Arlo Pro skins causing haze at night

[timber1111]

Anyone else have issue with the add-on skins/covers causing a haze at night when viewing cam under infra-red?

[DoriJC]

Using Netgear's black I have no problem.  One, also black from another company produced a glare on the lens.

[Tonewheel]

Absolutetly!

Notcied this the first nigth I installed skins on 2 Arlo Pros. Initialy, I thoguht that I must have had something on the lens. Cleaning of course made no difference. I remvoed the skins and transmission of very clear video resumed. I also think that there were artifaccts in the daytime videos with the skins. I am sending mine back and will not order until I can be reassured that such artifacts or intereference with transmission will not happen. All concerned should be aware that you are putting yourself at risk if you depend on nightitme surveillance (the most important) and plan to use these skins.

I would be grateful for any insights from forum members as to the mechanism of this failure.

Thanks

[BigDennis57]

Hello Tonewheel,

The issue with skins causing haziness was not a problem with the original Arlo cameras, as those skins did not have the hood on them. However, skins designed for the Arlo Pro do have the extended hood, which appears to cause the IR illuminators to reflect light onto the lens and ultimately creating a hazy view. Once we figured this out, we cut the hooded section off and used the skins where my wife determined they were needed for esthetics purposes only. We went through this troubleshooting nightmare about a year ago, but we no longer have the haziness issues. 

Dennis   

[Tonewheel]

Great advice. Wonder if the skins might provide a bit of insulation in freezing temperatures to roll back the automatic shutoff...

[BigDennis57]

We live in Northwest Florida and normally do not have an issue with the charging system shutdown, BUT we experienced it for the first time last week. Interestingly enough, the ONE camera that still has a skin did not shutdown. I had two other units, both on solar panels and without skins, that did shutdown, SO they may offer some protection! Hopefully that freezing cold weather is over for us!! This Florida boy wants to shutdown too in that kind of weather! LOL 

[Tonewheel]

When we reached -18F, that's when they stopped working. I'm surprised that in Florida this happened to you at probably higher tempertatures.

I was wondering if someone could send a photo of their plastic surgery (literally) on the Arlo skins, so we take just the right amount off. This would be much appreciated. 

We live in a rural community, but there are higher end houses, so security is important. We use a combination of Ring doorbell, which reaches out over 100 feet to the dead end road, letting us know if someone is going by and providing video footage. The Arlo's are primarily for home perimeter use. But we also use Chamberlain motion sensors, which are quite inexpensive. One is located out at over a third of a mile, discreet, but the alarm beeps in the house when activated. One at 800 feet, another at 100 feet, and one in the parking area. The beeps are numbered, so the higher the number, the closer the person or car is. 

The Arlo wireless system does not disappoint, but in cold weather, it is good to have backup sensors. 

[jguerdat]

Skins would only briefly slow down loss of heat. Since these are battery operated, there's really no heat generated except when actually recording. Basically, the skins provide no useful purpose other than to change the color.

[steve_t]

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BigDennis57 wrote:

We live in Northwest Florida and normally do not have an issue with the charging system shutdown, BUT we experienced it for the first time last week. Interestingly enough, the ONE camera that still has a skin did not shutdown. I had two other units, both on solar panels and without skins, that did shutdown, SO they may offer some protection! Hopefully that freezing cold weather is over for us!! This Florida boy wants to shutdown too in that kind of weather! LOL 

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Heat can be generated by the charging of the battery via the solar panel. The skins would trap this heat for a little bit longer

[DaveWoj]

I started a post on this issue last January and people thought I was crazy.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-switching-to-night-vision-vs-an-Original-Arlo/td-...

Additional Post that may be of some help:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-skins-causing-haze-at-night/m-p/1322848#M17422

As far as the skins protecting from cold, I would have no idea. My cameras don't ever shut down since they are AC powered only. In only have them on to protect from elements and less contrast with the house.

[jguerdat]

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wrote:

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Heat can be generated by the charging of the battery via the solar panel. The skins would trap this heat for a little bit longer

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While I agree that charging causes a heat increase (as would recording or live viewing), it's temporary and mostly minimal. I'd expect charging from the solar panel to raise the temp very little due to the minimal current being supplied compared to what could come from AC power. It could be enough to cause an issue if very hot outdoors.

Dunno if anyone has documented temp rise with the skins although I'd hope testing at Netgear would have included this.

[BigDennis57]

I could see where a black skin would absorb heat, IF the sun is shining, but everything we have is gray or yellow. I mostly keep them on my cameras to facilitate pulling them down with our pickup tool. The skin give me just a little more gripping power! Too old and fat to climb those ladders these days! LOL

[DaveWoj]

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wrote:

I could see where a black skin would absorb heat, IF the sun is shining, but everything we have is gray or yellow. I mostly keep them on my cameras to facilitate pulling them down with our pickup tool. The skin give me just a little more gripping power! Too old and fat to climb those ladders these days! LOL

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There you go............

You've just given Netgear another product idea.

The Arlo dismount extension arm.

Safely and conveniently unmounts any magnetically mounted camera.

Only $149.99

[Tonewheel]

So, following the great advice listed by members, I performed surgery on a brown skin on one of my exterior Arlo Pro 2 cameras. (Someone asked earlier why buy them if they don't shield the lens. My answer is that we want to disguise them, not advertise with shiny white easily stolen technical marvels. My 2 pergolas are stained golden brown. These skins blend in nicely. And spiders can't nestle in easily like they can around the hooded portion).

I used an Exacto knife (no local anaesthetic), cutting outward from the front face all the way around. That way I avoided scratching the face, and kept the skin tight to the black plastic, and also avoided exposing the white plastic.

This was done during the day, so I dropped the camera into a laundry basket in the dark and turned on the camer from my iPhone. Nice, crisp detail! No murkiness, So I won't be sending the skins back. 

[Dmennis1961]

I also put new skins on three cameras and noticed a hazy night vision can’t figure out why . But I took them off and now have a clear night vision .does anyone know why . And why do they sell them if they don’t work

[Dmennis1961]

The ones I ordered do not have hoods they fit flush around the edge and still a haze

[Dmennis1961]

I bought the ones with no hood and their white still have a dark Hayes

[Tonewheel]

Can you post a photo or two of your skins installed?

[Tonewheel]

I would suggest pulling the skins back about 1/4 inch from the front face of the camera, sit it outside on a horizontal surface at night, and see whether there is still interference. I would suspect not. 

The camera has quite a wide ange of view, and if there is even a small amount of skin forward of the plane of the camera front, you may still expereience a problem. With mine cut back as per my photo, I have had very clear footage ever since. 

That's why it would be good to see a photo of yours installed from a couple of angles.