First of all let me praise you all for your ingenuity and attempts at solar standalone solutions. I currently have a Nest outdoor cam running completely on solar. I just purchased a Wyze and am going to run several around my house to replace them. There is a steep learning curve to a solar setup. I was an RF Engineer in a previous life and have been involved with the design of remote comm sites running on solar, hydrogen fuel cells, etc.
There is a balance that must be achieved with the system involving the load, length of run time expected, type of battery/charge controller, proper charge rate (c/5-10) for battery health, proper discharge level (max 50%), solar panel ratings (watts, voltage, amperage), sun hours (geographic based), and angle of incidence for the photons hitting the panel (mounting the panel(s) at the optimal angle). I have seen some crazy set ups mentioned in these forums (not criticizing as once again, I applaud the ingenuity and effort). Nobody gets anywhere without trying and failing. However, much time and money is being wasted and I hate to see that.
I will be performing the calculations, and setting mine up and will report the results. Off the top of my head (based on power draw I’ve seen in this forum and which I definitely need to confirm), a 50 watt mono panel, 35 amp hour 12v sealed agm battery, 10 Amp PWM charge controller, and a 12v to 5v step down @3A should provide sufficient charging/operation during average weather and 48hr backup if you have a few days of bad weather. You could go twice that length (4 days) here and there but it would be bad for long term battery health to do it all the time. This can all be had for about $150 as of this writing.
If you live in an area where its cloudy you want to up-size the solar panel, battery bank, and to an MPPT charge controller for better efficiency. I don’t claim to know everything so if anyone has any thoughts, please let me know. I’m going to do my best to set myself up and hopefully can help some of you all along the way.
I’ll report back in a few weeks.