Extended life Game Camera

[TXBRASS]

Have a Moultree M80 game camera that I really like the pics from, but don't get as long a life out of a set of batteries and I'm sick of dropping a ton of cash on lithium double A's all the time. This camera is gonna go out to my Dryden lease and I only get there every 70 days or so to fill feeders so I want it to last so I don't have any breaks or missed days of photos at my feeder. Saw that my camera had a 12 volt power cord source so I dug thru my old chargers and feeder wires until I found a plug that would fit and I spliced that into a set of battery connectors.


Had an old polymer ammo box and decided to convert it to an enclosed unit. All in all, happy with it so far. Im.gonna paint the orange can drab colors and mount it to a small stand. Should do the job and battery should last forever powering the camera.













Used high strength velcro to hold camera in place and hold battery to side of box.

Drilled a few drain holes for water in case of a heavy rain.

[TexasHunter.280]

Pretty neat idea man! Prolly gonna copy.

[gonehuntin68]

That battery should last about 1.5 times as long as 8 AA lithium batteries. You should also put 8 AA lithium batteries in the camera as a backup. When the 12v goes dead it will start using the 8 AA batteries. If you want that battery to last years without taking it out and charging it back up, you should get a 12V solar panel for it or just swap it out with another 12v every couple of months. I do have to ask how long your 8 AA batteries last in that camera and what setting you have it on because I have many of these camera's and on 8 AA lithium batteries I'm getting 3-5 months out of a set with about 200-400 pics a week. My settings are 1 pic every 5 minutes and medium quality pictures. I found if you set them to take a pic every minute with the highest picture quality, it will eat the batteries fast. It takes more battery to write the higher quality pictures to the card and it uses a lot more battery when it takes a picture every minute as it just doesn't give the batteries a chance to recover from the last picture. This is especially true if you have it taking multiple pictures every time the camera senses something. The only time I have a game camera to take multiple pictures per trigger is if I have it on a game trail, but then again I rarely would us the M-80 on a trail because the trigger speed is slow and it really eats the batteries.

[ostey22]

Sweet! I'm going to do this. I'll be Mounting a solar panel on the box.

[TXBRASS]

I was getting about 6-7 weeks at highest quality and quickest setting.

I'm gonna go ahead and mount the solar panel as well....might as well do it right the first time.

[scoutman]

Very nice idea and good work too.

[TXBRASS]

That battery should last about 1.5 times as long as 8 AA lithium batteries. You should also put 8 AA lithium batteries in the camera as a backup.

Worried about battery leak due to extremely hot temps out there. Do you see any issue with running it direct to big battery and solar panel?

[TXBRASS]

Used an old 4wheeler wheel which I will fill with rocks once setup. Welded a piece of pipe to center and a mounting plate to that. Covered it with some krylon and pretty happy with the results.

Decided to upgrade the velcro inside to a higher strength "reclosable fastner strip" which is on order and waiting for the solar panel to arrive. Coming together:

[AgHntr10]

Good call on ditching the Velcro, would be hell to go through all that trouble and have the camera fall down in the box a few days after you leave.

[Big O]

Great idea, might have to build one for myself!

[Patton]

I'm a fan, nice build.

[gingib]

that battery should last about 1.5 times as long as 8 aa lithium batteries. You should also put 8 aa lithium batteries in the camera as a backup. When the 12v goes dead it will start using the 8 aa batteries. If you want that battery to last years without taking it out and charging it back up, you should get a 12v solar panel for it or just swap it out with another 12v every couple of months. I do have to ask how long your 8 aa batteries last in that camera and what setting you have it on because i have many of these camera's and on 8 aa lithium batteries i'm getting 3-5 months out of a set with about 200-400 pics a week. My settings are 1 pic every 5 minutes and medium quality pictures. I found if you set them to take a pic every minute with the highest picture quality, it will eat the batteries fast. It takes more battery to write the higher quality pictures to the card and it uses a lot more battery when it takes a picture every minute as it just doesn't give the batteries a chance to recover from the last picture. This is especially true if you have it taking multiple pictures every time the camera senses something. The only time i have a game camera to take multiple pictures per trigger is if i have it on a game trail, but then again i rarely would us the m-80 on a trail because the trigger speed is slow and it really eats the batteries.

this!!!!!

[slayer]

yep, I have 10 setups similar to this, we put solar panels on ours to keep them charged. You still will replace the big battery about every 8-9 months.

[TXBRASS]

Also decided to do it right.....upgraded to the new Moultree 888 14mp unit.... might as well do it up right.

[ballgame]

Silicone a hood over the camera hole so you're less likely to get water in the box. Cool build!