Dimmers and auto-iris lenses

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've got an odd issue monitoring the dog crate for my little bad-eyed
Boodle.  I monitor the crate with an auto-iris IR cam and therein lies the
problem.  It's very hard to tell remotely whether the light is barely dimmed
or dimmed 90% because the autoiris compensates for the dimming.  All you see
when you hit the DIM button on the X-10 controller is a slight "flaring" of
the image as the light dims and the iris open up.  I thought sharpness might
be a cue, but the auto-iris probably isn't an iris in the traditional
mechanical sense.  I'm betting it's electronic because as it adjusts there
seem to be no corresponding depth of field changes.

The camera's got enough resolution to usefully image a 3" dial thermometer
in the heated water bath along the side of her crate so I thought I'd get a
solar cell and small electrical meter with a dial I could see via the remote
cam and a potentiometer to calibrate lo and hi ranges.  That setup would
consume no power, but it's probably going to be hard to read.  Any
suggestions cheerfully accepted.  In the meantime I'm going to search the
junkbox.

--
Bobby G.