15774 < Will only work for the 8904, thread sizes are a little different on the 8905
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by nking »

Austin wrote:Found the problem. It was stuck on one of the inside modes, and apparently to change it to outside you have to unplug it and plug it back in, the image is much better now! and the IRs aren't on. I mean it isn't the best image I've ever seen, but it way better then before. I'm thinking of switching the lens out for a wide angle lens.
Looks better and you seem to be getting some sun. :D

Have you tried the camera looking at the sky, does it white out or does it handle the contrast OK?
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Austin »

I haven't tried it, yet...

Here is the current setup, and where I am going to try next. I hope the wider lens will let me get the ground & sky. Would be easy if I didn't have these stupid trees.

Image

Image

Image

---

Yeah we were suppose to have one of the coldest winters ever, and it is 65 degrees.
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by nking »

Austin wrote:Yeah we were suppose to have one of the coldest winters ever, and it is 65 degrees.
We seem to be getting unusual weather all over the world recently. I must say that you live in a lovely environment judging by your pictures.
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

I have trouble with the IR on the 18905W at times. Because the camera is mounted way back on the property facing the highway they actually don't come on at night. There is enough mercury vapour lighting in the vicinity to keep them off providing I keep the camera in "outdoor" mode. During a dark and dreary overcast day however, they will activate. I have fiddled with different modes (50 Hz; 60 Hz) and corrected the issue temporarily only to have the sunlight increase and wash the image out completely. In time it recovers but it is far from instantaneous.

I have occasionally had to reboot the camera to get it to settle down. Occasions arise when the daytime image is far too dark, despite brightness settings, and the only solution was a reboot of the device. That seems to work, although constant babysitting can become tedious, especially when I'm away at sea. I have managed to incorporate a virtual controller allowing me to access my weather PC desktop from anywhere without having to drop firewalls or drop to a port forwarding arrangement.

The colours are alright, although on a sunny day (which have been few lately) they can wash out unless the brightness levels are reduced. I'm not terribly fussed about that. It is a CMOS camera and colours simply aren't as vivid as those produced by a CCD.

On the other hand, I have now mounted a FOSCAM F18918W indoors facing west. (Still trialling it). So far the device self-adjusts for brightness with no difficulty. It has pan and tilt and when I aim it skyward in the morning it automatically reduces brightness levels. The IR is operator controlled so I can switch them off. Great little camera for the price too. Colours are almost CCD quality. Too bad it's not weatherproof.

Edit: I did find that pulling the hood back and allowing a little more light into the IR sensor reduced the occasions when the IR came on during heavy overcast.
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

Just some updated review and observations on the FI8905W from FOSCAM. Keep in mind these aren't complaints; just observations. On the grand scale of things, I am pretty happy with the overall performance vs price.

Physical:
1. A bit bulky, although very sturdy. I suspect the weatherproof case is probably larger than it needs to be.
2. The stock mounting hardware is notoriously flimsy and needed to be changed-out. As provided, it has difficulty supporting the camera.
3. The reset switch is a part of the power pigtail and too close to the camera. I haven't had to use it yet, but when that day comes a ladder is necessary.
4. The power cord is too short. Given that this is sold as a "security camera", one would expect a longer contiguous cable. That hasn't been a real issue for my purposes but I did have to create a weatherproof extension connection.
5. I ran a wire from the camera case to ground. Neither the power cable nor the camera itself came with any sort of grounding system.
6. Despite advertised operating temperatures, this camera has performed continuously from -10 c to +15 c without a problem. It seems to handle exposed winter temperatures quite well.
7. It has operated through all forms of precipitation, including some Canadian west coast winter downpours, without a problem.

