Mounting solar panel & camera

With your shiny new solar panel unpacked you may be wondering where to start. Well luckily, you’ve come to the right place where we can give you a hand with this.

Please Note: The first step you want to do is connect your solar panel to power so it has a full charge before installation, this will give you optimal performance once out in position. A full charge recharge from flat will take between 18 - 20 hours. Don't forget to charge your camera as well, this will need 6-8 hours. 

Finding the best position for your Camera and Solar Panel

When positioning the camera (in the bird box) and solar panel, you need to choose your location wisely. We provide a generous 4m lead (1m + 3m) to offer maximum flexibility but you need to remember the following things when choosing a location:  

• Wifi signal: The camera needs to connect to your wifi, so the signal needs to be around 50% at the location of the camera. To check this, take your mobile device to your proposed locations and check the signal bars are strong enough. If you can stream a HD YouTube video or TV show on your device at the location without it buffering that is a good sign. If it is on the limit, try and position the box/camera temporarily and check. 
• N/NE and S: The best position for the camera in the Bird Box is pointing away from the heat of the afternoon sun (North/North East) but opposingly, the solar panel needs as much sun as possible and ideally needs to point South/South West. A wall mount is provided for mounting on an external wall or fence but choose one that gives you the best.
• Predators: if mounting on a fence, be careful to keep out of reach from Cats.
• Shade on you Solar Panel: The panel will need to have a line of sight with the sun, shading can significantly increase the recharge time and effectiveness of the panel. 
• Best Solar angle: Position your solar panel to point between 30 and 45 degrees to capture the most sun.
• Tree Mounting: If your best position is on a tree, you may like to use our handy solar panel mounting spikes so you can run the cable down to the ground, mounting the solar panel away from branches and shading. 
• Don't mount the Solar Panel to high: The mum and chicks move around a lot when they nest and there is no doubt you will be fascinated with their amazing little lives. If you watch and record your footage a lot, your camera and panel may need a little top-up from time to time to keep them charged. Mount the solar panel where you can reach it easily to either plug in an extension or take down the solar panel for charging in the house overnight. 

Getting the best from your Solar Powered System

To optimise the use of your camera and enjoy the best footage possible you will want to play with the settings through the season. When fully charged your camera will give you 32-35 hours and your Solar Panel batteries around 52 hours. So in total, you should expect a total of around 85 hours of continuous recording. That sounds like a lot and it is if you manage it well. The information below is to help you get the best from your camera and the most enjoyable experience possible whilst staying 'wire free' for your nesting season!

To start, here is a helpful table showing the times you are likely to get from the system depending on the number of triggers: 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before we start, we want to remind you that you can purchase extension cables to charge your solar panel or if you prefer you can always dismount the solar panel for charging. So if you are lucky enough to get a nester, you can still experience the full unabridged version of life in a bird box. 

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: The solar panel takes 14 days to fully recharge if it gets 4 hours of direct sunlight and around 22 days if you include recharging the camera fully as well. So while this will top the camera up, its contribution to the camera system will depend largely on hours of sunlight, weather conditions, and how much you use the camera day to day. This is why we have put together this guide to assist you to develop your optimised watching strategy!

When you first set up your camera and before the bird's nest we suggest you set your camera to motion detection and PIR. This will mean you will get alerts when you get visitors to your nest box or as we call them 'noddies'. You can record this to the sd card if you have one to review and back up later. During this period your camera will remain virtually fully charged. 

If you get a Bird Building a nest - If you are lucky enough to get a bird to visit your box and begin to build a nest then you will need to begin to pay close attention to the battery usage of your camera. When birds first build a nest they will usually spend a few busy hours a day visiting the box and bringing suitable bedding and the camera will be more than capable of coping with that. However, if they are showing serious signs of nesting you need to prepare to manage the battery life. You don't want to miss the crucial moments in the nesting cycle like the eggs laying. You may wish to schedule the camera to turn off at night to avoid any false triggers or unnecessary battery usage. 

Once the nest is built and eggs laid -  Depending on the type of bird you have, incubation periods may differ. Many of the small birds attracted to our boxes will have an incubation period is between 13-15 days but you can check our blog here. Once the birds begin to incubate the motion inside the box becomes more constant as the mother moves and you might find that you're triggering frequently. During this period you may wish to reduce the motion hours to 1 hour a day to preserve the battery for the really interesting bit or some customers just check in a couple of times a day on a live view (no recording or motion). 

Hatching - This is the bit you don't want to miss. So if you can get everything fully charged ready obviously we'd recommend that but if you can't be aware it's going to get even busier from now on in! From around 12 days we'd suggest perhaps running the camera on motion detection 24/7 to ensure you get the best chance of capturing the incredible moments when the chicks hatch.

Once they hatch, all chaos breaks loose! if you thought bringing up kids was hard work, then you in for a ride watching these two tiny birds feed, clean, and manage these hungry little chicks. The motion is almost constant at this point if you have multiple chicks in a nest so you will have to choose your strategy to manage your solar system. We'd recommend switching to live view only and perhaps recording when you're watching the next, trying to limit your viewing to 1 - 2 hours a day maximum. You will need to make a note of the day the chicks hatch as the next big event you don't want to miss is fledging!

Battery help or not charging

If you are getting lots of action and notice the camera's battery running low then you can bring the solar panel indoors and recharge it with a Micro USB lead.

Should your solar panel not be providing any power to the camera you can try these two points.

• On the side of the solar panel, there will be a rubber grommet labeled on/off, remove this and make sure the solar panel is turned on you will see a red light.

Looking to purchase one of our Solar Powered WiFi Bird Box Cameras, click this link.

Need more help?

If you need help with anything else please check out our other guides or get in contact.