Can anyone help with suggestions for an infrared floodlight?

bosskong · Post by **bosskong** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:20 am

I'm looking for a cheap source for an infrared floodlight. I'd like to leave it on outside, all night long, and to be able to see for about 150-200 feet. I have a camera with 105 IR LEDs, but it's not nearly bright enough. Today I tried using a 250W infrared heat lamp. It was bright enough, but it put out a considerable amount of visible light (I don't want this light to be visible) and I wasn't comfortable with the amount of heat that it put out.

I still may do something with these heat lamps, but it seems like a lot of work to build some kind of enclosure that can withstand the heat and that can filter out the visible light. Not to mention all the wasted electricity that I'll be paying for to heat the neighborhood.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:17 am

ir of any type thats tungsten based will make a lot of heat. If you dont want any visible light you neeed soemthing obove 850nM usually about 900-1000nM is the usual. Also he ones with proper lens's will work better as the put more light on the longer ranges and less close up to prevent the iris from closing

bosskong · Post by **bosskong** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:49 am

I've seen some 1000nm lights, but they're pretty expensive. Any idea where to get lights or lenses for a decent price?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:40 am

No, the problem is the stuff you want is pretty specialist, you can buy the consumer end tat from ebay etc But proper ir lamps can cost £500+ for long range 100m units. You could buy some ir leds and get the soldering iron out i suppose

bosskong · Post by **bosskong** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:15 am

I found a 1 million candlepower infrared spotlight online for about $40. It should be here on Friday, so I'll let everyone know how it works out....

dave1216 · Post by **dave1216** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:22 pm

Okay, it's been two months and it STILL hasn't arrived?

bosskong · Post by **bosskong** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:22 pm

Heh, yeah, I guess I just suck with following through... I thought I had ordered a 1 million candlepower infrared light, but it was just a regular floodlight with some kind of infrared coating to trap heat or to project more light or something. There are some actual infrared floodlights available for $80-$100, like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1
but I sort of lost interest (and $).