How to address rust issues on a solar surveillance trailer?

When we consider purchasing or using solar surveillance trailers, we often focus on aspects like AI technology, battery capacity or networking etc. That's correct, but we often overlook issues with the trailer itself as a piece of hardware, such as rust. It's so common that we tend to ignore it or accept it as inevitable. But it's important to know that a CCTV trailer, as a long-term outdoor mobile monitoring platform, rust not only affects aesthetics but can also increase friction over time, leading to mechanical damage and ultimately safety hazards. It would be quite ironic if a security trailer wasn't actually safe in practice.

Today, I'll explain the current market solutions to this problem. If you're interested, please continue reading for the next three minutes.

Firstly, where do trailers often rust? Generally, most trailers have a layer of special outdoor anti-rust powder coating on the body. Without scratches causing the coating to peel off, rusting is unlikely. However, the trailer's four support legs and telescopic mast, which need to be frequently pulled or raised, are not coated, making these areas hot spots for rust. Unfortunately, these areas are crucial for the stability of a solar trailer's deployment.

For these areas, most companies use cold galvanizing, specifically electroplating to prevent rust. This is a common metal surface treatment process in our daily lives, chosen for its variety, wide application, and low cost. However, it's not the optimal solution. The coating of electroplating is very thin, only a few micrometers, and can still rust in high humidity environments. It also has a fatal flaw: for large tubes such as telescopic mast sections, the inner wall's electroplating quality is unstable, and sometimes it doesn't even reach the inner wall. This is like brushing your teeth on only one side; the other side will still corrode.

• The electroplating process involves using electrolytic equipment to degrease and pick the tubes, then placing them in a solution made of zinc salts. The equipment's negative electrode is connected to the tubes, and a zinc plate is connected to the positive electrode. The power supply uses current to move from the positive to the negative pole, depositing a layer of zinc on the tubes. The problem with this process is that thoroughly cleaning the inner surface of the tubes before electroplating can be complex, potentially leaving residues that affect the quality of the electroplating. Additionally, due to the geometric shape of the tubes, the inner surface is not easily accessible to the electroplating solution and anode, making it difficult to achieve uniform current distribution on the entire inner wall. If the current cannot reach all areas of the inner wall uniformly, it leads to uneven coating thickness. Sometimes, large tubes may not fit entirely into the electroplating tank, further limiting contact with the inner surface.

These issues ultimately lead to rust on the inner wall, which can spread to the outside. So, when we see some trailers' extendable poles have started to rust on the surface, be cautious; the inside may have rusted completely.

As a professional CCTV trailer manufacturer, we considered this issue from the design stage. For key areas of the trailer, we abandoned the common cold galvanizing in favor of hot-dip galvanizing. Let's formally discuss the difference between these two processes. Cold galvanizing, also known as electroplating, is a process that uses electrochemical principles to apply an anti-corrosion coating to the surface of workpieces. Since the electrolyte is at room temperature, it's also referred to as cold plating. Hot-dip galvanizing, on the other hand, involves immersing steel components in molten zinc at temperatures above 752℉ to obtain a metal coating. This is like soaking an cookie in milk.

Hot-dip galvanizing has all advantages except for its higher cost. First, its coating thickness is already 10-20 times greater than cold galvanizing, reaching at least 40μm, ensuring a lifespan of over 10 years even in harsh environments. Its coverage is also stronger. For example, on our trailers, where we install cameras or LED lights on telescopic poles, due to their large size and complex structure, electroplating often fails to reach the inner wall of the tubes, while hot-dip galvanizing can protect the entire steel surface, including the innermost corners and any other areas, making it easy for the molten zinc to uniformly cover them. In fact, beyond coating thickness and coverage, hot-dip galvanizing's hardness, impact resistance, and wear resistance are much higher than electroplating. For example, oil and gas pipelines, car bodies all use this process, making it the ideal outdoor metal anti-corrosion process.

In fact, our investment in rust prevention doesn't stop there. For example, our trailer chassis also uses hot-dip galvanizing, as does the solar panel bracket. The trailer body uses galvanized sheet steel instead of regular cold-rolled steel. Key body components are made of stainless steel, and even the screws are covered with plastic protection caps. We've truly armored our trailers against rust from top to bottom.

Originally, I intended to briefly mention this, but I ended up saying so much. In short, our products truly consider the long-term use experience of quality products. This quality isn't just talk; it's reflected in the details, achieved through careful design and cost investment. If you're interested, please DM me to schedule a product demonstration.

This article is the first in a series on solar trailers. I'll share more content based on actual usage conditions every month. Please follow me If find it helpful, Thanks for reading, have a good day!