I live on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The panels receive about 4-5 hours of direct sun this time of year. We had mostly to partly sunny skies for 2 days. The cameras went from 60% charged to 100% charged in those 2 days.
As the days lengthen and the sun is more directly overhead I expect these cameras to stay fully charged by the solar panels.
The 3 panels I ordered arrived over the weekend. But with temps in the low-teens here in Wisconsin, I’m going to wait a couple of days before I pull the ladder out.
I hooked up 2 more solar panels. One of the cams is on a tree, the other is hidden in a fake rock - which with a solar panel on it is no longer cleverly hidden! Once again, the cams are charging nicely and I expect they’ll always stay “topped off” near 100%.
After 24 hours, approximately 12 hours of Florida sunshine, the battery on my camera went from 15% to 12%.
Time to actually test if the panel is providing voltage to the camera.
The camera and base station are running the latest firmware. The power on the app screen shows battery - nothing about solar panel, even though it is marked as installed as an accessory.
It certainly sounds like it’s not powering the camera. If it’s charging, you’ll see the lightning bolt next to the % charged when you look at the camera in the app.
Make sure you remove the little port cover on the back of the camera and make a solid connection between the camera and the short cable. Also make sure you have a solid connection between the other end of the short cable and the long cable that’s is connected to the solar panel. I found it to be a bit finicky.
Unfortunately, the only way to get power to the camera is to hold the connecter tightly into the back of the camera. Once I release the pressure, it loses connection.
The question is, is the camera or the connector bad? I’d say the connector, since there is no way to lock it into place and make a waterproof connection. Whilst the idea is good, I think the solution as provided by Wyze is likely to kill my camera the next time it rains.
Did you detach the little port cover - actually pull it out until it separates from the camera? That’s what I had to do to get a secure connection to the back of the camera that made it through a few rain storms (one severe) this week.
I did follow the instructions and removed it completely. There is nothing blocking a good connection, but also, there’s nothing keeping it securely connected.
At least the battery is now charging. I’ll have to look at UV resistant glue/seal before returning the camera to the exposed area it was located before testing with the solar panel.
Yep, I am impressed with the solar panel! Finally got around to setting one up. And with one hour of afternoon sunlight my camera went from 60 to 67%. I think this is going to work out great to keep the cameras charged
I need to say more good things about the solar panels! My most used outdoor cam was down to 6%. Within about 4 or 5 hours of afternoon sunlight the camera charged to 27%. That was yesterday. Today it’s now close to 90% and we still have another couple hours of sunlight left. So basically a good 12 hours of direct sunlight is almost fully charging these cameras. That is excellent!! Hands down the solar panels are the best accessory to add to a wireless system.
