I'm looking for a recommendation for a small solar cell to power 12v wireless security cameras, as the camera does not have a battery and they should work at night I guess one with an integrated batter will be needed.
Any ideas or experience setting this up?
Doubt that
The 12v Camera that you got most likely needs a continuous power supply. Whereas Reolink/Nest or Ring are designed for trigger-based recording to save power and they have better power management built into it. If you still need to power your 12v camera, it going to be an expensive project as @JimmyF explained.
If you are not into branded ones, aliexpress has cheapies which I wouldn't recommend.
Any ideas or experience setting this up?
You'll need to work out the power usage in watts, to get a rough idea of how much power you need the solar panel and battery to provide over the day to keep the camera going.
You'll also need a solar charge controller.
Cheaper to get a new camera with battery that support solar.
Might not be cheaper, but if you have no idea what you're doing, then it is far easier!
Hi JF yup, thats what I figured so have those numbers.
Just trying to find out if anybody has small solar panel recommendations.
Just trying to find out if anybody has small solar panel recommendations.
Hard to recommend a product if you don't provide the figures.
You might only need a 50w panel or you might need a 200w panel!
Anyhow, here is a calculator, knock yourself out, it'll tell you want you need based on your usage etc.
OK fair enough the numbers may be useful.. 12v, 5.3A maximum draw so 441mA power. Budget for 18 hours runtime = 7938mA so 12v 6A panel with 8000mA battery?
Obviously I'm not calculating for losses
Cheaper to get a new camera with battery that support solar.