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keymasabe's profile

Friday, January 26th, 2024 7:25 PM

outdoor cameras solar and plug in

Disappointed with both solar and electric. I have 2 of the outdoor cameras:

1 -  is on the solar panel since September 2023 and has steadily declined battery charge despite 3 plus hours of DIRECT sunlight and limited use. This is the second solar polar supplied to me by Simplisafe and I am beginning to believe they are defective.

2 - The second camera is attached to household current of 120 volts and just like the solar panel has steadily degraded battery charge since July 2023. Does not the 120 V supply the battery charge?

I have followed all the advice online to include start with a fully charged battery, update firmware and reinstall cameras to no avail. Any further ideas?

Captain

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6.2K Messages

10 months ago

@keymasabe I have two outdoor cameras, both AC and are always at 100% Decided from the beginning on AC only so I cannot provide any comments on solar.  If your AC powered camera is not always 100% I would call SS to troubleshoot and most likely get a replacement.

(edited)

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

10 months ago

Hi @keymasabe ,

Sounds like both of your cameras are draining faster than they're able to charge. And it must be quite a lot of activity if even the camera connected by AC is draining. Something highly unusual is going on.

You mentioned 'limited use', but how often exactly are both cameras active during the day? Are you getting a lot of motion alerts?

9 Messages

@davey_d​ 

I would have to refute the allegation of excessive activity and I am not getting many motion alerts. The solar panel NEVER shows a charge icon and the ac one should stay powered up to 100%, right?

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

@keymasabe​ You should see a charging icon in the SimpliSafe mobile app when your camera connected to a Solar Panel is actively charging; and the camera connected to AC should stay close to fully charged.

Since you do not get many motion events a day, it may be that there's an issue with the setup of these devices, or the devices themself. I would check to make sure that the Solar Panel and Power Cable are both fully plugged in to each Outdoor Camera so they're flush. If they're not completely plugged in, that could cause charging issues.

But if each device is completely plugged in, then there may be a hardware issue. In that case, I would recommend reaching out to our Support team for further assistance.

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