It seems we are getting more and more customers/RFPs that require any pole mounted equipment be more aesthetically friendly.
With that in mind, has anyone painted Firetide gear, radios and/or panel antennas? If so, any degredation in performace?
Thanks IPVM colleagues
At my last job we painted antennas for some projects. I don't believe there was any issue with performance.
As far as painting radios, though, you want to be careful that you're not adding a color which absorbs more heat as it could cause the radio to overheat and damage electronics. In other words, don't paint a white radio black if it's going to be baking in the sun.
The alternative is to put the radio in another enclosure, like a non-metallic NEMA box, and run the antennas out from it, since all those exposed devices can be painted. We typically used indoor radios in a weatherproof box for this.
And if you're going to paint these things, be careful what sort of paint you use. Regular spray paint will flake off of plastic components, so you'll need to use specialized paint. We have a guide on painting gear you should refer to before making any decisions.
Don't use metallic paints.
Thanks for the insight and response.
the radios are gray and possibly needing to be painted black. The climate is upper midwest. aint would be powder coated, not sprayed.
is the Firetide 7020 (outdoor) radio capable of handling being painted black?
I'm afraid that's a question for Firetide to answer. There are two issues:
If it must be painted black, I'd look at using a 7010 in a separate enclosure, like an L-Com box or the like, which you could powdercoat whatever color you like.
Considering that powder coating requires an oven to cure, it might be very unwise to bake your radios. Also powder coating doesn't work for non-conductive metals. So rubber grommets/vinyl labels may be trouble even if heat isn't.
Just like Ethan mentioned, the radio chassis appears to be a heatsink. If you coat that, you change the heat exchange efficiency of the housing.
In summary: you need to get Firetide to sign off on any cosmetic changes or coatings you want.
Firetide allows the painting of the IVS-100 housing
Integrated Video Surveillance Firetide IVS-100 is an integrated wireless video surveillance solution supporting public safety and commercial security applications. Incorporating a Firetide HotPort® wireless mesh node, IP camera or analog video camera with an encoder, and optional storage, the system is ideal for outdoor video surveillance applications....
Improved Aesthetics and Visibility IVS-100 improves the aesthetics of video surveillance deployments, with out-of-sight cables connecting mesh node, camera and encoder within a weatherized enclosure, which can be painted to order to meet specific installation requirements.
Ask questions and get answers to your physical security questions from IPVM team members and fellow subscribers.
