14 Messages
Solar panel not charging
I’m on my second panel and they don’t seem to be charging the camera. The only thing I haven’t tested is unplugging from the solar panel end which seems like a bad idea:
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Secure the connection between the Solar Panel's power cord and Camera by unplugging and reinserting both ends of the cable—the end connected to the Solar Panel and the end connected to the camera
Can you really pull the cable from the end connected to the solar panel? It feels pretty secure.
Official Solution
davey_d
Community Admin
•
4.8K Messages
1 year ago
Hi @3373inLine ,
You are correct, the Solar Panel's power cable is indeed not removable from the unit itself. Please don't attempt to try and pry it off!
As for the original issue - have you already tried doing a firmware reset on the camera? You can do so by pressing and holding the pairing button on the back of the camera for 16 seconds. When you release, it should reboot into setup mode, and you can set it up again through the SimpliSafe app.
If the issue is with the firmware or programming of the camera, that might resolve it.
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mikemalloy0
5 Messages
1 year ago
As FYI, I have been having a similar outdoor charge issue via solar panel. The solar panel just does not keep up. I have attempted to have a settings profile that tries to minimize the use, but still having issues. I have no firmware updates, the panel location is in the sun, the cables are well seated. Also, the solar panel is about 18 months old and wonder if there is a failure rate?
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foremanjf
2 Messages
8 months ago
I am having an issue with four of these Simply Safe Solar panels. I ditched 3rd party solar panels for these, but they atleast showed "charging icon" when the sun was up... What's with these not autorecognizing?
The camera has a computer chip, on it's power input, it's just sensing IV (current and Voltage) so whether it's a solar panel or a microusb wired to the wall outlet - they should recognize the solar instantly.
I work on large scale utility solar power plants, these are properly mounted (ok well not perfect.. kids running around the ladder, but sure should work) in the sun and I put in fresh batteries all properly charged too - what gives?
Simplisafe brand name solar panels should be better than the 3rd party ones I'm now regretting throwing away too soon for these at 2x the cost. The other ones didn't charge fast, but atleast showed the voltage icon of charging during rhe day.
I'll be pretty mad if I have to rebuy / reladder hang 3rd party panels and return $500 worth of 6x Simplisafe solar panels (I've hung 4x today) cause they don't have enough juice to even show charing on the cams like the 3rd party panels did even when cloudy.
Dont' worry about the camera light shading part of the module on the right, it was early morning when I took these (sun at low angle)
(edited)
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mgaffney
1 Message
24 days ago
I tried everything mentioned in the other posts....what worked for me was checking the connection with the charging plug, You really have to press hard on the plug.....the weatherproofing makes it hard to get a good connection.
I also did a hard reset on my iPhone, just in case that was affecting the Simplisafe app.
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