How to best fix and camouflage/disguise a cam on a windowsill outside a house?

[Retired_Member]

Hallo community, 

before buying Arlo cams, I'd like to get some tips. The idea is to position an Arlo cam outside the window on the windowsill on the house's front to monitor the house door. 

My request for tips would be: how can I best fix the camera on an aluminum windowsill without drilling? 

Secondly, I'd like to know how to best camouflage/disguise the camera so that the camera cannot be recognized as such right away. Are there e.g. any boxes/cases available or camouflage films/shields/sheets. 

I'm interested to hear your feedback and tips. 

Thanks! Brixel

[TomMac]

Ive used 3M double stick tape from auto parts store ( for car trim ) ... Once it sets it works well. My mount is on an aluminum gutter for a year now.

( round 1/2 ball mount , covered entired base , cleaned site with alcohol )  Depends I guess on where, is it full sun, rain etc, YMMV.

As to the cameras, I know there is Netgear silicon covers in a few colors, there is "plastic wrap" from outdoor stores in camo and other patterns...

I used a flat black krylon spray paint to match my camera to the house trim... masked off front and sprayed lightly till dark... didn't effect operation at all.

You just have to think outside the box... wasn't there even a gullie suit for the camera?

Then you have to decide if you really want it covert as opposed to overt  ( I'd rather camera be seen, as mine are out of reach to possibly stop before things happen, not just catch the person breaking something )

[TH1racer]

1st of before you buy read the reviews on the product. I did not and as of today 8 months later they do not work as advertised ! My Arlo wireless records no motion, misses actuall motion and no matter what the tape duration is when that time is over it takes 20 ish seconds to reload the motion detection due to sending the video clip to the cloud even when there is motion, This lag has cost me to identify people comng to my door. The 20 or more videos a day with no motion has cost alot of money as the price for batteries for thee units are expensive.

Sorry as to your question.

Drilling is an issue as anyone who does identify the cameras can very easily take the camera or it may fall causing damage. Worse case is that unless it is securely mounted it may move with the wind and effect the accuracy of the recordings. This also limits the camouflage material. I mounted mine inside of a porch light fixture and another inside a electrical box even using the EL box cover.

Good luck and remember to read the reviews and price for batteries before purchase !

[Retired_Member]

Thanks for your answers. 

@TomMac: I have more and more the feeling that, without wanting to drill, a decent fixing of the device in whatever way is not optimal or rather risky. Of course there are special adhesive tapes available and suchlike but it will indeed be exposed to sun, bad weather and wind. I'm not too sure if that's stable enough.

@TH1racer: Especially wind is I think risky for e.g. magnetic accessories as stand for the cam. And you'd need a very large ladder to remove it from its potential place (the house is not remote and hidden). 

Indeed I have meanwhile read quite some reviews. I'm just not sure whether I should go with an Arlo product (which have predominantly good reviews) or rather wait until Blink releases its new XT camera (my must feature is a battery-powered cam). It also offers decent functionalities and is ok rated in reviews. At least they win the challenge in terms of battery life. What do you think?

[TH1racer]

Dont matter where ya live and what ya buy an adhesive will give out and possibly damage the cam in the fall !

Not sher why you do not want to drill ? You can securily mount a light fixture to the siding with 1/4 inch anchors or use just 1 hole in the center and hide it inside of that. When ya get the cams take it to a lowes/home depot etc and find somethng that it fits inside and has the hole for the cam mounting. What ever you pic the cam needs to be flush to sticking slightly out. They dont like anything directly in its veiw prior to what area you want to detect motion. Something to do with the change in heat signitures as they work off of infrared changes. I have Arlo Wireless. I understand Arlo Q or pro works from motion changes in the frame. I would go with the Pro series if I had to do it over. 

RE read your original post and you want to mount it above the windowsill looking at the door. Most sills are not 7+ feet above the surface people would be walking on. The perpindicular direction is good but remember or look at the mounting specs in that they work best at 7 foot or higher looking slightly down. The cams also pic up movement of any branch so watch for bushs/trees are not between the cam and where you want to pick up motion. Bottom line you need to test the cams in the position you want to see if it will actually work corectly. Use your tape to mount it on a trial. Then test it by moving in and out of the zone to see if it picks you up turning the sensitivity up as needed. Then leave it alone for a day to see if it records no motion. This is the issue I have. My cams record when there is no obvious motion and fail on actual motion due to turning down the sensitivity so it does not record all day. These things eat batteries and they are expensive. Look into rechargables. I get mine from batteryjunction.com.

Good Luck !!!

[TomMac]

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DrBrixel wrote:

@TomMac: I have more and more the feeling that, without wanting to drill, a decent fixing of the device in whatever way is not optimal or rather risky. Of course there are special adhesive tapes available and suchlike but it will indeed be exposed to sun, bad weather and wind. I'm not too sure if that's stable enough.

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Not going to say it's 100%, as I know it's not design for same.... but thats why I went for 3m tape for car trim...

it's usu always outside in rain,snow, etc ( sunlight not so much as it's covered )

Mine has worked for a yr now and I can't pull it off yet .

But, really, do what you feel comfortable with.  I

[TH1racer]

I made the epic mistake and did not research the cam. We had a serious issue with the neighbors and needed something up ASAP. Went to best buy, they suggested the Arlo and I have had nothing but problems with the cams since ! My cams are 100% installed per Arlo specs and do not work like advertised. Been dealing with support for weeks. The initial support contact person IMO just re-reads canned responses in their data base. Spent 5 days trying of hem telling me its a firmware issue even tho i gave them my firmware specs that matched the latest version.lol Like i was talking to a wall and he was not reading my posts. They told me yesterday that they are sending my case to the next level expert...... If this person asks me to do the same thing allready covered i may impload.lol

Anyhow. Good luck and keep me posted here on what decision you made. I may throw these cameras away and buy a wired unit.

[IMFrustrated]

Make sure u have good internet broadband connection, reboot complete system, leave off 2 minutes unplugged, start one at a time, internet first, WIFI, once WIFI is complete start up Arlos home base. If that doesnt help or work, I will take them... 🙂

[Retired_Member]

Thanks guys for input and tips. 

[TH1racer]

@IMFrustrated Thanks ! I have tried those ideas, steps and no help. I think its the cam but Arlo is doing all the checklist items trying to help. Have sent videos/pics etc. Base station is about 15 feet away, 20 from the other cam, only 1 door/wall to go thru. Broadband upload is 6 Mbps, dload is 50 Mbps so no issue there. Fortunatly mounting the cams and posting signs tof no tresspassing property protected by video camera has detered my neighbor from messing with us..... Was funny when they first saw the infrared and motion detect/record light at night and knew they were on candid camera.lol

[IMFrustrated]

Problems with Arlo system. If you can get on the Chat is more helpful in my view but it isn't always available. Just go to support and contact on your computer then Chat may show up as an option.

Support is fair here but you have to jump through some hoops to get anywhere 😞

[TH1racer]

Thanks ! never thought of the chat option. I am in maintenance on a huge scale and deal with union production worker issues daily so i am aware you/they need to drill down known fixes first. Just got frustrated when like i said i wasted a week with back and forth Q/A when they told me i had the wrong firmware and turned out I did not only after I dug up the the latest numbers ! That to me is unexceptible !

Thanks !