Hikvision 4 MP Solar PTZ Camera Kit, 25× Optical, 4G DS-2DE5425IWG-K/4G

Who this is for

For the installer. Read the weight before you quote the job: 29.9 kg, 35.3 kg in the box, against 3.5 kg for the mains version. This is a two-person lift onto a pole and it needs a pole and base rated for it plus the wind load of the array. There is no cable to pull, which is the whole point, but there is a SIM to source and an APN to configure, and you should commission over the Wi-Fi AP on the ground before it goes up — it only does AP mode on channel 11, for short-range setup, and it is not a way to get the camera onto site Wi-Fi. Budget the autonomy honestly: 2 days in performance mode means the camera is expected to spend most of its life in low-power or sleep, waking on event.

For the end user. This solves the case where there is nothing to plug into — a compound, a plot, a yard entrance, a site that has not been connected yet, a location where the trench to run power would cost more than the camera. It generates its own power and sends video over the mobile network, so it can be watched from a phone. The battery holds 360 WH, roughly 80 days on standby even through poor weather, and it records to the card and internal memory on the camera, so footage survives a loss of signal. If you later get mains and a network to the position, the mains version of the same camera drops straight in.

Buying this in the UK

Two practical UK points. British winters are the hard case for any self-powered camera — short days, low sun angle and long nights — so size the deployment around the standby figure rather than the performance-mode figure, and expect to be in low-power mode for much of December and January. And you will need your own 4G data SIM: check coverage at the exact position, not the postcode, because a rural yard can be two bars different from the road outside it. WME supplies the security trade from Birmingham and has done since 1975.

Common questions

How long does it run without sun? The 360 WH pack gives approximately 2 days in performance mode, 2.5 days in proactive mode and up to 80 days in standby in cloudy or rainy conditions at 25 °C. Real figures depend on how often it wakes.

Do I need a SIM card? Yes — a data SIM on a network with usable coverage at the camera position. It supports LTE FDD bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 and 28 plus TDD, 3G and 2G fallback.

Where is the footage stored? On the camera — up to 512 GB on microSD plus 256 GB of built-in eMMC — so recording continues if the mobile link drops.

How heavy is it? Approximately 29.9 kg, or 35.3 kg packed. Plan the mounting and the lift accordingly; the mains-powered DS-2DE5425IWG-4G is 3.5 kg by comparison.

Can I connect it to Wi-Fi instead of 4G? No. The Wi-Fi is AP mode on channel 11 only, for short-distance commissioning. Video goes over 4G.