• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Crazy battery life

Allegheny Tom

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Messages
6,026
Location
Western Pennsylvania
I switched to Eveready lithium AA in my Browning Special Ops. Got over 1,000 pics set on the highest quality settings, and the meter still reads 100% battery. I figured the meter was defective so I checked them in another Browning cam...100%!
And lithium cant leak so no fear of camera damage.
I really like those batteries.
 
I’ve experienced exactly what Dave said. 100% and then next day dead. I don’t complain cuz they still last a really Long time. Didn’t know everready made lithium’s. Good to know!
 
I have run lithium’s only for several years. They are definitely full year batteries if they aren’t in really high traffic areas. My record so far has been 13,800 pics on a new set of batteries and still reading 98%. A grass seed head grew up right in front of the sensor and triggered several hundred pics a day.

One downside to the lithium cameras is they keep the motion sensor so sensitive (thanks to constant peak voltage) that you will REALLY fill an SD card up with false triggers.
 
Well it's been true in all my cameras. Lithium keep the same 1.5 volts till they just stop.

Very closely accurate. You will probably show a reduced battery (still high 80’s-90’s) for a week or two only before the voltage drops dead.

Here are the discharge voltage curves for the main AA battery brands
e8cf6d52e52591f04630bf691a6bc32d.jpg


9c5f397e508c47e6437d093890f4cb66.jpg


Edit: I am considering taking a voltage meter into the field to get a better judge on battery life left so I’m not prematurely swapping batteries for this very reason.
 
Very closely accurate. You will probably show a reduced battery (still high 80’s-90’s) for a week or two only before the voltage drops dead.

Here are the discharge voltage curves for the main AA battery brands
e8cf6d52e52591f04630bf691a6bc32d.jpg


9c5f397e508c47e6437d093890f4cb66.jpg


Edit: I am considering taking a voltage meter into the field to get a better judge on battery life left so I’m not prematurely swapping batteries for this very reason.

could be I dont check my cameras weekly. I just know a camera that has taken 7-8000+ pics still reads 100% after being in woods 5 months.... no way its 100%. Then next time I check it is dead. It is best with lithium to know how many pics it will take and then keep track. info is available on Trailcamera pro.
 
I often run alkaline here in TX,OK and KY during the summer months. Last year I ran 40+ cameras pretty much year round. and again this year doing the same. I only check cameras perhaps one time in 3-4 months. I have only had a few in that time dead (battery wise) due to Johnson Grass wind pictures.

I posted a story about a 2015 browning I set out in the woods in June of 2018 - I lost that camera, thought I had pulled it. Scouting this Sept I found it on the same tree. It had only taken 600+ pictures during that time (was in a swamp that was flooded for 6 months) it still had 37% battery life. This was on el cheapo alkaline batteries bought by the 100 pack at local grocery store. I was completely blown away I would have thought for sure it would have been dead. I changed the batteries, popped in another card, and will check it when I go in to hunt next time.

The primary problem with alkaline batteries is that they charge becomes weaker so night time pics and videos and detection capabilities go down as charge is lost. That does not happen with lithiums. And that is how the camera calculates battery % by the charge remaining. As long as it is above freezing, and you are checking the cameras every 4-6 months, alkaline will work fine - if you set them up properly for where you have them placed and you do not get killed with wind pictures.

If i am going to soak a camera for most of year i will use lithium for sure. If I am running mineral licks and am checking them every 2-3 months alkaline work just as well.
 
Learn something new everyday from you guys.
Well, at least lithium won't leak like alkaline can.
I wrecked an expensive home brew trail cam because alkakines leaked.
Thanks for the info.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
Guys still do the home brew cams? I used to be into that years ago, but figured it went by the wayside.
I remember the old Pixcontoller boards.....Bigfoot Boards etc.. lol
 
I think they still do. You can build a far more effective camera than what we are getting commercially. I have way too many projects as it is. All i need is one pic, even if it is blurred a bit, to let me know he is there
 
Guys still do the home brew cams? I used to be into that years ago, but figured it went by the wayside.
I remember the old Pixcontoller boards.....Bigfoot Boards etc.. lol
I'm not sure if anyone still does it. The commercial cams has improved so much and they arent that expensive for what you get.
My homebrew was made by Firemanjim from the old QDMA forum. It was a great cam for its era and Jim gave great customer service. I got many thousands of pics with that cam and anytime it needed serviced, Jim fixed it for nothing more than shipping costs.
I still have it but it doesn't work anymore...its a fake cam to distract trespassers from the real one


Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top