solar panel for rechargeable battery camera

Update 2-20-2021This panel is great. On top of my weather stations, this panel is keeping a set of cellular web cams powered and charged up. The panel is coupled with this mount: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZANNFWW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1Mostly writing this review because of all the negative ones I saw. The use case for this panel is not what it's being advertised for and should be updated.I'm using this solar panel not for any security camera set up, but to power my weather station. Solar panel is the perfect size for my needs, small enough to keep the size of my project down, but large enough to output 5v at 1amp, great for 3.7v lipo charging when paired with a TP4056. The panel comes with a durable frame, the wiring looks fine. I snipped off the end of the USB cable since I didn't need it. The mount is also handy to have, but elected not use it, instead affixing the panel directly to the weather station's enclosure.This is literally a solar panel with +5v and GND, that's it. No polarity protection, no discharge protection, no onboard batteries or charging circuits, nothing. Which makes it perfect for the amateur electronics hobbyist.

At first I thought it didnt work and thought "great. I should have listened to a few of these reviews "But when i plugged itnintonmy blink outdoor camera, the batteries in it were dead. A few months later i put new batteries in so my camera would work again and now i can see it is actually working!It just needs the back up power source (batteries) for the camera to work.So to everyone saying it doesnt work with their cams-- make sure it has working batteries! (Doesnt have to be rechargeable, just whatever your camera normally takes)

Installed and worked great. Up until last week when both panels stopped charging my out door cameras. I took them down, made sure the connections were good and then re-installed. Both are still not charging. I would have rated these a 5, as they have worked perfect since I bought them. Now both won't work, and it is very disappointing as they are 30ft high and not easy to continue troubleshooting. Hopefully the company sees this and will replace the 2 panels and let me send these 2 back so they can find out what the issue is. I just told a neighbor about these 3 weeks ago and he purchased them, and now I feel bad that he also may be in the same situation in 6 months.

Pros- Setup was ez... I did not use the screws because they were too short. I went with 1 and 1/2 anchor screws into siding. The added clear outdoor caulk for the screws and the base.- Cost was fair- Feels well builtCons- The install instructions were ok but the could be better- Needs longer installation screwsOther thoughts- I am testing this with a WYZE Outdoor Cam. I will report back after further testing.- After the install. Allow the panel to sit in direct sunlight for a full day before the first use. I noticed that the Outdoor WYZE Cam was only holding the current charge not really charging the cam. So I unplugged the panel from the Outdoor WYZE Cam and charged the cam to 97% via portable power bank. The next day I plugged the solar panel back in and it charged the Cam to 100% and its been holding ever since. I will continue to monitor it for the next 60 days and will report back if there are any issues. The big win is I will not have to take the cam down to charge it. I plan to just clean the lens annually.Update: We recently, had several days of rain and the cam dropped below 60%. Of course this was due to the fact that there was no sun, my WYSE Outdoor Cam was installed 12 feet up over the garage and set to paranoid mode (meaning motion detection (set high) and cooldown (set low)). So instead of taking the cam down to recharge. I purchased a pack off vinyl siding hooks and a Solar Power Bank Portable Charger 20000mah Waterproof Battery Backup Charger Solar Panel Charger here on Amazon. The charger comes with a clip that I hung on the steel hook next to the cam. I simply ran and micro usb cable from the power bank to the cam.... surprisingly the cam charged fast and less than a couple of hours it was back to 97%. The really cool feature is power bank is rugged. So if you get pulled to work on Honey dos. You do not have to worry. Its built like a tank. You can leave the power bank outside a few hours or overnight without any issues. I hope this helps!Final Update 03/28/21: The Solar Panel has been working like a champ for the past few months. I have also noticed that the solar panel works similar to a power bank. So it charges the WYZE Outdoor Cam for a few days then abruptly stops charging the cam. You will notice the power level on the cam slowly drop from 100% to 80% after 3 to 4 days (with consistent sunlight). I believe this gives the solar panel time to recharge before reapplying steady power. During the the middle of the 4 day (at the latest) the cam starts to charge again. By the end of the 5th day its back to 100%.As I mentioned earlier, I keep my portable power bank as a back up... But sadly it has not seen much action due to the Solar Panel functioning as intended. I hope this helps!

Super happy with my purchase. I bought this to use with a smart bird feeder where the camera wasn't holding a charge long. Purchased this (and a separate adapter once I realized I bought the wrong usb size) to see if it would work, and much to my surprise, it did! It took about two days for me to notice that my bird feeder camera was charging but it's never dropped below 20%, even after two cloudy days.

I installed this to charge a wireless outdoor camera, but I did so in the middle of winter. Even in overcast skies, the panel was still able to charge my camera, but when late spring rolled-in I realized had installed the panel in an area partially shaded (depending on time of day), but even on a sunny day it doesn’t charge unless it is in direct sunlight.So bottom line- will it charge in direct sunlight? Yes. Will it charge in overcast conditions? Yes. Will it charge in partial shade? No.

works very well. but I am a bit surprised it is only a 1A charge rate.it's good for refilling portable power packs and recharging headphones and earpieces .while 1a is sufficient for older flip-phones and bar-phones it will not successfully power a modern smartphone.