SwitchBot Solar Panel Review
In our opinion, at £25 the SwitchBot Solar Panel is an accessory well worth picking up if you want to remove the need to ever charge your curtains again; it also serves as a nice eco-friendly approach to keeping them charged (much like the solar panels that come with the SOMA Tilt). While we will share our thoughts on this product below, there isn’t necessarily a money-saving benefit here since you might take longer than the lifespan of the panel itself just recoup that £25 through electricity saved.
What Is The SwitchBot Solar Panel?
The SwitchBot Solar Panel is designed specifically for the Curtain (1st and 2nd Generation) motors, offering an innovative way to keep your curtain motors charged without needing a wall outlet. As you’d expect from the name alone… it’s a solar panel! It clips directly onto your SwitchBot curtain accessory using a pair of standard clips that fit with no tools required. You can connect straight into the microUSB port for charging, but if your curtain tops are too high to pick up daylight effectively then there is also a removable cable and some velcro allowing you to stick the solar panel further down along your curtains where they get more sun.
You will find it comes in white or black color choices to match various home decors. Despite this product being part of an eco-friendly initiative, remember that charging times depend on how much light is hitting it during use cycles rather than purely saving money immediately over purchasing new motors.
Daily Performance and App Usage
The SwitchBot app displays the battery levels clearly so you can see a little sunshine icon next to your status if active solar charging is currently working. Day-to-day usage of this panel is incredibly easy… in fact we actually forget it’s there often, even inside rooms where blinds are closed but curtains remain open and still exposed to ambient light.
To put this into perspective, with the routine being opening the curtains in the morning and closing them by evening time alone keeps your device charged to 80%+ which is ideal. And that’s all there really needs to be done; even though our own curtains are raised significantly higher than average windows we found it still charges effectively.
Installation Tips
Setting up the SwitchBot Solar Panel involves simply attaching it directly onto your motor and letting it start charging. If you notice that your curtains rise above where daylight naturally reaches then you might want to stick this component using the built-in cable provided with velcro pads. Even though our curtains are raised quite high off windows we’d recommend trying the clips straight on to a curtain bot first before moving it lower as even without direct intense light exposure some charging still happens.
The Final Verdict
In conclusion, this device is hidden away effectively and, much like the curtain motors you don’t need to worry about them constantly running out of power. You can check in the SwitchBot app frequently or leave it alone knowing that battery life will be maintained easily over days.
