Hi Peter,
The detector CNN’s accuracy is fairly poor in low light. We added the daytime detector to turn it off when it gets dark. Detecting with the IR lamp on is interesting – that’s something that we might add later – maybe for a different application, like chicken coop protection (foxes, etc). But we’re open to ideas.
Edward
What I have been testing in regard to the IR filter for my project is this method:
To set the stage the camera is in the livingroom with stationary objects like a couch, chair, laptop, etc. It should always detect something. So, with that in mind.
1: Using sunrise module from PyPi get the sunrise and sunset times for current day.
2: Check the time. If daytime, no IR of course.
3: If no object detected (curtains may be closed) check brightness level. If not max, increase it one notch.
4: If still nothing detected keep increasing until max.
5: If still nothing detected, the AI informs you the camera is covered. (Even with curtains closed there should be enough light to see something.)
If nighttime, after sunset from module:
1: Same as above except, after max brightness, reset brightness back to center and turn on the LED light. Slowly increase the lights brightness.
2: If still nothing, follow the same path as before, increasing the brightness until max.
3: If still nothing, reset brightness to center, turn off LED and engage IR.
4: If nothing, increase brightness until to max or an object is detected.
5: Once maxed, turn on LED light as before and slowly increase light until an object is detected.
6: If after all that during the night, the AI alerts to an anomaly.
Still some fine tuning of course. Seems to work in a room. Hope that inspires!
Nice-- thanks for sharing!
Maybe add auto IR on at dusk as a general optional feature ?
Perhaps… some things to consider though – the training set is daytime lighting (full color). IR lighting isn’t full color, so the detection accuracy is going to be affected. Birds that visit birdfeeders are diurnal.
For applications that need IR lighting, the training set can be changed/augmented/replaced, but I don’t see the value for this application. Let me know if I’m missing something. Turning on the IR light at nighttime is straightforward, however.
Edward
I had in mind to leave the birdfeeder app running overnight ( with IR on ) to detect nightime “pests” such as cats and foxes.
That’s interesting. We’ll look into augmenting the training set to include night-time pics of pest species. 
Edward
Thanks … although I’ve (re)discovered night time with IR results are pretty poor. My cheap wildlife camera produced far better quality pictures at night.
Could it be a lighting issue? Vizy’s IR light power is somewhat restricted to close-up subjects.
Edward