AOV Camera Explained: What Always-On Video Means for Solar 4G Security Camera Buyers

What an AOV camera is

An AOV camera — Always-On Video — records continuously, 24 hours a day, instead of waking up only when a PIR (passive infrared) sensor detects a heat signature crossing its field. On a battery-powered, solar-charged 4G unit that used to be out of reach; AOV models manage it by keeping the imager and encoder alive at low standby power and letting on-device AI scene analysis decide what to encode at full quality, what to compress hard, and what to flag as an event. The output is an unbroken timeline rather than a folder of disconnected clips. AOV is an industry-generic term, not one manufacturer's trademarked feature — several chipset vendors now ship AOV-capable silicon and firmware. In the SolaGuard catalogue, 49 of the 150 SKUs are AOV models, with wholesale prices quoted per order, built around 8000mAh–20000mAh batteries, 8W or 15W solar panels, 1080p–2K sensors and IP66 housings.

If you sell to end users, the commercial version of that answer is shorter: AOV addresses the single most common complaint about battery solar cameras — "it didn't record the thing I needed."

AOV versus PIR-triggered: what actually changes on site

PIR is a heat-and-motion sensor, and it fails in predictable ways. It responds best to a warm body moving across its field and worst to one moving slowly toward it. It sees nothing outside its detection cone, so a gate or fence line at the edge of the scene produces no recording at all. On a hot afternoon the thermal contrast between a person and the background narrows, and detection degrades. And because the camera has to wake, lock and start encoding, the opening moments of an event are the ones most often missing.

AOV removes the trigger from the equation. Everything in frame is recorded; AI detection is then used for indexing and alerting, not for deciding whether to record at all.

Be straight with your customers about the last two rows. PIR still wins on power and storage economy, which is exactly why the cheaper end of any solar catalogue stays PIR-based. AOV buys certainty and pays for it in watts and gigabytes. For a rural home on a quiet lane, PIR may genuinely be enough. For a construction yard, a livestock pen, a fuel depot or anywhere an insurer or a client will later ask for footage of a specific hour, AOV is the specification that survives the conversation.

Reading an AOV spec sheet

These are six current AOV SKUs, with the figures as they appear on the datasheet:

The pattern is deliberate: the heaviest AOV configurations sit at the top of the power budget — 20000mAh paired with a 15W panel — because continuous recording is what consumes it. Dual-lens units carry two imagers so one view can hold the approach while the other holds the detail area; confirm the exact framing behaviour of a given SKU against its datasheet rather than assuming, since it differs between variants.

Resolution across the standard range is 1080p to 2K. 4K exists only as a custom or OEM build, not as a stock line — if a supplier quotes you 4K off the shelf at this price band, ask which SKU and ask for a sample. Outdoor housings are rated IP66. A higher ingress rating is a legitimate thing to specify, but it should come with a test report attached, not a line in a brochure.

The power budget is the spec that decides everything

An AOV camera that runs out of charge in the third week of the rainy season is worse than a PIR camera that never does. The 8W and 15W panel options are not cosmetic tiers — they are the difference between a unit that recovers from a run of overcast days and one that doesn't, and the correct choice depends on your latitude, your season, and how much shade the mounting point picks up in the late afternoon.

So don't accept a generic runtime claim, and don't publish one to your own customers. Ask the factory for the expected autonomy at the recording profile you intend to ship — resolution, frame rate, night IR usage, upload frequency — and for the site assumptions behind it. A supplier that gives you a single number with no conditions attached hasn't measured it. Physical installation itself is not the hard part: mounting and pairing runs 5–10 minutes per camera, so pilot deployments are cheap to run and worth doing before a bulk order.

Storage on a continuous recorder

Standard storage is microSD up to 128GB, with higher-capacity cards available on custom orders. Continuous recording consumes local storage faster than event clips do — that is arithmetic, not a defect — and AOV firmware manages it by varying quality with scene activity. What matters for your quote is the retention window your customer expects. Get the factory's tested retention figure for your specific profile, in writing, before you promise a number downstream. This is precisely where resellers get into trouble.

Sourcing AOV cameras wholesale

SolaGuard is the wholesale brand of Shenzhen Leksell, established 2012, certified by TÜV Rheinland and holding CE, FCC and RoHS. The full catalogue runs to 150 SKUs, AOV segment included, with wholesale prices quoted per order. You can review the range on the product catalogue.

The Vietnam office is in Ho Chi Minh City, which is what makes the 7–10 business day domestic window possible. There is no Hanoi or Bangkok stocking point — anyone claiming otherwise is describing a different supply chain. Full terms are on the wholesale page.

OEM and private label on AOV models

Private labelling is available across the catalogue, including all 49 AOV SKUs, at an MOQ of 100 units. Beyond branding and packaging, the factory builds to specification: higher resolution than the stock line, a larger battery and panel pairing, greater storage capacity. Quantity, price and lead time for a custom build always come from a person — no configurator can price a modified BOM honestly, and any site that offers to is guessing. Distributors working under their own brand should start at the dealer programme.

Before you place the trial order

Five questions worth asking any AOV supplier, ours included:

1. Is it genuinely always-on, or a short pre-roll buffer around a trigger? Some "AOV" marketing describes the latter. Ask for a raw exported timeline from a 24-hour test, not a highlight reel.
2. What is the tested autonomy at my recording profile, and under what solar assumptions? No conditions means no measurement.
3. What retention does 128GB give at that profile? Then check it yourself on the sample.
4. Which certifications cover the exact SKU I am buying? Certification is per product family, not per company.
5. What is the warranty and RMA path in my market? A camera on a remote fence line is expensive to retrieve; the replacement process matters more than the failure rate.

Order 10 units, deploy them across your two hardest sites, and pull the footage after four weeks — including a week of bad weather. That test costs very little and tells you more than any datasheet.

For pricing, samples or an OEM quotation: WhatsApp +86 188 1869 9870, phone +86 188 1869 9870, or email info@solaguard.net.