Solar panels enables 24x7 live view on outdoor battery camera (but not recording)

[sos999]

Nest Camera Battery,

exact same issue as this post:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Solar-panels-wont-disable-live-feed-on-...

 it's Not about recording, thus it's nothing to do with my Nest Aware subscription.

The issue is, once solar is connected (and Google Home shows the infinitive solar power sign), the camera will never go to Idle, it's Always showing Live View (but Not recording), same behaviour as my other indoor wired Google camera.

As a result the battery drains super fast (10% per day).

If I manually turn OFF the camera in Google Home, then it also disables the event detection entirely, so this is Not a solution.

Is there a way to get the camera back to "Idle" (not Off) with event-based recording when connected to solar power?  A software design issue?

SoS

Thanks.

[MplsCustomer]

@sos999 

It seems like Google Nest simply refused to even address this design flaw on the earlier thread, and simply locked the thread without an answer.

[EmersonB]

Hi everyone,

@sos999 thanks for posting here in the Community and for sharing with us your issue. To further isolate this issue, could you try using the original power cord for your Nest Camera and monitor its behavior. Let me know how it goes.

Best,

Emerson

[EmersonB]

Hello sos999,

It's us again. I'm bumping up this thread to ensure that everything is covered here. Were you able to perform the steps I’m suggesting? We'd be glad to hear from you.
  
Thanks,
Emerson

[EmersonB]

Hey sos999,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, we would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let us know.

Regards,
Emerson

[MplsCustomer]

@EmersonB 

If, when plugged into a solar panel the battery camera does NOT provide the "60-day event video history" option, AND it keeps the camera "Live" 24/7 without recording 24/7, AND it draws the battery FASTER than when operating in battery-only mode, then perhaps when using a solar panel the battery camera has a fatal design flaw that makes it unusable.

I think Google Nest Support should explain what's going on.

[sos999]

Hi all,

As my solar panel is from Wasserstein, so I had raised a support ticket with Wasserstein on this.

Just a note, the Google Home App won't show camera battery % when it's connected to solar or wired, I had to check the camera battery % from Nest Hub.

Below are the findings with Wasserstein:

- The magic number is 70% which is not documented.  Wasserstein solar panel will Not charge the camera if battery is more than 70%

- so I just had to turn the camera back On, and wait for 1 more day, let the battery drain by itself until it goes to 66%, then it stopped dropping.  The camera also regained the capability to be "Idle".  i.e. when opening Google Home App, the camera will show camera "Idle" with black screen, instead of Live View.  I had to manually turn on the Live view.

- Sometimes it goes up to 67%, and in one moment it went up to 68% briefly.  It never reaches 70% though.  Wasserstein said the 70% threshold is a rough figure with variation e.g. +/- 3 to 4%, so what I'm seeing is normal.

The confusing part is, the camera icon always shows a Solar icon and a big infinity sign.  From the camera UI there is no way to tell whether the solar panel is charging it or not.

The remaining question for Google Support to help is:

Is it normal that camera turns on Live View always-on (not related to 24x7 recording) when it's connected to solar power, even when solar is not charging it? 

[AlienatedCargo]

Hi, I have a similar issue here using a solar panel. I read up on this before I bought a panel so didn't go for the expensive Wasserstein panel. I bought a cheaper option and used a usb to mini-USB adaptor to test. It also flattened the battery within a few days. 

Was anything ever sorted with this as I removed the solar panel since it lasts longer without. 

I only have the 30 day subscription so don't have the 24/7 live option from the plus subscription. 

Thanks