Solar Panel First Look

I finally got my pre-order Wyze solar panel about a week ago …and I connected it to the WCO that I have in the front of my house…

I temporarily stuck the panel nearby, (A more permanent installation will require a ladder and it’s the middle of winter and I’m not doing that right now) :sweat_smile:
It virtually never sees full sun… just filtered sun maybe 4 hours a day in the late afternoon)

…and the camera has added on average 5% every day! It was at 18% when I connected the panel last week… now, I’m at almost 40% and it’s been in the 20s in terms of temperature…

I’m real impressed…

just ordered a second one for the WCO I have out back… I’m hoping it comes in time before I have to bring it in and charge it… It’s at 17%… :crossed_fingers::sweat_smile:

… I may also get two more: one to attach to the Wyze Video dlDoorbell Pro, that I’ve had up since Christmas… (Still at 87%), and another for a Ring video doorbell I have, that needs to come in every three months or so, to be charged…

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My solar panel work fine for a few days and suddenly stopped charging. During the time it worked a charging icon appears beside the battery in the app. Afterward noting showed.
The fix
Uninstall the camera. Hook the camera up and after connecting in the solar panel make sure the camera is charging. ( red light on the back blinking). Now go to the app and install the camera ( follow the correct instructions). After you add the camera go into the app and open the camera go to accessories and enable power by solar.
This fixed my issues and the camera is using and charging from the solar panal.

Hopefully this is in no way normal. You shouldn’t need to reinstall your camera every few days. It has been 5 days on my preorder, and the camera is still at 99% Maybe you need to contact Support?

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Howdy All,

Question?..How long is the solar panel power cord?

Thanks.

Buck.

Welcome to the Wyze community USMC_Buckaroo.

13 feet (4 meters)

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Thank you for posting this! This one little image answered my question. I was not sure what would indicate that the panel was actually charging the cam. After seeing this I went out unplugged and re-plugged in the connector to the back of the cam and immediately saw the little lightning bolt. Looks like I just did not make a secure enough connection.

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Welcome Jarhead :joy:

Yes Welcome @USMC_Buckaroo :us:

Fixed it for Ya :joy: Learn to swim…

fixed it

We did swim testing… and it’s true that was my job. Ground pounding Infantryman.

Waiting for @Seapup to chime in now, lol

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Hey… I have this whole thread bookmarked for tomorrow’s morning reading with espresso. Don’t make me cheat on myself. :grin:

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Welcome to the community @USMC_Buckaroo

I’m not military, but I guess I am technically in the military database since I did score a 98 on the ASVAB and 120-ish on the DLAB around 2009, so maybe that counts for something. They told me I qualified for anything and everything, but my DLAB was so high they wouldn’t ALLOW me to learn [another] Latin Based language :rofl: (I already spoke French and Haitian Creole and basic Spanish). They said I’d have to do something like Arabic, or Chinese, and I’d get a lot of pressure to learn something related to nuclear tech because they had a strong need there at the time.

Otherwise, the closest thing I have to military service is playing Call of Duty Mobile on Bluestacks using a keyboard and mouse which lets me slaughter all the people using their phones or a joystick with slower reactions and smaller screens. :rofl:

and yes, the Solar Panel is up to 13 feet, and it’s pretty cool because if you want it shorter you can wrap it around the back of the panel, and if you want it longer you could theoretically use an extender (make sure to keep the connection points totally waterproof)

@carverofchoice You would like the DLI in Monterey, Ca. great place and weather.

Antonius Squid :squid:

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We know why you joined the Navy @Antonius.

Looking for those lost barrels🤣

That tentical is much longer than the solar panel cable (incorporating the topic into the comment :wink:)

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I would definitely enjoy the DLI. Monterey would be decent weather, though I admit that I am actually a huge fan of really warm weather…Like Caribbean and Hawaii weather! :slight_smile: I wish CA coast water wasn’t so cold. I love Hawaii and Carribean water a lot more, but CA weather is usually pretty good.

