In my region the summer kicked in quite suddenly, and for me it means that I can finally turn into life the idea to test if a solar panel can actually be a main power source for a battery-powered Wi-fi security camera to make it completely wireless, without even swapping batteries all the time or charging it on the base station. This is the question to answer in this material. My name’s Daniel, Pipl Systems Store, we begin.

Meet our main participant – IMOU Cell Pro Home Wi-fi battery-powered camera. So, normally with cameras working on a rechargeable lithium battery we can charge them up with either plug in a charging cable into it, just like your phone, OR we can replace the empty battery with a full one to make camera continue working on it while the first battery charges up on a base station. And yeah, the second option makes up a completely wireless device, but this is an endless cycle of swapping batteries. Though, that’s a common principle used among many manufacturers and cameras of this class, so that’s OK.

IMOU Cell Pro Camera with solar panel is not a unique one, there’s Arlo and Ring, and Blink and many others, but it’s not about the camera – it’s about a solution. For people who live in sunny regions and who can rely on a constant solar energy to power their appliance. So, can we make it free even of the batteries swapping endless cycle Yeah with a solar panel! So, it has cable-tail with micro-usb output on the end that we insert into camera to the power port on the back, and then we put in on the sunny stree, pointing solar panel against the sun.

How We’re Doing It

Demo & Results

And as the first sun rays touched a solar panel, I’ve got a change in camera’s status in the phone app, that is now displaying that the camera is charging up. A first success on our path! And now you’re going to see a great time-lapse that we speeded up a bit to make a result come faster for you:

Throughout just 2 hours that solar panel has been on a sun I’ve got 10 percent increase in charge, proving that it actually can be a complete replacement for charge over cable or a battery swap! But if applied correctly and meets 2 conditions: you live in a really sunny place, and it is always connected to camera. Overall – Confirmed! Annnd did you know that you can get this IMOU Cell Pro camera on the Pipl Systems Store within a solar panel, replaceable battery and base station? You sure can! And we also have other battery-powered cameras and video recorders and a lot else!

Watch Video Review on YouTube!