Fake CCTV Camera Solar Powered

It cannot see you. It only has to look like it can.

A shed on a back block. A compound on a job site. A caravan parked up for the week. The gear worth taking is almost never where somebody is standing watching it, and a real camera system means cable, a recorder, a power supply and real money — hard to justify on a shed you visit twice a month.

When something does walk, it is rarely just the gear. You lose the day driving out to find the door open, the job stops while you replace what is gone, and the insurer wants a police report that may never bring anything back.

Most opportunistic theft is a decision made in about ten seconds from the fence line. Something that looks like it is recording moves that decision along, and that is the whole job this thing does. It is a dummy, and we are not going to dress it up as anything else. There is no sensor behind the glass and nothing is being saved anywhere.

What you get is a full-size bullet housing, 186 mm long, moulded in ABS, with a solar panel on the roof, a red LED that flashes every 0.7 to 0.8 seconds, and a length of fake cable looped into the bracket so it reads as hardwired from the ground. It costs a fraction of a working camera because it is not one.

What It Does

• Looks the part: full-size bullet housing with a sun hood, a moulded lens surround and a ring of imitation infrared lamps behind the glass.
• Blinks like it is live: a single red LED flashes every 0.7 to 0.8 seconds, continuously. There is no motion sensor and nothing triggers it.
• Sells the wiring story: a fake cable runs out of the housing and loops into the bracket, which is the detail most decoys miss.
• Feeds its own LED: a solar panel sits on top of the housing. The supplier states solar and AA battery power, with rechargeable cells topped up from the panel.
• Puts the signage up too: two warning stickers come in the box, and a sign on the gate does as much work as the housing on the wall.
• Goes up in minutes: an adjustable bracket, screws and plugs, no cable run, no power, no network to set up.

Key Features

• ABS housing: the supplier artwork states durable ABS. Black or silver, and the silver reads more like commercial kit on a shed wall.
• Full-size dimensions: 186 mm long, 175 mm high on the bracket, 125 mm across the bracket base — the same footprint as a working bullet camera.
• Roof-mounted solar panel: a real panel on the top face, angled to the sky. Output is not stated by the supplier.
• Two AA cells, not supplied: rechargeable AA recharge from the panel. Ordinary alkaline AA will run the LED but will not recharge.
• Adjustable bracket: the artwork states a 360° adjustable joint, so you can aim it down a driveway or across a yard.
• Warning stickers included: one 150 × 100 mm surveillance warning and one 100 × 100 mm yellow CCTV sticker.
• Mounting hardware included: screws and wall plugs come in the box, so it is a drill and a screwdriver and you are done.
• Nothing to sign up to: no app, no account, no subscription, no Wi-Fi password to find while you are up a ladder.

Limits

This is a decoy. Everything below is what it will not do, and none of it is a surprise once you know what you bought.

• It does not record: no footage, no memory card, no cloud, no playback. There is nothing to hand the police and nothing to give an insurer.
• There is no camera in it: no image sensor, no working lens, no Wi-Fi, no app, no alerts and no night vision. The ring of infrared lamps behind the glass is moulded decoration and does not light up.
• Plenty of people spot a dummy: no cable running into the wall, no infrared glow at night, and a red LED blinking away that most working cameras do not have. Somebody who knows cameras will read it.
• It will not stop a determined thief: it works on the bloke deciding whether to bother. Anybody who has already decided to come in is not going to be talked out of it by a blinking light.
• Weather, honestly: the supplier artwork prints IP66 and the retail box prints "Indoor/Outdoor Water-Proof", but no test certificate was sighted and the battery compartment is a screw-down cover. Treat it as rain and splash resistant. Mount it under an eave or a hood, and never hose it or jet-wash it.
• The panel is not a charger: it keeps one small LED alive and nothing else. There is no USB port and nothing to plug into it.
• Runtime is unstated: the supplier does not say how long it flashes on a charge, or whether it runs on the panel alone with no cells fitted. We are not going to make a number up.

If You Actually Need Footage

Then you want a real one, not this. A working camera records, and that is the difference between a deterrent and evidence. Have a look at the Solar Security Camera with Wi-Fi auto tracking, or the rest of the remote asset security range. Plenty of people run both: a working camera on the door that matters, decoys on the sheds that do not warrant the cable.

Q & A

Does it record anything at all?

No. Nothing. It is a moulded housing with a flashing LED in it. There is no sensor, no card slot and no storage, so there is no footage of any kind — not for you, not for the police, not for an insurer.

Are the batteries in the box?

No, and the supplier says so plainly on its own artwork. It takes two AA cells. Rechargeable AA are the ones that get topped up by the solar panel; ordinary alkaline AA will run the LED but will not recharge from it.

Is there a motion sensor, so it only blinks when somebody walks past?

No. Nothing in the supplier's material mentions a sensor of any kind. The LED flashes on a fixed cycle, every 0.7 to 0.8 seconds, whether anyone is there or not.

Will it still be flashing at three in the morning?

That is what the panel and the rechargeable cells are for — the panel tops them up through the day so the LED keeps going after dark. The supplier does not publish a runtime figure, so we cannot tell you how many hours it holds, and we are not going to invent one.

Can I mount it out in the open weather?

We would not. The artwork prints an IP66 figure but no certificate was sighted, and there is a screw-down battery hatch in the side of it. Under an eave, a verandah or a gutter line is the sensible spot — still visible from the fence, out of the direct rain.

How long does delivery take?

Allow 10 to 14 days from the day you order, and up to three weeks to be safe. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs