I have 2 Blink outdoor cameras (3rd gen?) and 1 Blink doorbell camera. I'd like to not have to buy/replace the special lithium AA batteries, so I was thinking of going solar. I've seen pre-made units on Amazon, but they probably have the lowest quality 18650 cells and no charge control so I'm assuming the batteries will not survive long. I had a cheap solar-powered motion-detection outdoor LED light that could not be disassembled without destroying it, and when I smashed it open I found the culprit...which was a completely dead 18650. How wasteful! The solar panel, LED panels, motion detector and plastic case were all in great shape but the unit was rendered useless by the cheap battery. So...I am not looking for a repeat with a solar power supply for the cameras.
OPTION 1:
I found the following video:
I'd like to follow this basic idea with cheap panel and PWM SCC, but I am going to use some lithium cells I already have coming to me (1600mah Panasonic power cells). Question is whether a cheap BMS is needed? Video says one was built into his battery pack. Do I need one? If so, then these cheap ones OK?
OPTION 2:
I was thinking (perhaps erroneously) there is a slightly more efficient and elegant solution using something like the following simple charger, a small 5-6v panel and a diode to prevent discharging when there is no light for the panel. Hook it up to a single 18650 cell and then just directly feed the camera from this power.
I figure instead of having 12v panel feed a SCC to charge a 12v battery that possibly needs a BMS and step down to integrated 5v USB ports and feed a 12v load line ultimately stepped down from 12v to 5v at buck converters, maybe it would be better to just have a 5-6v panel feed a charger to a battery between 3.7-4.2v, and then just connect the camera to that.
Am I missing something here with option #2? At less than $1 each I am a bit skeptical of those little charger boards. Might not be very robust.
OPTION 1:
I found the following video:
OPTION 2:
I was thinking (perhaps erroneously) there is a slightly more efficient and elegant solution using something like the following simple charger, a small 5-6v panel and a diode to prevent discharging when there is no light for the panel. Hook it up to a single 18650 cell and then just directly feed the camera from this power.
I figure instead of having 12v panel feed a SCC to charge a 12v battery that possibly needs a BMS and step down to integrated 5v USB ports and feed a 12v load line ultimately stepped down from 12v to 5v at buck converters, maybe it would be better to just have a 5-6v panel feed a charger to a battery between 3.7-4.2v, and then just connect the camera to that.
Am I missing something here with option #2? At less than $1 each I am a bit skeptical of those little charger boards. Might not be very robust.
