EZVIZ C3A + solar

@Dolby @Hamster

I’m on day 2 after installing on Monday night and battery is down to 64%. I thought the solar would charge it up every day, but I guess I’m doing something wrong. Any advice chaps?
 
Spizz said:
@Dolby @Hamster

I’m on day 2 after installing on Monday night and battery is down to 64%. I thought the solar would charge it up every day, but I guess I’m doing something wrong. Any advice chaps?
Click to expand...

I actually haven't gone into mine for a while - but when I checked the first few days, I was at 100% and it's never cut off due to power issues. So it must be working :)

Regarding the earlier question about only recognizing certain parts of the screen - I don't think that can be done with any PIR system :/
 
Dolby said:
I actually haven't gone into mine for a while - but when I checked the first few days, I was at 100% and it's never cut off due to power issues. So it must be working :)

Regarding the earlier question about only recognizing certain parts of the screen - I don't think that can be done with any PIR system :/
Click to expand...

Cool. I think I’ll take it down and charge to 100% and see how it goes from there. I’m still not sure the solar is working properly so I’ll keep an eye on it in the meantime.

I now seem to have the camera working well after positioning a few times and have set it to record and notify from 7pm to 7am which has cut down massively on the “ghost” notifications.

Also have it hooked up to Amazon Echo Show 5 which was the whole point of the cam in the first place. It’s a funny little blind spot at the side of my garage which was the subject of a failed burglary a couple of weeks ago, so we can now ask Alexa to show the camera and we have eyes on the whole driveway without going outside.
 
Spizz said:
@Dolby @Hamster

I’m on day 2 after installing on Monday night and battery is down to 64%. I thought the solar would charge it up every day, but I guess I’m doing something wrong. Any advice chaps?
Click to expand...
I charge mine once every two or so months. I'm no help here.

Why bother with the solar stuff though? Take it down, plug it in for a few hours, put it back up.
 
Hamster said:
I charge mine once every two or so months. I'm no help here.

Why bother with the solar stuff though? Take it down, plug it in for a few hours, put it back up.
Click to expand...

It’s my first outdoor cam. The wireless simplicity and minimal human interaction appealed especially in the location the camera is located ( at the top of a ladder).

But yeah, I know now and would be quite happy to charge every month or so.
 
So I took the battery out yesterday evening and charged. I put it back in after dark and it was at 90%. Wake up this morning and it’s at 79% and there were no PIR notifications, so it must have been in sleep mode all night. Doesn’t seem like I’m getting a month or two at this rate.

But I repositioned the solar last night and I’ll watch today and see if it charges up a little.
 
Spizz said:
Also have it hooked up to Amazon Echo Show 5 which was the whole point of the cam in the first place
Click to expand...

I'm also hooked up to a Show 5 ... that's quite a nifty feature.

I just wish we could get it a bit faster to display :)
 
So as I test, I pulled down the camera yesterday and charged it too 100%.

I'm going to put it back up this evening and actually keep an eye out
 
Dolby said:
So as I test, I pulled down the camera yesterday and charged it too 100%.

I'm going to put it back up this evening and actually keep an eye out
Click to expand...

I’ve done the same today. Something must be wrong with my set up because I’ve lost 11% per night over last two nights (with no PIR incidents), and gained 1% back in the day with the solar.

So it looks like the solar is stabilising the battery during the day but it’s dropping big time over night without the solar to keep it charged. I can only think the battery is goosed if you guys are only charging ever month or two because at my rate I won’t last 2 weeks.
 
Spizz said:
Cool. This will be interesting. I put mine up at 100% yesterday evening and this morning it sits at 84%. Not good.

I notice you have Alarm Notifications disabled. Is that your normal status?
Click to expand...
I think so - maybe that's why I wasn't losing much power. But I'll try both ways for a few days and update here.

I'm 98% now - but I guess it's just me logging into live view
 
Dolby said:
I think so - maybe that's why I wasn't losing much power. But I'll try both ways for a few days and update here.

I'm 98% now - but I guess it's just me logging into live view
Click to expand...

I switched my Alerts off also just to compare properly, and from 84% yesterday morning, I went back up to 95% with the solar panel during the day, and this morning back to 83%.

So losing 10 to 15% overnight looks like the norm. That’s without logging in to check the live view at all, so the camera is effectively sleeping all night. Seems to me the battery is the problem, so I think I’ll send them a message and ask for a replacement.
 
Spizz said:
I switched my Alerts off also just to compare properly, and from 84% yesterday morning, I went back up to 95% with the solar panel during the day, and this morning back to 83%.

So losing 10 to 15% overnight looks like the norm. That’s without logging in to check the live view at all, so the camera is effectively sleeping all night. Seems to me the battery is the problem, so I think I’ll send them a message and ask for a replacement.
Click to expand...
Would have to check first thing in the morning - but with a little sunlight (behind a tree) I already back at 100% at 8.30am.
 
@Dolby

How’s your battery after the weekend? Mine was 70% this morning after I charged fully to 100 on Friday evening.

I emailed them and have had contact back with them asking for serial numbers etc. Let’s see how it goes.
 
Spizz said:
@Dolby

How’s your battery after the weekend? Mine was 70% this morning after I charged fully to 100 on Friday evening.

I emailed them and have had contact back with them asking for serial numbers etc. Let’s see how it goes.
Click to expand...

I'm going to change to alarm notifications tonight.

Over the weekend, I didn't drop below 97% with manual logging in - but got to 100% next time I checked
 
Dolby said:
I'm going to change to alarm notifications tonight.

Over the weekend, I didn't drop below 97% with manual logging in - but got to 100% next time I checked
Click to expand...

Ah ok. Thanks for the info. Just backs up my thoughts that something is wrong with my set up.
 
Sorry... I still haven't changed

But again nothing lower than 97%
 
So I put it in ultimate battery eating mode at 5.30am... Turn ON the alarm notifications and switched OFF hibernate.

I've dropped from 100 to 93 already! Will be interesting to see the continued drop before the sun hits the solar...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X