AOV Solar Cameras: What They Are, What They Cost, and How to Buy Them Wholesale

What an AOV solar camera is, and how it differs from a PIR unit

An AOV solar camera (Always-On Video) is a self-powered surveillance camera that runs off a solar panel, backhauls over 4G LTE, and records continuously, 24 hours a day, instead of waking only when a PIR sensor picks up moving heat. It manages that by holding a low standby draw and using AI scene analysis to decide which segments are worth flagging, alerting on or uploading. The SolaGuard catalogue carries 49 AOV models, wholesale prices quoted per order, with batteries from 8000 mAh to 20000 mAh, 8 W or 15 W panels, 2K resolution and an IP66 weather rating. That is the short answer; the rest of this article is what a wholesale buyer needs in order to quote the job properly.

The gap between AOV and PIR is not a marketing distinction. A PIR sensor reacts to a temperature change inside a detection cone: it does well with a person walking straight at it from a few metres out, and it fails exactly where your customer complains. Slow movement — someone moving in a crouch, a vehicle rolling forward barely above idle — produces a thermal change too gradual to trip the event. Anything happening outside the detection zone, even when it sits well inside the lens's field of view, is simply never recorded. And when the event does trip, the seconds leading up to it are already gone — usually the seconds that identify who did it.

An AOV camera does not depend on that trigger. The video runs the whole time, so the context before and after an incident exists. For the installer, that removes the worst conversation in after-sales: "the camera was on, but it didn't record anything."

AOV is an industry term, not a brand

Worth stating plainly, because it shapes how you position the product: no manufacturer owns AOV. It is a category. Several suppliers use the acronym; others describe the same behaviour as "continuous recording" or "24/7 solar". If you resell under your own label, the term is yours to use without restriction. And if you are comparing quotes, do not assume two products badged AOV behave alike — ask about battery capacity, panel wattage, and exactly what the onboard AI does.

The 49 AOV solar cameras in the catalogue: series, prices and specs

The full catalogue runs to 150 SKUs, with wholesale prices quoted per order. The AOV models fall into four series:

Three specific models, if you want something concrete to anchor a quote against:

• SG-C41G-10T66-V1: single lens, 2K (2.0 MP), 8000 mAh, 8 W panel, IP66. The entry point into the category.
• SG-D42G-10F66-V1: dual lens, 2K (2.0 MP×2), 8000 mAh, 8 W panel, IP66. The configuration that moves fastest in volume.
• SG-D42G-15F66-V1: dual lens, 2K (2.0 MP×2), 20000 mAh, 15 W panel, IP66. For installations where the sun cannot be relied on.

Standard line resolution is 1080p to 2K. 4K exists only as a build-to-order OEM development, not as a stock item. It pays to be straight with the end customer about why: on a camera that records continuously and backhauls over a cellular network, pushing resolution up raises the cost of the battery, the panel and the data plan at the same time. 2K is the point where a licence plate and a face at sensible distance are still usable without the system becoming unsustainable to run.

Choosing between 8000 mAh / 8 W and 20000 mAh / 15 W

This is the purchasing decision that prevents the most returns. The working rule: draw is set by the recording mode, but recharge is set by the site.

Go with 8000 mAh and the 8 W panel where the pole stands in the open, facing the sun for most of the day, with no shade from trees, walls or roof overhangs. Open farmland, a yard where vehicles turn, an undeveloped lot.

Go with 20000 mAh and the 15 W panel where there is partial shade for a good part of the day, a long rainy season, a mount under an eave or in an alley between buildings — or where the customer insists the camera must never go dark even after several overcast days in a row. Same answer when the site is awkward to reach: if getting up to check the unit costs a day, the extra energy reserve pays for itself.

As a distributor, the profitable move is to stock both configurations rather than standardising on the cheap one. The premium on the 15 W series is smaller than the cost of a single truck roll to reinstall.

What keeps continuous recording running: storage, network and weather

Local storage. The standard is microSD up to 128 GB; larger capacities are handled as a special order. Under continuous recording the card works in a loop, overwriting the oldest footage, so real retention depends on resolution, on the recording schedule configured, and on whether the customer pairs local storage with cloud. Set that expectation in writing before you sell: promising a number of days of retention before the configuration is fixed is the single most common source of complaints. If the project genuinely needs a longer history, the answer is not a bigger card — it is a cloud policy or a scheduled download.

Cellular link. Being 4G LTE, every camera consumes data. Across a deployment of dozens of points, the SIM plan stops being a detail and becomes a line in the customer's budget. The integrators who win these tenders are the ones who turn up with the data bill already worked out, not just the hardware price.

Weather rating. Every AOV model is IP66: fully dust-tight and protected against powerful water jets. That covers heavy rain, irrigation and hose-down cleaning, which is the real-world scenario in a warehouse, on a construction site or in a livestock pen. Do not quote a higher rating than it holds: if the project involves immersion, this is not the right product, and it is better said before the sale than after.

Installation. Mounting takes 5 to 10 minutes per camera — no electrical work, no conduit, no on-site WiFi setup. That is the strongest commercial argument against a cabled system, and it is also where your margin sits: price the job per installed point, not per crew hour.

Factory, OEM and private label

Manufacturing is handled by Shenzhen Leksell, established in 2012, certified by TÜV Rheinland and holding CE, FCC and RoHS. For the importer this matters at two moments: at customs, where the certification paperwork gets asked for, and in a tender, where an institutional buyer treats it as an admission requirement.

OEM and private label are available across every model, the 49 AOV units included: logo, packaging, manual and product presentation. MOQ is 10 units for a trial purchase and 100 units for OEM/ODM. That 100-unit threshold is deliberately low for the category — it lets you launch a regional brand without tying up capital in a full container. Work through the product catalogue to build your model mix before asking for a quote.

Wholesale pricing, margins and lead times

Distributor margins are tiered by volume:

And the lead times, which is the second thing every buyer asks about:

There is an office in Ho Chi Minh City covering the Vietnamese market. For every other market the operation is direct export from the factory — air freight for samples, sea freight for volume. Full terms are set out on the wholesale page.

One suggestion on sequencing, because it shortens the cycle: order one sample per series first, not a single unit of the cheapest model. With all four configurations in hand — single lens, 8 W dual, 15 W dual and triple — you can shoot your own local product photography, test cellular coverage in your country, and see how the panel actually behaves at your latitude before committing to the large order. The cost difference between one sample and four is marginal next to the risk of importing 200 pieces of the wrong configuration.

For volume terms, write to info@solaguard.net or review the conditions on the dealer page. Quantity, final price and lead time are always confirmed by a person: no website can quote you a container accurately.