4G Solar Security Cameras: What Actually Ships, and How to Source Them Wholesale

A 4G solar security camera, defined — and what the real hardware looks like

A 4G solar security camera is an outdoor camera that supplies its own power and its own connectivity: an integrated solar panel charges an internal lithium battery, and a 4G LTE SIM carries the video, so the unit needs no mains supply, no WiFi and no cabling of any kind. In production hardware shipping today from Shenzhen Leksell (TÜV Rheinland certified, established 2012; also CE, FCC and RoHS), that means an 8000mAh–20000mAh battery, an 8W or 15W panel, 1080p–2K video, microSD storage up to 128GB, an IP66 housing, and a pole- or wall-mount install that takes 5–10 minutes per camera. If you are buying to resell, those six figures are most of the conversation — everything else is packaging.

The format exists because the site that most needs a camera is usually the one furthest from a power drop. Farms and ranches, construction sites before the temporary supply is energised, unlit yards and warehouse perimeters, parking lots, irrigation pumps, remote telecom cabinets, rural homes at the end of a long track. Across Vietnam and Latin America, trenching a cable run and waiting on a fixed-line contract costs more than the camera. A solar 4G unit turns a two-week electrical job into a ladder and a SIM card.

The spec envelope, and how to read a quote against it

Treat any supplier datasheet that exceeds its own catalogue as a warning, not a feature. The most common way a first container disappoints is that the quote quietly described a product line that does not exist in the factory's stock list.

Battery and panel are a pair, not two separate numbers

The panel, not the battery, decides whether a camera survives a run of overcast days. The battery is a buffer; the panel is the income. A 20000mAh cell behind an undersized panel simply takes longer to fail, and it fails in the rainy season, which is when your customer most wants footage.

The practical split in this catalogue is clean: 8000mAh with an 8W panel for sites with open sky and moderate event traffic, 20000mAh with a 15W panel for high-traffic sites, shaded or north-facing mounts, and regions with long monsoon or overcast stretches. Sell the second pairing into the Mekong Delta or an Andean valley; sell the first into open ranch land.

Why 2K, and not a bigger number

Every additional pixel is encoded, stored and uploaded on battery power, and on a cellular uplink your customer pays for those bytes every month. 1080p–2K is the sane default for a self-powered camera, which is why the entire AOV range sits at 2K. 4K is available, but as a custom/OEM build with its own quantity and lead-time conversation — not as a line item you can pull from stock.

Where the range does add capability is field of view. Dual-lens models pair 2.0MP × 2 and triple-lens models 2.0MP × 3, covering a gate, an approach road and a yard from one mount and one SIM instead of three cameras and three data plans. That is a better answer to "I need to see more" than raising the sensor count on a single narrow lens.

Storage and ingress protection

Recording is local to microSD, up to 128GB in standard configuration, with cloud as an option rather than a dependency — important when the LTE signal at a remote site is usable but not generous. Larger cards can be specified on custom orders.

All outdoor models are IP66: dust-tight, and protected against powerful water jets. If a competing datasheet claims a higher ingress rating, ask which laboratory issued it and for the certificate number. Seals and gasket design keep a camera alive through a monsoon; a number printed on a box does not.

AOV vs PIR — the distinction that drives your return rate

AOV means Always-On Video: continuous 24/7 recording at low standby power, with AI scene analysis deciding what matters instead of a heat sensor deciding what gets recorded at all. It is an industry-generic term, not a brand.

A PIR-triggered camera sleeps until a passive infrared sensor detects a moving heat source inside a fixed cone, then wakes and starts recording. It is power-efficient and it is what most cheap solar cameras do — and it structurally misses three things: slow movement, anything outside the detection cone, and the first two seconds while the camera boots. In the field that reads as a gate opened just past the sensor's edge, a person walking deliberately at range, or livestock moved out at a crawl. The single most damaging complaint in this category is not image quality. It is "the camera didn't record the thing that happened." That complaint becomes an RMA, and the RMA lands on the distributor.

AOV costs more per unit and pays that back in the support queue. Price your line accordingly rather than leading with the cheapest SKU on the sheet.

The AOV range, by the numbers

Four series, 49 SKUs, wholesale prices quoted per order:

A workable three-SKU opening line: SG-C41G-10T66-V1 as the entry single-lens unit, SG-D42G-10F66-V1 for wide coverage on an 8W budget, and SG-D42G-15F66-V1 for shaded or high-traffic sites on the 20000mAh/15W pairing. The full 150-SKU catalogue is listed at /en/products/, with wholesale prices quoted per order.

MOQ, margin and lead time

Vietnam orders are served from the Ho Chi Minh City office — that is the only in-country presence, so plan regional distribution around it rather than assuming a second depot. Terms and tier details are on the dealer page.

OEM and private label

Private labelling is available across the catalogue, including all 49 AOV models, at an MOQ of 100 units. Beyond a logo on the housing and the app, the factory builds to specification: higher resolution, a larger battery and panel pairing, more storage, custom packaging and documentation. Quantity, pricing and lead time for a custom build always come from a person, never from a web page — start that conversation through wholesale enquiries or at info@solaguard.net.

Five questions to ask before the first order

1. Which certificates, issued by whom? Ask for the TÜV, CE, FCC and RoHS documents by number, not a logo strip on a PDF.
2. AOV or PIR, per SKU? Suppliers mix both in one price list. Confirm it model by model.
3. Which panel is paired with which battery? Never accept a battery figure alone.
4. Which LTE bands? Match them to the carriers your customers actually use before the container ships, not after.
5. What is the RMA path and the spare-parts policy? Solar cameras fail at the mount, the cable gland and the card slot far more often than at the sensor. The distributor who has replacement parts on the shelf keeps the account.

Get those five answered in writing and the rest of the sourcing process is arithmetic: unit cost, tier margin, freight mode, and how many days until you can invoice.