solar charger

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Joanne Cook

I have the GC-G4Gb

I have batteries in the camera and when I hook up the solar charger it shows 0 charge on the camera and stops working.  The solar chargers have been properly charged before I hooked up.  They are not, however Spartan Brand.  Am I doing something wrong?

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  • John Lockburner

    What voltage are they? It sounds like you have a solar panel/ battery set up?

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    If this is a commercial setup, can you please post a link to it so we can see what it is.

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  • Joanne Cook

    I misspoke.  I have batteries in the camera itself.  Then I have a solar panel with a battery in the box. The batteries in the camera are for backup if the solar unit doesn't get enough sunlight.  it is a 12volt battery

     

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  • Joanne Cook

    not commercial.

     

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  • John Lockburner

    With just the batteries in the camera does the camera work correctly?

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  • Joanne Cook

    with just the batteries it works perfectly.  when i plug the solar unit in the internal batteries show no charge, and I get no more status reports or picture

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  • Joanne Cook

    with the other camera, it show no change in status, even though the solar unit is plugged into the camera it shows 3 bars on the battery life.  I still get pictures, but have no idea if the solar unit is working or not. 

     

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  • John Lockburner

    With the solar plugged in if you turn the camera from off to set up is the screen on? If so wait for it to find signal and then press the ok button to take a picture and then press it again to send the picture. See what happens.

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  • Joanne Cook

    OK.  I will do this.  It will take some time before I can get back to the cameras.  I will post again when I retry.  Thank you

     

     

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  • John Lockburner

    What model is the other camera?

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  • Joanne Cook

    both the same brand and model.

     

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  • John Lockburner

    Make sure the firmware is up to date on the camera.

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  • John Lockburner

    To see if the solar is working you can check a status report that you get during the sunny part of the day. Just look at the external voltage. Are you running any type of solar controller on the set up?

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  • Joanne Cook

    the solar unit is HME brand.  It has the panel, attached to the box with the battery and a long cord that plugs into the bottom of the camera. I turned the camera off, plugged in the unit, turned the camera back on and it just went to the regular screen on the first camera.  Got the status report and it took a picture but only shows 3 bars on the regular batteries, and full bars on the cellular signal.. 

    The second unit, same thing, but the status report shows no batteries, took no pictures, shows full bars for cellular signal.

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  • John Lockburner

    I'm wondering if the internal battery in the camera is low. What does the last status report show for internal battery voltage?

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  • Joanne Cook

    second unit has full battery

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  • John Lockburner

    It should give you a numerical voltage on the status report for the internal and external battery

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Ignore the battery indicator symbols on the Ghost. They are misleading. Only pay attention to the numbers for internal and external battery voltages. 

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  • Joanne Cook

    I think i may have figured out the  problem. It was a windy day and I finally secured the cord from the camera to the solar unit with a bungee cord.  Your ideas about the interior and exterior voltage helped.  When the exterior voltage is low because of lack of sunlight the interior voltage jumps up for some reason but that's OK.   I just want it working.

    Thank you all for your help.

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  • Clayton Harrison

    Can I use any 20 watt solar panel on my spartan go can?

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  • Elizabeth Swoope
    • Edited

    You cannot plug a solar charger (of any voltage or wattage) directly into a GoCam. You’ll want to use a Spartan battery box (which supports both 6V and 12V batteries) and plug the solar panel into the battery box. A 10W panel will probably work fine with that box.

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