Battery Options for Game Cameras

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dennishoddy

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im pretty primitive in the camera dept !! i do like retrieverman set up i may have to try something like that those are like emergency lighting battery's
6 or 12 volts is 6 or 12 volts. Doesn't matter if the power supplying it is a 500 megawatt battery. The camera has circuitry to limit the amps to what it wants to see.
 

retrieverman

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im pretty primitive in the camera dept !! i do like retrieverman set up i may have to try something like that those are like emergency lighting battery's
I’ve been running game cams since the mid 90’s, and if I’m honest with myself, I probably enjoy messing with the cameras and watching the deer at least as much as actually hunting. I’m not a very hi tech guy, and these cameras are about at the limit of my tech savvy.
 

retrieverman

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6 or 12 volts is 6 or 12 volts. Doesn't matter if the power supplying it is a 500 megawatt battery. The camera has circuitry to limit the amps to what it wants to see.
Evidently Spartans don’t, because that’s what the customer service rep was warning me about. Supposedly, you have to use one of their battery box set ups to regulate it. :scratch:
 

dennishoddy

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Evidently Spartans don’t, because that’s what the customer service rep was warning me about. Supposedly, you have to use one of their battery box set ups to regulate it. :scratch:
Thats either a design on their part to sell more product or a flaw in their design. If they reccomended that, it was a flaw and the battery box had a regulator built into it to limit the current.
I worked electronics for most of 45 years in industrial settings, designing a lot of circuits that used a huge power supply to provide milli amps to the circuitry.
I'd love to discuss that issue with the service rep.
As an example, most vehicles have batteries that easily supply hundreds of amps. The manufacturers have these newer vehicles loaded with electronics that can't even sustain one amp of power so they are regulated to what power they are designed to handle.
 

retrieverman

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Thats either a design on their part to sell more product or a flaw in their design. If they reccomended that, it was a flaw and the battery box had a regulator built into it to limit the current.
I worked electronics for most of 45 years in industrial settings, designing a lot of circuits that used a huge power supply to provide milli amps to the circuitry.
I'd love to discuss that issue with the service rep.
As an example, most vehicles have batteries that easily supply hundreds of amps. The manufacturers have these newer vehicles loaded with electronics that can't even sustain one amp of power so they are regulated to what power they are designed to handle.
I’m sure it’s a design “flaw” to help them sell their external battery setups. I’m not even sure she was telling me the truth, because what I’m doing has worked great.
 

Hirschkopf

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I set up my first and only (so far) camera in early June. It is a Reconyx Hyperfire 2 cellular. Used 12 Ever-ready Ultimate Lithium AAs in it. The percentage showed 100% until about mid-August. Then it fell to 50% and 25% quickly. I shut off night photos and flash to conserve power until I make the 1000 mile journey to Da Ranch. It is still taking daytime photos of deer and hogs. I’m bringing a Reconxy Solar Power supply. The thing is relatively huge, includes it own battery, and plugs in via a 12’ cord.

The other battery option Reconyx suggests is a specific rechargeable battery. The Solar Power supply does not charge the batteries in the camera even if they are rechargeable. Reconyx suggests using lithium batteries as a back-up to solar in case there are many days of heavy overcast or something caused the cable to become unplugged. The Reconyx Solar power supply can be daisy-chained if one is inadequate.
 
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dennishoddy

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I set up my first and only (so far) camera in early June. It is a Reconyx Hyperfire 2 cellular. Used 12 Ever-ready Ultimate Lithium AAs in it. The percentage showed 100% until about mid-August. Then it fell to 50% and 25% quickly. I shut off night photos and flash to conserve power until I make the 1000 mile journey to Da Ranch. It is still taking daytime photos of deer and hogs. I’m bringing a Reconxy Solar Charger. The thing is relatively huge, includes it own battery, and plugs in via a 12’ cord.

The other battery option Reconyx suggests is a specific rechargeable battery. The Solar Charger does not charge the batteries. Reconyx suggests using lithium batteries as a back-up to solar in case there are many days of heavy overcast or something caused the cable to become unplugged. The Reconyx solar chargers can be daisy-chained if one is inadequate.
That is the way it should be in this world.
The camera should operate off the solar and recharge the batteries that are rechargeable within the camera as well as the batteries in the charger.
 

Hirschkopf

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That is the way it should be in this world.
The camera should operate off the solar and recharge the batteries that are rechargeable within the camera as well as the batteries in the charger.
I edited my post to make it clearer. The camera can take internal batteries or an external power supply (transformer or solar). The external supply and the camera batteries are functionally separate, except the the internal batteries can take over if the external power fails.
 

tynyphil

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Yes, I use only Energizer lithium in my 18 cameras. Most of the time they last a couple of months or more. I also have gone to cameras that use 6-AAs rather than 8. The browning cameras have been my most reliable....I use
CD cards rather than cell technology.
 

undeg01

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On my non-cell cameras, Stealth Cam, I use Enegizer Lithium AA’s and I get about 9 months out of 8 batteries, and that constitutes upwards of 20K pictures over that 9 month period when on feeders with lots of activity. The cams I have on trails that just catch an occasional deer last a full year. That said, the 18 pack of lithium batteries at Sam‘s is now over $36. Running about 7 cams on average tends to get a bit expensive.

Like Dennis, I have one Reveal X cell cam with its own solar charger and never have an issue unless a coon pulls the cord out or the 32 gig SD card gets full. Been running it for coming up on 2 years and plan to add another one this winter.
 

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