Solar Security Camera Power Budget Calculator

Estimate whether a solar panel can replace the energy your camera uses each day and how much battery reserve you need for cloudy weather.

Formula

Harvested Wh/day = panel watts × peak sun hours × practical efficiency. Break-even panel watts = camera Wh/day ÷ (peak sun hours × efficiency). Battery reserve = daily camera Wh × autonomy days ÷ usable battery fraction.

Why the default efficiency is 60%

Solar nameplate watts are measured under standardized conditions. Real camera installations lose energy to panel angle, heat, wiring, charging electronics, cloud cover and non-ideal sunlight. Reolink's current battery-camera support material uses approximately 60% practical solar-panel output efficiency in one sunny-condition simulation. Treat 60% as a planning input you can change, not a universal constant.

Use worst-month sun hours

If the camera must survive winter, enter the effective peak sun hours for the worst design month rather than the annual average. A summer-positive system can become winter-negative when days shorten and shadows increase.

Battery reserve is not panel size

A larger battery does not fix a permanently energy-negative design; it only delays depletion. Likewise, a large panel does not eliminate the need for reserve when several cloudy days occur in sequence.

Cold-weather caveat

Battery cameras often have different operating and charging temperature limits. Low temperatures can reduce battery performance and may stop charging even while the camera still operates. Verify the exact camera/panel documentation before relying on the model.

Sources and assumptions

See Reolink battery and solar simulation notes and Reolink solar-panel temperature/orientation guidance. This tool is architecture math, not a guarantee of product runtime.

Related: solar panel sizing guide · winter battery planning · UPS runtime calculator.