Solar-Powered Smart Security for Your Home

What are Solar-Powered Security Cameras?

Solar-powered security cameras offer increased protection from home burglaries by ensuring safety for your home 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Solar-powered security systems include a series of strategically placed cameras around your home to record suspicious movement in critical areas of your house. Today, most household security systems have smart home technology that allows homeowners to view the footage from their security cameras directly on their smartphones. These systems can also connect to a smart home hub and enable homeowners to activate or deactivate lights, window shades, and even door locks as part of an integrated strategy to protect their belongings when nobody is at home.

Solar-powered security cameras are powered entirely by a separate solar panel and battery system. The attached solar panel can function in any area with direct sunlight and charges the battery located inside the camera. A small, incorporated inverter transforms the direct current (DC) from the solar panel into alternating current (AC) that powers the security camera. The solar panel and attached battery are designed to be completely off-grid so that your security camera can function even during extended power outages.

What Are The Benefits of Solar-Powered Security Cameras?

Around 65 percent of home burglaries occur during the daytime hours when no one is at home. Even amateur thieves and burglars regularly cut the power supply to a house to disable security cameras and alarm systems. Then, solar-powered security cameras offer an added layer of protection for homeowners by ensuring that their homes will remain monitored and supervised when the power goes out. One recent report by Climate Central finds that “climate change will increase the risk of more violent weather and more frequent damage to our electrical system, affecting hundreds of millions of people, and costing Americans and the economy tens of billions of dollars each year.”

Backup generators and home battery systems can keep homeowners protected from extended power outages. However, these systems are expensive, with the most recent Tesla Powerwall home battery costing upwards of $7,000 installed. On the other hand, solar-powered security cameras typically cost under $100 and offer around-the-clock home security. These types of security cameras have minimal energy demand. Thus, even during long, cloudy days, the incorporated solar panel can produce more than enough electricity to power the home security system.

Solar-powered smart security systems also permit homeowners to monitor areas of their homes and property where electricity connections are not available. Barns, sheds, backwoods cabins, and boathouses are parts of residential properties that often do not have a hook-up to the electrical grid. Instead of spending thousands of dollars to run an electrical cord to a distant cabin in the woods, a solar-powered security camera can offer needed security on a budget.

Are Solar Powered Security Cameras Good?

Solar-powered security cameras are an excellent solution for homeowners interested in going off-grid and families who want to protect their homes around the clock. Below are specific features to prioritize in the best solar-powered security cameras.

• Robust Battery System: Without a sufficiently strong battery, solar-powered security cameras risk turning off during certain hours of the night. When the sun is shining during the day, the panel will power the camera. However, the battery storage needs to be sufficient to last at least 12 hours. Industry-standard 18650 Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries are usually the preferred type of cell that works well with solar-powered security cameras.
• Smart Technology Abled: Smart home security systems offer unparalleled advantages over traditional security cameras. These systems come with dedicated apps that link up to either your home Wi-Fi system or via Bluetooth connectivity. Ensure that the solar-powered smart home security system has smart technology connectivity and is compatible with the smart home system or hub you use.
• Video Quality: A security camera system that provides blurry, indistinct video defeats the purpose of home monitoring. Your solar-powered security camera should provide high-definition video quality with night vision capability. You will also want to ensure that your cameras have at least a 100-degree field of view for maximum security purposes.
• Added Security Features: The best solar-powered security cameras will also incorporate features that give you complete control over your home. Examples of added security features include motion-activated video alerts that send a message to your smartphone when suspicious movement is detected, siren alerts, and two-way audio to allow voice to be heard by people within view of your cameras.