Trying to power a v3: I tried a Renogy E.Flex 5W Portable Solar Panel with 2500 mAh Power Bank, but it wouldn’t work. If I charged the battery separately, the camera would work initially, but the panel/battery combination could not keep the camera working. Not sure where power “supply” was failing (panel, battery, ?), either way, I have returned the Renogy.
You need at a minimum, a 20w panel.
And that’s in sunny California.
Your need at least that amount of solar power to keep your battery charged and run the camera. It’s simple mathematics.
Any less, and your battery will go flat after a few days, and your camera will stop working.
That’s hilarious.
LOL
@BarkingSpider If looking to power 2x V3’s with this setup would you recommend a larger (50W) panel or 2x batteries, or both?
I would use a larger panel like 50w but try the same battery i suggest above. It should be sufficient. The results will really depend on how much sun your panel gets during the day.
The Renogy charge controller has 2 USB outputs, so 2 cameras would work ok.
Here in sunny California this system would work fine. So try it and find out, you can always add more battery power and/or solar if needed.
Post your results!
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Great!
I live in Florida so we do get good sun but the summer afternoon rain storms happen often so we’ll see!
Worse case a second battery I would just wire in parallel to the input of the controller right?
Thanks!
Exactly, there is plenty of room in the box, but I’m sure you will be fine in Florida with just the bigger panel.
My setup in the picture above has been working flawlessly now for over 3 months with no downtime.
Have fun!
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I bought a Reolink for my property and never set it up. Do you know if it works on ATT? Are you using T mobile from what I am reading?
Replicating your setup with a 50W panel to drive 2 cameras in Colorado. Thanks for posting.
Not sure on AT&T
Works great on T-Mobile
If you go with Pre-Paid account account for a device other than camera to receive SMS for account activation.
Here is where I landed. 50W panel, single battery. Tested the load and the battery supported 2x V3 cams on its own for approximately 30 hours with no solar input. I was anticipating two batteries so found a different tray to support two. With real life load figured out I might just add a second battery and do some additional stuff using this setup. Maybe some LED lights.
Anyway, I get a bit OCD so did some cable management for now and cable pass through and such. 
Thanks again for the guidance!
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Thank you for posting. Great stuff.
I also got a 50W panel to support 2 V3 cameras and determined one battery is more than enough (actually I could easily put 3 cameras if i needed).
Now I need to mount all that on a permanent location, Your pics are useful.
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So good to see your system working and your pictures, that’s made my day. Thanks.
If anyone needs any more information to get the system up and running, please post your questions here. It’s much easier than you expect to get it working. It’s not quite plug and play, but close.
Do you have pictures of the setup you would share?
Oops! I just found the pictures.
My comment below reveals my OCD.
My understanding of cable control is to avoid coiling excess length as it can create inductive resistance. In your case the currents may direct and thus continued inductance not an issue, your second picture shows two coils coiled in opposing circular directions. The opposing coils may cancel inductive affects?
So, some may ask, how do you avoid the inductance without cutting and shortening the cables? The excess cable is zig-zagged upon its self.
If I need to be enlightened please do so.
Your setup is a very simple and well organized. Thank you.
Victor Maletic.
There are more pictures in this thread that cover every aspect, its a very simple system. Start from the first post.
This is all you need, plus a waterproof box to put the battery and Renogy charge controller in. I suggest an ammo case in the first post.
Connecting the parts is very simple, You need some wire with spade connectors to connect the Renogy to the battery, which I cover how to do in the first post.
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You probably found my pictures.
The main line coming from panel to charge controller is 25’. For future proofing purposes I did not want to cut the cable short so that at least the panel can still be moved if needed. Secondly I wanted a way to easily disconnect the panel if necessary. Hence between the two loops there is another set of MC4 connectors. I looped the cable on each side so that there is play left in it to disconnect.
At these lengths and current passing through I don’t foresee any issue with inductive resistance however have not looked into it by any means.
Think the link to the battery in the first post now goes to their 100Ah unit instead of the 16Ah. For a minute I could not find the 16Ah anymore. Might be useful to update that link with a generic search of 12V 16Ah battery.
I can no longer edit the original post, but this is the size and type of battery you want. Of course it can be substituted for many other batteries, this is just the one I used at the time.
I would recommend keeping wires reasonable short, a little excess is fine, but unless you have future plans that require long wire, keep them short. This will save power.
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I agree, thanks for the reply.
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How many more cameras can you connect to this system?