Can I Paint my Security Camera?

No, Do NOT Paint your Security Camera

For most security cameras, SCW included, painting your security camera will void the warranty and we do not recommend it. Cameras are white specifically to keep the cameras cool in the sunlight. Darker colors of paint will absorb more heat and cause extra stress on the components inside the camera. Paint in general may also limit the mobility and aiming capability of the camera at its rotation points.

Why you Should NOT Paint or Buy a Black or Gray or Whatever Security Camera

You may be tempted to try to make your security cameras match your trim colors by either painting them or buying cameras that "match." We do NOT recommend doing this. It is important to note that buying a camera any color other than white will make it overheat at lower environmental temperatures even when the temperature ratings are the same.

Websites that say, "the temperature rating for black cameras and white cameras are the same, you can go with black," are publishing misleading information.

It is true that the temperature rating is the same for both black and white cameras, but temperature rating is not relevant here.

What Temperature Rating Measures VS What People Think It Measures

People usually think that the temperature rating communicates the range of weather (specifically, the temperature reported by the weatherman) in which the camera is able to operate.

This is NOT what temperature ratings measure.

Temperature ratings rate the ability of the components to handle internal temperatures (how hot or cold it is inside the camera enclosure), not the environmental temperature (how hot or cold it is outside).

Both black or white cameras will fail at the same internal temperature, but a black camera will absorb far more heat and reach that internal temperature failure far sooner.

sunlight

The Internal Temperature of a Black Camera in Full Sunlight is 10 to 40 Degrees Hotter

Because the color black absorbs more heat than the color white, a black camera will always fail before a white camera will. In the same way that black cars heat up more than white cars, a black camera will cause the internal camera temperature to get hotter inside than it is outside. White cameras reflect light and heat, so they don't reach the same internal temperatures. Black cameras will heat up causing their internal space to become hotter than it is outside.

This increase in temperature is between ten to forty degrees depending on climate, sunlight exposure, season, and location.

For this reason, SCW only carries white cameras.

heat absorption black vs white car, thermal image

This image shows the different internal temperatures between black and white cars outdoors in the sun.


While the white car is only a little hotter than the outdoor temperature, the black car is thirty-three degrees warmer. The same applies to cameras.

Image Source: Buzzfeed

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