AOV Cameras: What Always-On Video Means, How It Differs from PIR, and How to Buy It Wholesale

What AOV means in a security camera

AOV stands for Always-On Video: the camera records continuously, around the clock, instead of waking up only when a PIR sensor picks up moving heat. What makes that practical on a battery-and-solar unit is AI scene analysis — the device holds a low-power standby state and raises capture when the scene changes, rather than shutting down completely between events. AOV is a generic industry term, not a trademark or any one manufacturer's proprietary technology, and it now labels the fastest-moving segment of the solar 4G camera market. The SolaGuard catalogue carries 49 AOV models within a total of 150 SKUs, with wholesale prices quoted per order.

For an importer or distributor, the difference is not a brochure point — it is an after-sales one. A PIR camera hands the end user a pile of disconnected clips with gaps between them; an AOV camera hands them a continuous timeline. When a customer complains that "the camera didn't record what happened," they are almost always describing a limitation of trigger-based recording, not a faulty unit. And that complaint lands on your desk, not the factory's.

Why the market is shifting toward AOV

What a PIR trigger misses

A passive infrared sensor reads heat variation inside a fixed cone. It performs well on a person crossing the field sideways at a normal walking pace. It fails, predictably, in the three situations that turn out to be the most common ones in the field:

• Slow or head-on movement. Someone approaching the gate slowly and straight on produces a gradual thermal change that can sit below the trigger threshold.
• Events outside the sensor's zone. The lens sees more area than the PIR covers. Anything happening at the edge of the frame is there in the image but never starts a recording.
• The start of the clip. Movement has already happened between the trigger and the first recorded frame. The subject typically appears already inside the frame, without the preceding seconds — which are the ones that show where they came from.

What continuous recording changes

That last row is the one your sales team cares about. On farms, ranches and job sites, the buyer is not comparing megapixels — they are asking whether the footage will actually support a claim. Continuous recording is an argument you can make in one sentence and demonstrate in the app.

The four AOV series in the catalogue

Every AOV series is solar with 4G LTE connectivity — no mains power, no WiFi — and every one is rated IP66 for outdoor use.

How to choose between them

Single lens, entry point. The SG-C41G-10T66-V* series is the way into AOV: one lens, 8000mAh, 8W panel. It suits gates, yards and entrances where a single framing covers the scene. The SG-C41G-10T66-V1 is the unit that normally goes out as a sample while a customer is still deciding whether AOV makes sense for them.

Dual lens, volume. With 18 variants, SG-D42G-10F66-V* is the broadest AOV series in the catalogue and the one that turns over best in distribution: dual 2K lenses on the same 8000mAh / 8W base. The SG-D42G-10F66-V1 is the usual reference model in this family.

Dual lens with reinforced autonomy. SG-D42G-15F66-V* steps up to 20000mAh with a 15W panel, the highest-autonomy configuration available. This is the series to quote when the site has partial shade, a long rainy season, or latitudes with few usable sun hours — precisely because continuous recording draws more than event-triggered capture. The SG-D42G-15F66-V1 is the reference model in the series, with wholesale prices quoted per order.

Triple lens. SG-S43G-10T66-V*, 11 variants, covers a wider angle from a single pole. It is the option for turning yards, parking areas and perimeters where the alternative would be mounting two cameras.

The full catalogue, with the datasheet for each variant, is on our products page.

Specs worth verifying before you quote

This is where most deals come apart, because the buyer checks the brochure against the quotation and then against the hardware that arrives. These are the real catalogue figures:

Two practical warnings. First: if a supplier offers card capacities or protection ratings noticeably above what the market actually delivers, ask for the lab certificate rather than the datasheet — those two numbers are the most commonly inflated in this sector's catalogues. Second: for AOV, the battery/panel pairing is the critical spec, more so than the sensor. A continuous-recording camera that is under-specified on power dies over the winter, and the complaint comes back to you.

Commercial terms, OEM and lead times

Private label

OEM and private label are available on every model, including all 49 AOV units: logo, packaging, manual and in-app identity. The MOQ for OEM/ODM development is 100 units, against 10 for a trial order. The sequence that works best is to order the 10 trial units in the series you are interested in first, validate it in the field with a real customer, and only then commit the 100 under your own brand. Volume terms are set out on the wholesale page.

Who builds them

The hardware is produced by Shenzhen Leksell, a factory established in 2012, certified by TÜV Rheinland, with CE, FCC and RoHS marking. There is an in-house office in Ho Chi Minh City for the Vietnamese market, which is what makes the local 7 to 10 business day lead time possible.

How to put together your first AOV order

A process that avoids the two standard sources of friction — quoting the wrong model, then discovering the power problem three months later — looks like this:

1. Specify the site, not the model. Usable sun hours, shade, distance to the far edge of the frame, and whether you are covering a gate, a pen or a turning yard. That is what tells you whether you need 8000mAh/8W or 20000mAh/15W.
2. Order 10 trial units from the candidate series and leave them through a full weather cycle at the customer's site, not in your warehouse.
3. Check data consumption with the local carrier before you scale. AOV records to the microSD, but your customers' data plans are part of the sales argument.
4. Move to volume or OEM once the series is proven, taking the 30% step at ~50 units.

If you are evaluating suppliers and need to match series against your own site list, email info@solaguard.net with your estimated quantity and destination country; you can also review the terms and the onboarding process on the dealer page.