Does the camera actually have IR leds?

[dbuezas]

Sending the { "code": 202, "IrLed": 1 } via MQTT does turn the camera B/W, but if the room is dark, the image is just black too.
It looks as if the camera were just switching to B/W, not turning on an IR led.

Or is there maybe another command to turn the IR leds on?

Thank you!

[dbuezas]

Looking at this teardown, it really seems like the camera does have a ring of LEDs at the front (there are cables going to the ring from the PCB)

[dbuezas]

I just tried the original app, turning the IR led on doesn't seem to do anything apart from turning black and white either (pitch black image if it is dark).
I either got defective cameras, there's something wrong with them or it is just deceptive marketing. Worth every penny of the 2$ I paid for them 😁

[dbuezas]

I took them apart, no IR leds and tiny batteries. Interesting to see how these are even compatible with a VGA camera instead of a full HD one too.
Sneaky sellers...

[interluded]

Looking at this teardown, it really seems like the camera does have a ring of LEDs at the front (there are cables going to the ring from the PCB)

I bought the same camera from aliexpress and mine doesn't seem to have those LED's inside. Either you have to get lucky and get a model with them or they stopped doing it. I bought mine this year in march.

[Maralexbar]

I have disassembled it and found that it does not have any led, but on the PCB it is noticeable that there is the header for IR leds, I am sure that soldering some IR leds and the correct resistance will work.

I bought it on AliExpress for 1usd on sale.
The WiFi was bad, the account did not connect (only AP mode), I suppose there will be more expensive revisions with the infrared led strip.

[dbuezas]

Also mine has a resolution of 640x480 and bad light sensitivity. I saw some in YouTube that were full hd

[Maralexbar]

Those will be more expensive models, in fact I have the same one in my AliExpress cart but much more expensive (12usd) according to the description it is 1080p and H264.

This is only VGA and MJPEG.

I'm sure they use the same case but with a different chipset/sensor.

If you want to add IR leds you can solder them to the IR+- pins

As you can see, it already has the npn transistor (Q1) and a 200 Omh resistor (R1), so you only have to add the leds.

I had to cut the box because it is not transparent 😔
There is no difference with 2 infrared leds, and I recommend two 5mm white leds (high lum).

Also that consumption shoots up to almost 150mha more, the poor battery is not going to handle much time.

Normal consumption:

With infrared on:

[intx82]

According to the BK7252 datasheet, this MCU only supports VGA cameras

Check page 20 of 'BK7252 Data Sheet-1.pdf' (https://github.com/intx82/a9-v720/blob/master/docs/BK7252%20Data%20Sheet.pdf)