Hi all, I set up an Arducam B0205 tonight and ran into something strange. With the room light on, the picture is great, really clear. But as soon as I turn the light off, the screen just goes completely black. The IR never seems to turn on at all. Is there any way to fix the IR not kicking in?
Thanks for the details. From what you’re describing, it sounds like the auto day/night switch isn’t engaging. You get a good image with ambient light, but in the dark it doesn’t switch over to IR/night mode, so the image just stays black. Just to confirm, do the IR LEDs ever light up, for example if you power the camera up in a fully dark room?
I just tried that. Powered it up in a dark room and the IR LEDs still don’t come on. Screen stays black. With the light on, no issues at all. It’s like night mode never triggers.
OK, that helps. The symptom is that the IR illuminator isn’t activating when ambient light is removed, so you get a black image in the dark while the daytime image is fine. The root cause isn’t clear yet from that alone. Are you running the stock/default setup, or have you changed any settings?
It’s stock. I haven’t changed anything. Plugged it in and expected it to flip to IR when it got dark, but it never did.
Understood. For now the main finding is that the camera’s IR/night mode isn’t switching on automatically in low light, which is why the screen goes black when you turn the light off. I’m still looking into what could cause that on the B0205. How are you viewing the feed (app, VLC, etc.)? That might help narrow it down.
Quick update, I managed to get it working. Appreciate the help.
Glad it’s sorted! Just to recap for anyone else hitting the same problem: the symptom was the B0205’s IR/night mode not switching on automatically when the light went off, giving a black image in the dark while the picture was fine with the light on. If you can share what ended up fixing it, that would be really helpful for others with the same issue.