high power IR leds

[bills]

I remember a PWM led driver that would drive a led at far more current than they were designed for.
my idea is to surround my number plate on my car  with some 30watt IR leds to avoid the light cameras ,toll cameras.
question 1 do you think this will work?
question 2 how much IR would take to wash  the cameras ccd.
We pay a large tax on our fuel to fund highway construction but they are building toll lanes and charging us to use them.
They also install red light cameras and lower the time of the yellow light so they can send you a citation in the mail.
yes I am pissed.
bil

[miguelvp]

I guess it will depend if you have some IR reflective coating on the plate, or if they are already IR reflective by design.

I guess you can try with a regular high res camera to see the effect. But if they can't get the plate number, do you think they thought of that and made the software notify someone that a vehicle didn't have plates, with the full description and picture of the rest of the car?

[rexxar]

First off, this is probably illegal, just so you know.

This would probably work; you need to use near IR LEDs, AFAIK. One 30W in each corner would probably do it, that's a lot of light. I imagine the cameras actually image in the IR spectrum at night, so they should be pretty sensitive there.

And like miguelvp said, the system most likely flags cars without plates, so unless you can saturate the entire sensor, there will most likely be a police officer knocking on your door soon.

I propose a different solution: don't run red lights and try to shirk out on tolls. Taxes suck. Deal with it or vote the guy out of office.

[miguelvp]

bills, are you in Chicago?

They just lower our yellow light time as well in here, but since I'm cautious like an old grandma (too many pedestrians, bicycles and stupid drivers) it has not affect me yet.

[sleemanj]

question 2 how much IR would take to wash  the cameras ccd.

Do you know the camera does not have an IR filter?

[Rufus]

They also install red light cameras and lower the time of the yellow light so they can send you a citation in the mail.
yes I am pissed.

I thought Americans just shot stuff they didn't like

[miguelvp]

question 2 how much IR would take to wash  the cameras ccd.

Do you know the camera does not have an IR filter?

They all do, but they are not that good at blocking NIR, just take a picture of your remote with any camera. (they all have IR filters)

[Simon]

I think speed cameras and the like have powerful IR lights on them for night use so yes they will be sensitive to it. Yes this will be highly illegal so you either get it very right or end up getting caught. Personally I'd not bother.

[SeanB]

Yes it will work, but I would not recommend it. First time any patrol car looks at the number plate and sees a set of lights around it ( remember that they will fine you for having even neon surrounds) they will first of all arrest you, then charge you for 'defeating the ends of justice', which carries a lot of time with it.

The traffic light cameras use a flash with a very high light output, and have a IR block filter, so they will not saturate, plus even the IR ones use a high speed shutter, so they can image a car doing over 200MPH in daylight. I always ask for a copy of the photo, seeing as if I am paying for somebody in the company speeding the least I can attach to their salary slip with the deduction is the photo. They learnt very fast not to speed. I know the location of a lot of the cameras on routes I travel regularly, and wave to the van if the cop inside is awake ( A lot of time they are earning money while sleeping), a lot wave back.

[Simon]

In the UK we have "average speed areas" where a camera takes your plate and the time you enter and another does the same coming out, if you are too quick your done! 10'500 people got fined for doing this locally on some dual carriageway that is being widened and has heavy roadworks with a couple of miles of 40mph limit. The cameras have a square thing either side almost as big as the camera itself that I take to be lights, as they are tracking every car and I've never been flashed at I assume they are infrared.

Any attempt to modify your numberplate will attract attention from the authorities, I don't know what laws there are about tampering with number plates as i have no interest in doing so but I can't see you getting away with it as you'd need to counter every type of technology there is out there, know about anything new coming up that can get you caught as it only takes you being successfully filmed once for it to be game over. assuming your not just picked off when your parked in public

[mikerj]

In the UK you would be on a charge of "perverting the course of justice" which is a very serious offence (maximum sentence is life imprisonment).  Is there nothing similar in the US?

[bills]

They also install red light cameras and lower the time of the yellow light so they can send you a citation in the mail.
yes I am pissed.

I thought Americans just shot stuff they didn't like

You just cant' go around shooting things you don't like (but thanks for the idea)

[bills]

In the UK you would be on a charge of "perverting the course of justice" which is a very serious offence (maximum sentence is life imprisonment).  Is there nothing similar in the US?

no here they just make a utube video than try to modify the cameras to catch you. IT'S all about the money.

[bills]

There are plexaglass covers that you can put over the number plates (unkown if they work but ileagl)and a clear spray paint that masked the plate also unknown, the citation costs $ 250.00 -350.00 I don't want to risk the chance. 
bill

[bills]

Yes it will work, but I would not recommend it. First time any patrol car looks at the number plate and sees a set of lights around it ( remember that they will fine you for having even neon surrounds) they will first of all arrest you, then charge you for 'defeating the ends of justice', which carries a lot of time with it.

The traffic light cameras use a flash with a very high light output, and have a IR block filter, so they will not saturate, plus even the IR ones use a high speed shutter, so they can image a car doing over 200MPH in daylight. I always ask for a copy of the photo, seeing as if I am paying for somebody in the company speeding the least I can attach to their salary slip with the deduction is the photo. They learnt very fast not to speed. I know the location of a lot of the cameras on routes I travel regularly, and wave to the van if the cop inside is awake ( A lot of time they are earning money while sleeping), a lot wave back.

I would have a switch to turn it off when not needed.
Dont't get me wrong I am not a scofflaw I am just pissed that the roads that my taxes payed for are being rented to me we pay .73cents per gallon of gas state tax and .30 cents per gallon of federal tax plus $200.00 a year for registration (car tax) and they build roads that I have to pay to drive on. the traffic in my area moves at 10- 15 mph
on most of the roads during rush hours but the extra toll lanes move a 3 times that speed.     

[bills]

bills, are you in Chicago?

They just lower our yellow light time as well in here, but since I'm cautious like an old grandma (too many pedestrians, bicycles and stupid drivers) it has not affect me yet.

No I am near LA. cal. but this rip off is going all over the country.
bill

[Teledog]

First off, cops CANNOT see your IR LEDs aimed at your plate (unless they're Superman/Wonder Woman or have an IR sensitive dash cam).
Secondly, if you can actually see a dim red glow coming from the surveillance cam's illuminator bank at night, it's 850nm, if not, then it's 940 nm.
ie: http://avigilon.com/products/video-surveillance/cameras/hd-lpr/info/
Not sure what aviglion uses, but assuming its 940.
One can buy either 850 or 940 x Watt LEDs on eBay for cheap (might want to use focused lens(es) pointed  t the plate, and a heat sink if it's more than a few watts)
It seems the cams "can" be saturated if the point intensity is high enough..
Have a "real" IR surveillance cam here... just haven't gotten off my ass to test the LEDs on a plate 
G' Luck!!

[bills]

thanks for the reply.
I was thinking to aim them at the camera but you idea makes more sense.
bill

[bills]

In the UK you would be on a charge of "perverting the course of justice" which is a very serious offence (maximum sentence is life imprisonment).  Is there nothing similar in the US?

no here they just make a utube video than try to modify the cameras to catch you. IT'S all about the money.

thanks for the reply.
I was thinking to aim them at the camera but you idea makes more sense.
bill