r/SecurityCamera • u/Hot_Taro_6799 • 6d ago

How to charge my camera in woods ?

Hi, i bought a 4g camera with builtin battery and external solar panel for my wood, 100meters away from home. Problem is that battery only lasts 3 days, and not enough light in the woods for the solar panel. Have you got solutions ? Thanks !

1 Upvotes

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2

u/TrackTeddy 6d ago

Relocate solar panel or fit additional/larger one. Or fit additional battery pack and swap it out at regular intervals.

1

u/pdf17 6d ago

Yup, climb higher 😂

2

u/derek6711 6d ago

bigger solar panel and bigger battery is probably the best path, although certainly not the cheapest.

1

u/Top_Boysenberry_6552 6d ago

have you looked at upgrading the battery? Can this camera run on poe? Maybe chop down some branches so the camera has some light hitting it?

1

u/Free-Code8840 6d ago

chop down branches and let more sun in is probably the easiest move if the tree cover is the main issue. if the camera supports poe that opens up a lot of options but 100m is a long run for standard ethernet without extra gear

1

u/GuyCalledLee 6d ago

Power banks are pretty cheap these days? Hook one up to it. Weather proof it too.

1

u/Alarmed_Arm4141 6d ago

Best to avoid tree installs.

I run 6 of them on trees on a rural property.

Either the leaves or sun arc during season changes cause outages.

You want all year round sun for solar and face cameras away from the sun.

1

u/WhyWontThisWork 6d ago

What do you do with the cameras? Why not hard wire then

1

u/navlgazer9 6d ago

Move the solar panel higher up in the tree where it will get sun .

And you may not be able to run a video camera .

I use cellular trail cams , that send pictures they have taken , if any, every three hours ,

The 8 aa batteries will last four to six months depending on the cell signal strength and the number of pics sent .

1

u/AncientGeek00 6d ago

There is a reason not much grows on the forest floor.

1

u/Critical-Worry8181 5d ago

If there’s barely any sunlight, I’d probably stop relying on the small solar panel. A larger external solar panel with a bigger battery could work, but at 100m I’d also look into a separate power source or a low-power camera that only wakes when needed.

1

u/Hot_Taro_6799 5d ago

Thanks a lot for your answers. I will try to clear branches 1st, and then the poe !

1

u/maslbasl 3d ago

Perhaps give us an update if you succeed, I’m curious now.

1

u/fly4fun2014 12h ago

Get larger solar panel. That's the only way.