Troubleshooting
Night footage is white, washed out or black
A white or washed-out centre at night means infra-red is reflecting straight back into the lens — usually off a nearby wall, a soffit, dust on the housing or a spider web. A completely black night picture usually means the infra-red is not switching on, which is normally a power problem.
Reflection is the common cause
If the camera is mounted under an overhang or too close to a wall, its own infra-red bounces back. Moving it out a few centimetres often fixes it entirely.
Spiders and dust
A web across the lens housing lights up under infra-red and blinds the camera. This is the single most common night-vision complaint and it is solved with a cloth.
No infra-red at all
If the picture goes black rather than white, the IR is probably not powering. Illuminators draw more current, and a marginal power supply fails exactly at dusk.
Why is my CCTV night vision not working properly?
Why does it only happen at night?
Because infra-red only switches on at night, and it both draws more power and creates the reflection. A camera that is perfect all day and useless after dark points at those two causes.
Would a light help?
Almost always. One modest lamp improves the night picture more than a camera upgrade, and lets some cameras record in colour, which makes clothing and vehicles far easier to describe.
Need this doing?
Security camera repair covers cameras showing no image, recorders that stopped recording, footage you cannot retrieve, and systems that lost remote viewing. Most faults are power, cable or configuration rather than a failed camera. Diagnosis is free, and we quote a fixed price before doing any work.
Security camera repair — what it costsRelated pages
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