User Interface:
1. Operating and set-up instructions are slightly confusing. (OK ... frustrating). Once you get through the damaged syntax and odd vocabulary, it's all do-able.
2. Camera controls use ActiveX interface through Internet Explorer. That, to me, is the single greatest weakness of FOSCAM equipment. The code appears to be closed (and I'm not a hacker in any case), so open development to provide operating controls through other browsers doesn't look like it's on the immediate horizon.
3. Exposure controls are user selected 60 Hz/50 Hz/Outdoors with user controlled brightness and contrast settings on a scale set by the UI. Percentages would have been nice, but that's as it is. There is no automatic exposure option. That creates problems at times. I found that the user controlled brightness and contrast settings, despite where you place them at any given time, are wildly inconsistent. Of late I have simply done a "set and forget" and found that the camera will, given about 20 minutes, adjust to changing light conditions. I don't quite know why this happens since there is no white balance setting, (that would be a nice feature!).
4. A user controlled switch on the I/R lights would be nice. Presently the I/R lights operate based on the selection of one of the three preset modes. "Off" is not an option.
5. Field of view is fairly narrow. As reported by others, 22 degrees is fairly restrictive, although it serves my purposes in its present location.
6. The FTP, motion detection and scheduler in the UI are poor. In fact, I'll call the scheduler a complete nightmare. This was solved by using Yawcam or iSpy for all those functions.
7. The Admin/User/Operator access in the UI is security challenged. I added an external security manager.

Overall, the camera seems to be durable and provide good service. For the price it is a good wireless IP camera. Now that I've managed to work around the firmware and UI irritants I'm considering another one, although I'm considering the wider angle FI8904W for the west side of the abode.
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Gina »

That camera seems to have more wrong than right with it :roll:

dinodirect.com have a wide range of cameras and have a half price offer on ATM - if you're quick - just 12 hours left!
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

Gina wrote:That camera seems to have more wrong than right with it
Well, not actually. It is quite limited but then so is the price. I'm really hoping for a significant firmware upgrade in the future. I have to keep reminding myself that this was less of a pain than building my own and very very cheap to buy. I might add that it has incredible range. It is mounted 400 meters away from the router and hasn't skipped a beat. :)
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Gina »

seabreeze3 wrote:I might add that it has incredible range. It is mounted 400 meters away from the router and hasn't skipped a beat. :)
Well that certainly is good :)
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Austin »

Well moving my camera was a mistake. The new location was unable to have a covered spot for the power connector, and it no longer works. I guess your fears about water getting into the hole where the LED is was correct. :(
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Gina »

If you can get it well dried out you may find it works again. I've had that at times with electronics stuff. You may need to take it apart and perhaps get a hair dryer on it. No guarantees but it sometimes works - good luck :)
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

Austin wrote:Well moving my camera was a mistake. The new location was unable to have a covered spot for the power connector, and it no longer works. I guess your fears about water getting into the hole where the LED is was correct.
Old 'tronic tech's trick: If it is a very recent development stick the wet item in a bowl of uncooked, dry rice for about 12 to 24 hours. The rice will draw out the moisture. Barring that, what Gina suggested is the next option.

Is it the power transformer that stopped working? FOSCAM should be able to replace that fairly readily.

Cheers
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

Well, we managed to drop the FOSCAM weatherproof camera to below its operating temp. With air temp at around -1 C and winds kicking the wind chill to -10 the body of the camera took an overnight cold-wash. Right now it will operate for about 2 minutes after rebooting and then shuts down.

I've wrapped a water-pipe heating tape around it and wrapped it with some insulating material to see if I can get the body of the camera above it's current frozen state.

Stay tuned! :?
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by seabreeze3 »

Surprise! The heating tape and insulation seems to have done the trick. So far it seems to be working well. We'll see what happens around 5 am when the temp is expected to be at its lowest.
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Re: FOSCAM FI8905W wireless IP cam

Post by Craig »

I am new to this forum and found this thread while searching for a solution to my web cam image problems. Thanks in advance for all of the helpful comments everyone has made on this thread.

I recently purchased Foscam FI8095W and installed over the past weekend. With the help of this forum, I have figured out how to upload FTP the jpeg images with Yawcam (as I too couldn't use the built in camera FTP option because the files have unique namse, i.e. no overwrite option). I have managed to use dynamic DNS to create links to the current jpeg image, an updating jpeg image, and a live video feed. My main problem has been the poor dynamic range and therefore image quality. As a weather cam, I want to create movies from the jpeg, but I am getting images that range from dark to washed out. I am trying various settings for the brightness and contrast, but can't find a sweet spot. Perhaps as one contributor has mentioned, the CMOS versus CCD camera chip may be part of the problem.

Here is a link to a movie I made today that demonstrates the problem: http://www.ae7i.com/upload/Foscam08MAR2011.mov

At this point I am contacting customer support, but am not sure if they will be able to do much about it. It may be an inherent problem with the camera, in which case I will definitely upgrade to something of higher quality.

Regards, Craig

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