Brinno TLC300 timelapse camera - condensation outside protective case, in front of lens

[Thundery wintry showers]

Hi all, I recently got myself a Brinno TLC300 timelapse camera for recording the daily weather from Lincoln. I situated it outdoors pointing towards the west-south-western horizon and encased it in the protective waterproof glass case that comes with the camera.

My problem is that on most nights, typically around dawn, water droplets form on the outside of the glass case, right in front of the lens. Often the area in front of the lens is the only place where the droplets form and the rest of the case is clear. This ruins my recording until either I wipe them off or they evaporate in the sun (which generally takes until at least mid-afternoon now that we're in November). Rain is typically not a problem because when it rains the drops tend to just temporarily cover the protective casing and run off, which I am fine with, but when condensation triggers the droplets, they stay put.

I have found reliable ways to largely prevent condensation from forming inside the casing, but not outside of it. Brinno only gives guidance on addressing condensation inside the waterproof housing, not outside of it, and when I do internet searches for it, both Google and Microsoft direct me to results only for addressing condensation inside the housing.

I know there are several Netweather members who regularly upload timelapses on the internet - has anyone else experienced this and overcome it?

Edited November 16 by Thundery wintry showers

[Weather-history]

Have you tried a small blob of shaving foam and polish this into the area concern with a soft cloth? I know this helps with prevention of fogging up.

Got to say I personally don't like the Brinno TLC 300 pro camera, bought one last year and I have hardly used it. 

My Amazon review

"I have a tlc200 pro timelapse camera and it is brilliant. When I saw they have updated it, I decided to buy the tlc 300 pro because how good the 200 was. I was very disappointed. For a start, the timelapse film is broken up into sections which I don't understand why it has to be. Worse still is the night mode. A complete waste of time! It is so grainy, there is absolutely no point having this mode. In other words, its gone backwards, its a downgrade not an upgrade! This is the proof of its not broken then don't fix it. Did the producers of this product actually checked the final product because alarm bells should have rung, IMO."

[Thundery wintry showers]

Thanks for the quick response, I thought you might have had relevant experiences. I'm definitely going to try an anti-fog spray and see if that helps, I'm aware that shaving foam has anti-fog properties.

Regarding the night mode, unfortunately I bought the TLC300 just a few days before you wrote that Amazon review. I see that someone else has written a review in October 2024 which makes similar observations. It's not a dealbreaker for me but in hindsight I would probably have been better off with the 200. That said the TLC300 had a recent firmware update which changed the default video format to MP4 which I was happy with, not sure if the 200 had a similar update.

I'm not getting the problem of it being split into sections though (the other reviewer reported being limited to 2 hours) - so far I've been getting one recording per day as expected, maybe there's something buried in the settings, I changed quite a few of the default settings before I started off.

Edited November 16 by Thundery wintry showers