C420 and Solar Panel A200

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C420 and Solar Panel A200

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C420 and Solar Panel A200
C420 and Solar Panel A200
2024-03-26 21:51:14 - last edited 2024-04-14 09:06:25
Tags: #Battery Status
Model: Tapo C420S2  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.2.16

Hi all,

 

I am confused with the operation of Tapo Solar Panel A200 with Tapo C420 Camera.

 

I have A200 solar panel correctly installed and connected to the C420 camera for some time now.

 

Initially, when I installed the panel  I went into the Tapo app into C420 Device settings and under the battery status menu option --> Solar Panel (Beta) enabled the solar panel toggle to ON.  The battery status icon stayed the same as if it was not charging (at 98%) - after ~20 or so minutes the battery icon changed to green and a green lightning bolt appeared to be charging the battery (great!), The battery charged to 100% fairly quickly.  The battery icon changed then again from green with a lightning bolt just to gray but showed constantly 100% for at least 7 days (even though there were at least 20 events per day that triggered the recording on this camera). Then after ~7 days still at 100% battery started suddenly showing a green icon with a green lightning bolt (charging?), stayed like that for ~20 minutes and then turned again to the gray battery icon. After another 7-9 days of being at 100% (gray icon), the battery now dropped to 97% but still no sign of a green bolt on the green battery (which I guess indicates that it's being charged by the solar panel). Only during those two times when the battery icon was showing green under the above-noted Solar Panel Beta menu option, I would get a notification that the solar panel was working fine - in all other instances, 95% of the time, that menu option would show warning notification that "There is no power to supply. If the solar panel is in place with sufficient sunlight, please check whether the solar panel is properly connected".

 

Please note that panel receives at least 4+ hours of direct sunlight every day and that it is installed correctly. 

 

Question: Does anybody have any idea how should this pannel be shown in the Tapo app when charging the C420 camera? What is the regular visual operation in the Tapo app for this?

 

Thanks,

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Re:C420 and Solar Panel A200-Solution
2024-03-27 08:04:12 - last edited 2024-04-14 09:06:25

  @VuKc 

Hi,
Generally, after the solar panel fills the camera's battery, it will continue to charge for a while, while if the camera does not detect the events and the battery is always full, the solar panel will temporarily stop charging the camera, so when the battery status is 100 %, you may see that the camera is not charging, and the Solar Panel page will also show that 'there is no power supply'.

 

According to your description, the solar panel is working fine. The reason you saw the message 'there is no power supply' on the Solar Panel page could be because the camera's battery status was already at 100% when you checked and the solar panel happened to not be charging the camera at that time.

 

If the camera's battery status is currently at 95% or 97% and you still see the prompt that 'there is no power supply' on the Solar Panel page, it is recommended to help confirm the following information.
1. Go to the Tapo app>Home page, find the Tapo C420, and send me a picture of it.
2. Go to the camera's Device Settings>Battery Status>scroll down the page, and find the Solar Energy Output section, then send me a picture of it.
3. Go to the Solar Panel page and send me a picture of it.

 

Best Regards

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Re:C420 and Solar Panel A200
2024-03-27 07:56:52 - last edited 2024-03-27 07:58:14

  @VuKc 

Yes, they are confusing. Stopped looking at the icons because I noticed that even when green=no charging and vs when grey=charging....!

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Re:C420 and Solar Panel A200-Solution
2024-03-27 08:04:12 - last edited 2024-04-14 09:06:25

  @VuKc 

Hi,
Generally, after the solar panel fills the camera's battery, it will continue to charge for a while, while if the camera does not detect the events and the battery is always full, the solar panel will temporarily stop charging the camera, so when the battery status is 100 %, you may see that the camera is not charging, and the Solar Panel page will also show that 'there is no power supply'.

 

According to your description, the solar panel is working fine. The reason you saw the message 'there is no power supply' on the Solar Panel page could be because the camera's battery status was already at 100% when you checked and the solar panel happened to not be charging the camera at that time.

 

If the camera's battery status is currently at 95% or 97% and you still see the prompt that 'there is no power supply' on the Solar Panel page, it is recommended to help confirm the following information.
1. Go to the Tapo app>Home page, find the Tapo C420, and send me a picture of it.
2. Go to the camera's Device Settings>Battery Status>scroll down the page, and find the Solar Energy Output section, then send me a picture of it.
3. Go to the Solar Panel page and send me a picture of it.

 

Best Regards

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#3
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