8W Solar Panel for Security Camera, Charger With Micro USB, USB-C & DC Port, IP65 Waterproof, 9.8Ft Charging Cable, Suitable for Rechargeable Battery Cameras

On February 10th 2025 I ordered this 8W (8 watt) solar panel from WECOOL through Amazon. The panel arrived in good condition the next day. I purchased the panel to charge the battery attached to one of my brother-in-law’s older Lorex (LWB3801-C) security cameras. I figured 8 watts might be a little more power than I needed, but thought I’d be safe with a little extra wattage capability. A couple days after the solar panel arrived, I installed it. We are in the Tampa Florida area, so sunshine is in abundance. After mounting the panel up above the edge of the roof, where it would have direct sunlight for most of the day, I used the micro USB connector lead to hook the panel to the camera’s battery. (The panel also has leads with a USB Type C and a DC barrel connector. It comes with 3 protector caps to cover the unused ports.) The camera battery’s charge indicator light was green, which would usually indicate a full charge on the battery. I didn’t think much of it at the time as I had taken the battery inside and charged it with a wall mounted charger before hooking the solar panel up. It wasn’t until some days later that I noticed that the onscreen battery indicator showed that the battery was at less than half charge, but the battery’s charge indicator light was still green during the day, with the sun out. I used my small USB inline voltage/current/wattage tester and found that this 8W WECOOL solar panel was generating around 6.6 VDC in direct sunlight. I ordered a MEIRIYFA USB Fan Governor Stepless Speed Control Regulator off Amazon for about $9.00 to test my theory that the panel’s output voltage might be too high for these older Lorex batteries. After the governor arrived, I connected the solar panel’s output to the fan governor and the governor to the small USB inline voltage tester. I was able to dial the panels 6.6 VDC down to as low as just under 4 VDC. I dialed it back up to about 5.4 VDC, with no load, and connected the output to the Lorex camera’s battery. The battery then allowed the panel output to charge it. The 5.4 VDC no load reading dropped to about 4.8 VDC with the load of the battery being charged. I decided to contact WECOOL through Amazon. They got back to me via Amazon messages VERY quickly. I explained the issue to them. They got back to me again quickly and confirmed what I had suspected. The Lorex battery was old enough that it wouldn’t except the higher voltage output of their 8W solar panel. The contact from WECOOL also said that their 5W panel would work for my application. This time, my brother-in-law ordered using his & his wife’s Amazon account. He ordered the WECOOL 5W solar panel on the 26th of February and it arrived on the 28th. Today, 03-02-2025, I switched over to the 5W WECOOL panel. It was nice that both panels use the same mounting system, so I didn’t need to change the mounting base. I just used the existing one that came with the 8W version. Because I had experienced the issue with the 8W panel, I did some testing with the 5W panel before I finished hiding the wires and actually making the install more permanent. Today’s tests were with both of these panels in direct sunlight and pointing the same direction. The 8W panel showed 6.6 VDC without a load and the 5W panel showed 5.77 VDC. These numbers fluctuated slightly on both panels, but there was always about 1 volt difference between them. I left the camera operating on battery only for about an hour while I continuously kept logging into it to try to run the battery down some. I even placed a dark cover over the camera to force it to activate the infrared LEDs, during the day, to help run the battery down more. The online battery indicator still showed almost a full charge after this. I then removed the cover off the camera and hooked the newly mounted 5W WECOOL panel to the micro USB port of the camera’s battery. At this point I left the USB voltage tester in the line. Shortly after I connected the power to the camera’s battery, the voltage dropped from about 5.60 VDC to 4.66 VDC. The charge light on the battery pack of the camera changed from green to red. This indicated that the battery was taking the charge with the 5W panel. The USB tester also indicated that the battery was being supplied with 3.01 watts from the 5W solar panel. This proved that the 5W WECOOL solar panel was working with this Lorex battery. I removed the inline USB tester and connected the panel to the battery with the micro USB connector lead of the 5W solar panel. I used the included caps to cover and protect the 2 unused connectors that are mounted on the other 2 leads from the panel. The extra 3rd cap, allocated for the micro USB connector, was just stored pushed over the smaller cap covering the DC barrel connector lead. Newer devices, like my Samsung Galaxy phone and other newer devices, do except and charge with the higher voltage output of the 8W (watt) panel, but be careful on older devices that use USB for charging. They may not except the higher voltage. I will be keeping the 8W WECOOL solar panel. I’m sure I will find some use for it.

Way better than another similar panel

For the money, these keep my cameras at full charge. For fun I hooked my phone up, even started to charge my phone. No more climbing the ladder to take the camera down to recharge it. Time saver.

Power long lasting

They truly exceeded my expectations. I only mounted one of the three and plugged in the other 2 and propped in the window ledge. Kentucky is an overcast state. They really work! Only problem is when it rains I'm afraid to leave the bottom of my camera exposed. So I unplug them a few days. Nothing on the solar panels part. They work excellent!

Didn't work for me )

Works great thank you

Good product excellent price works well. When I received the panel it had a crucial piece missing so I had to improvise