Painting Cameras Black?

[rmanTX]

I know this has been asked a handful of times, but it doesn't appear to have ever been confirmed..

Will painting my cameras black harm them? I have 6 Dahua cams (5 turret, 1 bullet). The black looks so much better and blends in nicely (i know the argument of conspicuous deterrence).

However, I live in Fort Worth, and during the summer a dark door can melt your skin off haha.

Just curious if that additional heat is indeed a killer, or has there been some advancement in technology that no one is aware of that withstands heat .

I should also mention when all is said and done, I'll have 9 cameras, only 3 under soffits. The rest will be mounted on a horizontal exterior wall.

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[Tuckerdude]

Hi rmanTX,

I cannot speak for others, but can only share my own experiences over the past 5+ years. In that time, I've painted all of my outdoor cameras (bullets, ptz's large and small) a very dark flat-matte brown color. So almost black but not quite. And I've operated dozens of these cameras for years without any issues whatsoever. This includes brands like Hikvision, Dahua, Sunba, among others. Now, I should also say...that I live in North Bend, WA (north of Seattle) so it's never "blistering" hot here. But sometimes during the summer we can get up to 95+ degrees. In those conditions, I still have never had a camera fail. So in that scenario I can say that the cameras seem fine.

I will also add that my house in Scottsdale AZ has about 10 cameras outside, and they are all painted a sort of "tan" color to match the exterior of the house. And so far those have worked year-round since 2014 in direct sunlight and in 110 degree weather. But "tan" is not black in terms of heat absorption, so it's something to consider.

Hope this helps you!

 

[rmanTX]

Thanks! That's definitely good to know!

I've been to your neck of the woods on the spring and it was far from warm.

however I have frequented Scottsdale and the heat there is somewhat similar, HOT during the day and not much less during the night!

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[tigerwillow1]

I've had 5 Dahua cameras pained black and dark brown outside for a couple of years. Only one is in full sun continuously, with the rest being shaded part of the day. No failures to date. These are all bullet cams, and I'll mention these are the plastic-cased chinese versions, just in case the case material makes a difference. (Sorry about the toungetwister wording). We go over 100 for 10 or so days in the summer, with most of the other summer days hitting the 80s or 90s.

 

[rmanTX]

I've had 5 Dahua cameras pained black and dark brown outside for a couple of years. Only one is in full sun continuously, with the rest being shaded part of the day. No failures to date. These are all bullet cams, and I'll mention these are the plastic-cased chinese versions, just in case the case material makes a difference. (Sorry about the toungetwister wording). We go over 100 for 10 or so days in the summer, with most of the other summer days hitting the 80s or 90s.

where are you located?

mine are chinese region, but full metal. I imagine mine get a little hotter

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[Tuckerdude]

I've only used metal cased cameras, I would agree that metal is likely to get hotter...but as noted, they seem to work just fine over the long-haul

 

[tigerwillow1]

where are you located?

mine are chinese region, but full metal. I imagine mine get a little hotter

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Location is the central Oregon high desert.

 

[handinpalm]

I have worked in the electronics industry the past 35 years and is a well known fact that heat is bad for reliability of electronics. What designers look at is the operating "junction temperature" of the internal part of the IC when determining the maximum operating temp of the assembly. The higher the ambient temperature, the higher the junction temp. The higher you constantly run the junction temp, the lower the Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF). So if you raise the outside temp, ie paint black, you are lowering the reliability. Best NOT to paint black or dark color while unit is in Sun. But, if you do not care about reliability, or unit is in shade, paint away.

 

[rmanTX]

I have worked in the electronics industry the past 35 years and is a well known fact that heat is bad for reliability of electronics. What designers look at is the operating "junction temperature" of the internal part of the IC when determining the maximum operating temp of the assembly. The higher the ambient temperature, the higher the junction temp. The higher you constantly run the junction temp, the lower the Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF). So if you raise the outside temp, ie paint black, you are lowering the reliability. Best NOT to paint black or dark color while unit is in Sun. But, if you do not care about reliability, or unit is in shade, paint away.

Well, definitely care about reliability, and 6 of 9 will be subject to the intense Texas sun.

Never realized how hot it got until I burned myself on our brown front door during summer afternoons.

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[Tuckerdude]

If you are talking direct sunlight in Texas, then it could be an issue...hence my caveat for location being a factor. Again, I've had painted cameras in AZ working for several years now...but the Tan color is quite different from Black in terms of absorption.

My two cents!

 

[handinpalm]

If you are talking direct sunlight in Texas, then it could be an issue...hence my caveat for location being a factor. Again, I've had painted cameras in AZ working for several years now...but the Tan color is quite different from Black in terms of absorption.

My two cents!

I do not doubt your observations one bit. Reliability, or reduction in reliability may not bee seen for a long time. I do not know the typical MTBF for any of these cameras, but say if it was 15 years, you may see failures in say 10 years instead of 15, all depending on amount of heat they see. If MTBF is significantly lower, which they probably are, your failures will show up sooner with a lot of heat. What I am saying is: NOT a good idea to paint dark colors on electronic enclosures in hot environments with Sun exposure. If you have cameras covering mission critical areas, definately not good idea. Don't make things more difficult for yourself if you can control it. BTW, we are talking about Chinese crap here. I expect MTBF to be pretty low in normal shady ambient temps. Probably made mistake even referencing 10-15 years

 

[Tuckerdude]

All good points! I guess for me..the likelihood of keeping any one camera in operation for 10+ years is highly unlikely as I tend to constantly upgrade cameras every 3-4 years as new tech becomes available

But I do get the point you are making and is good advice!

