Solar Panels / Cameras / Battery drained by solar panels

[LemmysBallBag]

Not sure if this  helps anyone - it's more of an observation.

I have tried a couple of solar panels  - not the Wasserstein, but when I connect the panel to the camera, the app shows it as "plugged in". When the panel doesn't have enough power / sunlight though, it DRAINS the camera battery very fast, like from 42% to 15% within hours which makes the thing unusable. I primarily wanted to use this as a means to go longer between charges or make them unnecessary. Reading up on solar panels, I found mention of some cheaper panels not having a blocking diode, which would explain a lot. 

"A blocking diode allows the flow of current from a solar panel to the battery but prevents/blocks the flow of current from battery to solar panel thereby preventing the battery from discharging."

I have seen online information to put in a diode on the power line to see if it helps, but have not tried it. Helpful to anyone? I also used a USB power meter to check the output from the panel - you can pick these things up quite cheaply and good for diagnosing...

[MplsCustomer]

@LemmysBallBag 

When you use a solar panel with the battery camera, the camera is still always running off of battery power, and the solar panel is trickle charging your camera's battery when there is sufficient sunlight.

https://store.google.com/product/wasserstein_solar_panel

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989

[LemmysBallBag]

That may be true, but, when a solar panel is connected of the type I describe, when it is not providing power to trickle charge, it sucks it out of the camera, draining the battery of the camera rapidly. If the panel is disconnected, battery drains at normal level. 

[MplsCustomer]

@LemmysBallBag 

Then why not just use the Wasserstein Solar Panel that is made for the battery camera?

Or, if you can, plug your battery camera in with one of the optional power cables?  We've done that for almost 23 months, and the camera is always "Live" and online.

[LemmysBallBag · Accepted solution]

Because that panel is a lot more expensive than other available panels 😁 I posted here mostly to give people an indicator towards the possible pitfalls of solar panels powering cameras like this - some can DRAIN your camera batteries quickly when they are not generating power. I do have "powered" cameras where I can, including the doorbell because that lasted about 3 days on battery.

[Lance_L]

Hi everyone,

@LemmysBallBag, thanks for posting and for sharing your observations in our Community. Feel free to let us know if you have any further questions.

Best,

Lance