I sometimes wish I would’ve joined up when I was younger, early 2000’s.

At this point in my life (40’s), I’m intending to retire in the next couple of years or so anyway to just enjoy my spare time with family and playing with tech toys like Wyze stuff. :slight_smile: I’m grateful Wyze makes it easy to have so many more toys than I otherwise would get, and have my wife okay with them since they’re so reasonably priced. I wouldn’t have bought this solar panel if it cost much more, but now I am REALLY glad I got one. It is so nice not having to remember to check up on my camera and recharge it and remember to put it back, etc…I really like my outdoor cam a lot more now!

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The location of my house would be perfect for at least 3 Solar panels. The front of the house faces 185 degrees South and gets direct sun most of the day, the East side gets Sun about 5-6 hours a day and the West maybe 3-4. The North side would be a little harder because I hate ladders and don’t want to attach a panel to the roof. I’ll have to look at it. I charge my 4 WCO about every 4-6 weeks now when they get to 40% and since I am doing scheduled event recording they use more battery power. I might try a panel out just for fun.

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They are great. Im still planning a side test with the Video Doorbell Pro.

Howdy All,

@ Seapup: Many thanks for the quick answer pard’, and the “Welcome”. I asked my question because as most of you know the one con with those excellently featured Wyze cams is figuring out (running wires) to power them. Now with the new solar panel option I can rework all of my outside cams (wish this option was available at the beginning before I started drilling holes ; - / ).

@ Antonius (and all the rest of you ‘dixie-cups’) “Hooyah!”

@ carverofchoice: Found your post interesting, and enjoyed knowing there was another ‘smart-ass’ out there. I certainly don’t remember my score at the time but with a 156 IQ I too managed to score off the chart on the ‘new-fangled’ ASVAB (this was back in early 70’s the ASVAB was kind of a new thing)
But, in comparison, I received nothing but ridicule from my Drill Instructors at the time, earning me the moniker ‘Pvt. Smart-Ass’ for a while until we went to the Range. But, once there, and after scoring 5 straight bullseyes into a twelve inch target at 300 meters in the off-hand position (that’s standing straight up on two feet and firing like a Revolutionary soldier for you ‘civvies’) and firing the larger caliber (7.62mm) M14 siting through standard metal 'battle sights that particular sobriquet promptly disappeared. It’s also funny that you mentioned the “nuclear” ingredient. Because I joined the 'Corp straight out of highschool and at a time when most of the nation hated the military so very few were joining up, and more and more people were instead being added to the ranks through a little known program at the time called ‘Four or the Corp’.
Anyways, the Navy got wind of my scores and offered me a full ride to Annapolis with a commision as the cherry-on-top. The only caveat? Nuclear…SUBMARINES.

There wasn’t a chance in Hades they were getting me into one of those (honest kudos go out to you that did). So, ever so slightly claustrophobic me said “Nah!”. Consequently, 3rd MAW here I come.
But I should probably apologize for my rambling. I’ll choose to blame it on a temporary infirmity of undisciplined typing fingers.

Warm regards,
Buck.

Postscript: I used to be pretty involved with the game ‘Battlefield’ back in it’s first and second iterations. Mainly because you could fly/drive/operate rather than just run-n-gun. Got back into it for a wee while when L4D2 showed up and killing zombies tripped my trigger (pardon the pun)…being fully retired now from my career as an Architect/Engineer, I believe I’ve now accumulated (downloaded) enough games to my PC to keep me busy till the underside of daisies is my permanent viewpoint. ; - )

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Just a heads up. Solar panel will not always charge. I noticed it will only charge when the battery drops to a certain level. Once saw it dropped to 1% before it will start charging the camera.

Did you go into settings → accessories and make sure to turn on the toggle for the solar panel being attached?

I’ve had mine for more than half a year now, and it’s rare for it to not charge. Usually, it means there is some sort of other connection issue going on.

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