Solar-Powered Security Cameras: How Importers Choose the Spec and the Factory

What a solar camera really is, and which spec actually sells

A solar-powered security camera runs completely off-grid: a photovoltaic panel keeps an onboard lithium battery topped up, and video reaches the phone over a 4G LTE SIM — no mains run to the pole, no WiFi at the mounting point. For anyone buying at wholesale, the answer sits in the spec sheet rather than the sales copy. The range that actually moves today is 1080p–2K, batteries of 8000mAh to 20000mAh, panels of 8W or 15W, microSD up to 128GB, an IP66 housing, and 5–10 minutes of install time per camera. SolaGuard is the wholesale brand of Shenzhen Leksell (founded 2012, certified by TÜV Rheinland, plus CE, FCC and RoHS), with 150 SKUs, wholesale prices quoted per order — 49 AOV models among them. 4K exists only as a custom/OEM build; it is not part of the stock catalogue.

The point that matters for an importer: "solar camera" is not a product, it is a category with an enormous quality spread. The same three words on a marketplace listing can mean a thin plastic shell with a token battery, or an IP66 unit that runs straight through a rainy season without being touched. Choose wrong and the warranty rate eats the margin on the entire shipment.

The four AOV series: specs and factory pricing

AOV (Always-On Video) is an industry-generic term, not any single brand's label. An AOV camera records continuously, 24/7, at very low standby draw because AI scene analysis carries the load — instead of the camera only waking when a PIR sensor trips. It is the difference an end customer notices in the first week of ownership.

Three part numbers are ordered as samples more often than any others:

• SG-C41G-10T66-V1: 2K, 8000mAh, 8W, IP66. The entry point into a market, and a fit for smallholdings, small warehouses and rural homes where grid power is unreliable.
• SG-D42G-10F66-V1: 2K dual lens (2.0MP×2), 8000mAh, 8W, IP66. Two lenses let one cover the wide scene while the other pulls in detail — it consistently outsells single-lens units at the same price point.
• SG-D42G-15F66-V1: 2K dual lens, 20000mAh, 15W, IP66. The version for cloudy regions, heavy rainfall, or poles that sit in tree shade for part of the morning.

The full catalogue, with the spec of every variant, is on the products page.

AOV or PIR: where the complaints actually come from

Most negative feedback on solar cameras in this market has nothing to do with image quality. It is about what the camera failed to record. A PIR-only unit misses three very ordinary situations:

Slow movement

Someone walking at an unhurried pace, a motorbike rolling past at low speed, livestock drifting across a paddock — none of them create the sharp thermal change PIR needs to trigger. The farm owner opens the app and finds a gap at exactly the moment worth watching.

Events outside the sensor's coverage

A PIR sensor's usable angle and range are far narrower than the lens in front of it. An incident can happen inside the frame yet outside the sensor's field, and nothing gets written — and that is the failure customers always put down to the person who sold them the camera.

The lag at the head of the clip

A PIR camera needs a moment to wake and start recording. The clip typically begins once the subject has already turned away: no face, no plate, nothing usable.

An AOV camera records continuously, so none of those three gaps exists. For a distributor it is the easiest argument in the whole conversation to make, and it is why the 49 AOV part numbers account for the highest-value portion of the catalogue.

Choosing between 8000mAh and 20000mAh

This is the most consequential technical decision in the order mix, and it is driven by the real hours of sun at the mounting point — not by budget.

A shipment made up entirely of the cheapest part numbers produces a run of "the camera dies in the wet season" complaints whose root cause is the specification advice, not the hardware. A sensible first order is usually mostly 8W units for the good-sun positions, plus a defined proportion of 15W units for the difficult ones.

On storage: every series takes microSD up to 128GB. If an end customer needs a longer retention window, the answer is a larger card within the supported limit, a lower sub-stream bitrate, or cloud storage alongside the card — not a capacity figure the hardware does not support.

Importing: MOQ, margin and lead times

The Vietnam office is in Ho Chi Minh City, and domestic orders ship from there in 7–10 business days. We do not run a warehouse in Hanoi or Bangkok, and we say so up front so you never build a delivery schedule around a dispatch point that does not exist.

The 10-unit MOQ exists for precisely the purpose it looks like: bring in a small batch, install it in the kind of site your own customers actually have — farm, construction site, vehicle yard, open storage — and only then decide the mix for a full order. Tiered pricing is set out in detail on the wholesale page.

OEM and private label

The entire catalogue, including all 49 AOV part numbers, is available for OEM/private label at a 100-unit MOQ. Customisation normally covers the logo on the housing, packaging and manuals in the language of your market, and an app skinned to your brand. Beyond that, the factory builds to specification — resolution above the standard range, larger battery and panel, different storage capacity — but quantity, price and lead time for a custom build always come from the person handling your account, never from the website.

Checks worth running before you commit to a supplier

• Ask for the number of variants in each series, not "how many models do you have". A trading company usually cannot answer that.
• Request certificates by the name of the certifying body, not a logo printed on a brochure.
• Cross-check the specs in the quotation against the public product pages. Where the two disagree, the number in the quotation is the one you will be honouring under warranty.
• Confirm the ingress rating marked on the housing itself, not the one written in the catalogue.
• Get the spare-parts policy for panels and batteries after the 24-month warranty in writing.

If you are building a distribution channel in Vietnam or Latin America, the dealer programme sets out both discount tiers and the technical support that comes with them.

For volume pricing or to place a sample order: WhatsApp +86 188 1869 9870, phone +86 188 1869 9870, email info@solaguard.net.