Trail cameras

gort · 2 Oct 2019 at 09:35

Anyone use one successfully with rechargeable batteries?
I'm aware of the voltage drop 1.5v for standard AAs vs 1.2v for rechargeable AA and possible issues (as the cameras like 6v) but can't find any articles or videos with actual experiences with them and rechargeables. Most are with them left out in the sticks where they are to be for weeks or months at a time.

It will only be for the garden and it's fine if it only works for a few days or a week or so at a time for what I want it for.
Got loads of rechargeable AA in the house but if I have to I'll suck it up and go with disposables!
A DC supply isn't an option for some places in the garden.

Ta

Kei · 2 Oct 2019 at 15:29

We modified one in work using some waterproof connectors, buk converters for voltage conversion and some V lock camera batteries in a separate waterproof enclosure. (IIRC, 2x IDX ENDURA-HL9 batteries) It lasted an entire week running the camera, a Pi zero and an EE myFi using a wifi SD card to transmit the photos from the camera to the Pi and then upload them to an FTP server. (camera and box was mounted somewhere with no access for a week) Without all the superfluous hardware drain, the camera on it's own would probably have lasted well over a month on just one battery.

Obviously v lock batteries are not the best choice as they are seriously expensive, but it gives you an idea. A decent lead acid leisure battery ought to be up to the task an cost considerably less.

gort · 3 Oct 2019 at 05:45

Cheers for that. Looked in to leisure batteries and a 6v 12 ah battery is doable and reasonably cheap.
What with the trails cams gobbling up 8 AA batteries at a time, it may be the route I go down.

gort · 22 Oct 2019 at 08:38

Quick update..... for anyone who cares or is interested...

Picked up a Campark T45 camera and tried it with recheargables, it' been working fine. I check it evey few days and just swap batteries over (only using 4 at a time).
The battery indicator does drop a bit in this time so I expect they won't last longer than a week or so (compared to months for standard AAs).
This suits fine though as it's only in the garden. Will probably stay with this unless other issues crop up!