Waterproofing a USB-C wireless camera? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: victorhooi
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 11:20:36 pm
content: I have several USB-powered wireless cameras (Wuuk Y0310), which I'm intending to put thethinginoopensource camera firmware onto.This is for observing some plants in a terrarium, and also some greenhouses. The only issue is that the camera itself is not IP rated - and the terrariums will have high humidity (RH 70-80%), and there may be some occasional water spray.I've taken some external photos of the camera:You can see there's an SD card slot on the side, a USB port on the back for power, and some kind of grille on the back.There's also some internal photos of the camera, from someFCC test documents/My question - is it possible to waterproof the unit somewhat? (i.e. not for immersion, per se, but for high humidity, or spray)Would tape over the SD-card slot work? And then some kind of dielectric grease around the USB-C port? Or how would you do it?Thanks,Victor

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2025, 12:00:18 am
content: Basically as you said:- Good tape or RTV silicone over the speaker and SD card slot.- Dielectric grease inside the USBC port on the contacts, RTV silicone around the outside of it once plugged into the cameraIts not clear if the front camera lens makes a good seal around that round plastic hole or not, that might need attention.How long are you thinking it needs to last?

author: victorhooi
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2025, 08:54:40 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on August 14, 2025, 12:00:18 amThanks for the advice!If I use tape, that means I could potentially use the SD card slot again in the future (which I may need to - Thingino uses the SD card slot to install/update firmware). Is there a type of tape that you could recommend here?RTV silicone - I assume once that dries, it's very permanent, right?I hadn't thought of covering the speaker slot - but yeah, I guess that makes sense as well. Do you think that would cause issues with thermal or cooling? (I'm not sure if the camera relies on that for airflow, or for heat escape). Or could I potentially cover that with some tape?And yeah - I can put dielectric grease inside the USB-C slot. (I assume that's safe right? I've only ever used dielectric grease for RJ45/8P8C ports, or power-plugs, not USB-C ports). And then the RTV silicone around it, but that should be fine, since I can just unplug from the other end.Ideally I'd make it last a while =) - not so much because of the cost of the camera, but more that it's a lot of hassle/wasted time to have to keep replacing them, and there will be quite a few of them.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2025, 10:10:03 pm
content: Normally I use a label material that is polyimide with permanent acrylic adhesive. I'm not sure its worth buying a roll of that, probably anything thats not cheap packing tape or cheap electrical tape might be OK.RTV silicone can be scraped off if needed, it would make a mess if you injected it into the SD card slot but usually its thick enough that it can layer over top of small gaps.Dielectric grease is fine in USB connector. Just try not to get it outside of the port or the RTV won't stick. If you do you'll need to clean off with a solvent.I don't think any heat is radiated from the speaker hole, usually they are sealed to the speaker. Sometimes speaker itself is waterproof, I don't know in this case if is or not.