 

[Fastb]

I worked at a place that designed a camera to be mounted on the outside of a Chevy Suburban. The trucks would be deployed in the "Stans" (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tazurkistan, etc) and the Middle East. Hot places. The camera enclosure was anodized black aluminum. We were very concerned about heat. We placed a temperature probe inside the cam enclosure, and placed the enclosure in direct sun in the summer. The temps exceeded the temp spec of the camera electronics by quite a bit. If memory serves, approached 150 F on a 75F day.

The cam needed to meet IP67 (sealed from water and dust). So there was no way to vent heat.

We experimented with a Ribbed cam enclosure such as you see on heatsinks. Theory was: the extra surface area would allow the internal heat to radiate away. However, the increased surface area increased the surface area susceptible to "solar heating", ie: more area meant increased ability to absorb the sun's energy.
We experimented with a Smooth cam enclosure. Sure, that decreased the ability to radiate away heat generated by the cam electronics. But the smooth surface (no ribs) decreased the ability absorb heat from direct sunlight.
We also learned that anodized aluminum was better than other coatings, such as epoxy paint or powder coating.

Nevertheless, we still had a heat problem. The black cam mounted on a black Suburban in very sunny & hot places meant we needed another solution.

We created a "solar shield" to block the direct sunlight from reaching the cam. We used fiber washers to thermally isolate the solar shield from the camera body. It helped a great deal.

What's this mean relative to this thread?
- Lots of anecdotal stuff is cited here. Maybe gather some Hard Data? Use a thermal probe connected to your voltmeter. Best if the temp sensor could be placed inside the cam. Then place the cam in the sun.
- Consider a "solar shield". This would be easy for a Bullet cam, since many already have a separate curved top cover.
- Consider a shade above the cam. Far a turret mounted at 8 to 10ft high, this shade could block the sun.
- For the geeky, a 3D printed sun shield might be an option. At least here in Seattle, there are 3D printer outfits that will print something based on a CAD file you submit to them.

So you have many options...

Check these commercially available sun shields:

 

[Tuckerdude]

Hey Fastb....

That is super cool! Haven't seen them before...did a quick amazon search and found a link

https://www.amazon.com/Kenuco-Universal-Shade-Shield-Outdoor/dp/B074KHS1VV/ref=pd_sbs_421_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B074KHS1VV&pd_rd_r=19A0RC01RGVNXZ08AQMM&pd_rd_w=JEj20&pd_rd_wg=qBI3Y&psc=1&refRID=19A0RC01RGVNXZ08AQMM&dpID=310yKZtNvML&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

Nice to know these are available

Cheers

 

[handinpalm]

Those shields will probably also work well in keeping the direct Sun exposure off the camera sensor, and swamping the WDR when the Sun is low.

 

[Fastb]

Tuckerdude,
Always glad to help a neighbor in the Pacific NW!

Fastb

 

[marku2]

my opinion and i have tested for two and a half years is no
i have two hikvision mini domes painted black sitting in a garden bed getting full sun
the weather here in Australia in summer can hit 45-48c, they get wet every few days from the lawn sprinklers it was an experiment to see how long they would last and there still going strong i cant kill them
and one day if they die i will let you know how long they lasted in a black paint job

 

[rmanTX]

well, I decided to not paint them. I can always go back and mask off my brick, and paint them later. As a native San Diegan, who's spent a good amount of time working the 115* Phoenix sun.... there's something different about the Texas sun.
In North Texas it doesn't get too humid... it can be 95 out, and the sun just feels like its unfiltered or something. I don't know how to explain it...

As far as being conspicuous, they do stand out more. Even on a fairly light shade brick, the black really disappeared.

Yesterday someone came to pick up an area rug we were selling. I have 3 camera in front, 1 on the left, one far right above 3rd car garage, and 1 at the porch.

As the guy walked up, he looked at the porch cam, then the left cam, then the porch cam 3 more times.

Funny, no one ever stopped and looked at the 15' coil of pink cat5e sticking out of brick

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[looney2ns]

well, I decided to not paint them. I can always go back and mask off my brick, and paint them later. As a native San Diegan, who's spent a good amount of time working the 115* Phoenix sun.... there's something different about the Texas sun.
In North Texas it doesn't get too humid... it can be 95 out, and the sun just feels like its unfiltered or something. I don't know how to explain it...

As far as being conspicuous, they do stand out more. Even on a fairly light shade brick, the black really disappeared.

Yesterday someone came to pick up an area rug we were selling. I have 3 camera in front, 1 on the left, one far right above 3rd car garage, and 1 at the porch.

As the guy walked up, he looked at the porch cam, then the left cam, then the porch cam 3 more times.

Funny, no one ever stopped and looked at the 15' coil of pink cat5e sticking out of brick

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I RARElY have anyone notice my two cams on the front of the house. Most people aren't observant at all.
One is within 3 ft of their head at 7' when standing at the door.