Will the cameras work with solar cells and battery back-up? Do you offer solar cells? How much power/back-up would be necessary to power these cameras and charge the battery? null

Question

Michael · Accepted Answer

Night Owl offers both a wired and a wireless system. I got this and was so excited because it was wireless as I didn't want a system that had to be hard-wired.While the cameras are "wireless" in that they can communicate with the NVR wirelessly, they must be installed within 10 feet of an AC outlet. The box states that the cameras require a power source but I thought that meant each one had it's own batteries. Since I don't have outlets located high up on my exterior walls where the cameras should go, and don't want unsightly extension cords, the system won't work for me.
Not to worry, I gave it to a friend and offered to help him set it up at his business. Three hours in (with help from Tech Support) and the NVR would not communicate with our Dell monitor via the HDMI cable. Turns out the HDMI on our monitor is "output" only and can't accept a signal. So much for the first day.
Second day, relocated the NVR to another room which required a LONG ethernet cable as it has to be plugged into the router during set up. Hooked up to a Samsung 55", and cameras paired. Unfortunately, this was a 4K tv and after another hour on the phone with Tech support it was determined that the resolution was forcing the on screen menu out of view. Apparently sometime during day one attempted install, the user name password process got screwed up (probably operator error) and we couldn't edit, delete, or access our user name on day two. According to Tech support, we needed to access the menu screen in order to correct the user name issue. We were never able to locate this screen. Although Tech offered to send another NVR, he said it wouldn't matter because the system was not compatible with a 4k television (he even verified the model info on the TV).
After trying for over 5 hours to get this to work, we gave up which was disappointing since I was looking forward to having it.
If you want a truly "wireless" system, this is not the one for you unless you can mount your cameras within 10' of an AC outlet. Tech support was helpful and friendly but not able to solve our issues. Maybe we try again with another monitor or TV but not adding that expense just to set up the system. Apparently once the system is up and running, the monitor/TV is not required as you can access from your phone. Not sure how well this works. I wish I could comment on the quality of the video or camera range but I never made it that far in the process.

Michael · Answer

Each camera requires an AC outlet within 10' of the camera.

Night Owl · Answer

This system does not support that type of setup. The cameras are AC Powered and each will come with a camera power adapter to connect it to an outlet. Thank you for shopping Night Owl!

joel125 · Answer

The cameras still need to be plugged in. The wireless feature is referring to the signal from the camera to the NVR.

Ebonovic · Answer

The power connect for the camera's are not USB style plugs, they are DC adapter plugs. They don't have a built in battery, and I have not seen one listed by the company as an option... 

Solar Cells will need a battery. I am sure you could probably configure something that would work (such as a Goal-Zero with Solar), but the added cost x4 may not be worth the effort.

“Will the cameras work with solar cells and battery back-up? Do you offer solar cells? How much power/back-up would be necessary to power these cameras and charge the battery?”

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