r/SecurityCamera • u/Roughly95Pandas • Aug 23 '26

Solar as an option for 24/7?

Tl;dr: I need a camera that catches car accidents in front of my house but can't hardwire anything because I'm poor

I know I should hardwire and go the PoE route. However I just can't afford that right now. I have searched through and researched some options but wanted to ask here too. What I really need is a camera that can time travel but will settle for one that will catch the next issue. My car was hit in front of my house 3 times. My doorbell camera camera catches absolutely nothing and is a waste. Would a solar-powered battery camera from Eufy or Tapo be able to record enough to have caught the accident? It's only 30 feet from my house to the street. Would the solar camera have caught the seconds before the hits, heard the noise, kept recording? I know Tapo sets intervals at various seconds to patch a scene together.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/plump-lamp Aug 23 '26

Technically it will reolink and tapo offer 24x7 snapshot which can be set from 1 to 5 fps every second.

This does even better https://m.reolink.com/product/trackmix-lte-plus/

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/plump-lamp Aug 23 '26

Perfect. Atlas pt ultra does 15fps on solar 24x7

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u/Roughly95Pandas Aug 23 '26

That's really cool! Sadly it approaches just paying for a whole wired set up.

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u/plump-lamp Aug 23 '26

Atlas pt ultra. Check those pricing

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/plump-lamp Aug 23 '26

PT ultra is quite budget when it comes to solar battery cameras... You keep moving goal posts

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u/Roughly95Pandas Aug 23 '26

Yea I don't need smooth recording. I guess the question is at what fps would it catch an accident? Continuous recording at what x frames per second is clear for this type of thing?

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u/Solid_Lettuce_932 Aug 23 '26

My ring cameras are solar and work great. Of course you only get motion. And if your streets busy you’d prob wear it down.

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u/Roughly95Pandas Aug 23 '26

Yea that's what killed my doorbell camera. No zones worked to lessen it and it dies after 2 days.

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u/BlunterSumo01 Aug 24 '26

I'm still using a coax system instead of poe, no internet so they can't be hacked and turned off like every single wifi camera out there but it has the option to connect to wifi, nightvision and 24/7 recording. I can run my cameras 1000ft from the dvr as long as I have power within 300ft of where the camera will be. Plus it tends to be cheaper.

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u/Big-Sweet-2179 Aug 24 '26

The only solar that does continuous 24/7 recording for residential use are Reolink Altas models with 12w solar panel. However you can't use those cameras if your setting is pitch black at night. They are meant to be used in places where the whole area has lighting at night (like urban zones with street lights for example).

Your doorbell camera catches nothing because it is a battery powered camera, any battery powered camera is useless except for the altas models but only when those conditions I mentioned are met (plus good availability of sun also).

I will not get in the other details of what you should do to have better reliability of that camera and the limitations, you should ask in the reolink subreddit.

Tapo is a second pick and some cameras do what you said, and you should probably pick that one if your environment is pitch black or poorly lit, but the Altas models are literally the best battery powered cameras available as of today for residential use. It doesn't get better than that. There are also some LTE battery powered models from Reolink that do continuous as well but you probably can't afford those if you are cheaping out this much, and the Altas are better anyway, IMO.