Why no 18650 trail cameras?

[IkemanTX]

OP mentioned making external rechargeable battery pack.

DIY Battery Spot Welder - Demonstration & Explanation - YouTube

I soldered copper bars on the first 2 packs. Switching to a spot welder for the next few.


This is the one i am going with.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092V9F25K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_2G8HN4B1DD777EDBXJKK?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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[IkemanTX]

Do you spot weld the nickel strip? What welder do you use and or recommend?

Here is my build thread on my Gen1 and Gen2 permanent power designs.

https://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=827112&highlight=Permanent

[Throwin Darts]

Just like anything else that is tech related in the hunting industry, it seems behind the times and generally the products aren't well designed.

What gets me is that you can buy a $350 Covert and an $80 Covert solar panel and fill it with $30 of rechargeable batteries and hook it all up and a bird or a breeze is enough to unplug the dang solar panel because the design of the plug is so bad.

[Pedernal]

Just like anything else that is tech related in the hunting industry, it seems behind the times and generally the products aren't well designed.

What gets me is that you can buy a $350 Covert and an $80 Covert solar panel and fill it with $30 of rechargeable batteries and hook it all up and a bird or a breeze is enough to unplug the dang solar panel because the design of the plug is so bad.

What is crazy is that it’s not just in the hunting industry. Some of the high speed thermal type devices being sold for 5 and 6 figures had connectors that would short out if you had the external battery hooked up to the cable and then went to plug it to the thermal device… most of the time you would just fry the cable which was a $100 + replacement. Sometimes you would burn out the connector end on the thermal device… that now entailed lots of $$ and down time…

Granted these devices came out 10 or more years back. The crazy part is that there have been connectors available for decades which are almost impossible to short out unless you jump in the bath tub with them and can be had for a few pennies.

[Man]

Too many average Joe's don't know what an 18650 is.

Today I learned there is a battery called an 18650

[tvc184]

Today I learned there is a battery called an 18650

…. and 26650 and my current favorite, 21700….

[wes122984]

i have rigged a few up to use them. the 6v cams will run fine on a 5v power bank even.

ideally if you convert you would use a LiFePO4 battery as its easier to get desired voltage.

[OldRiverRat]

Dang. That’s great

Here they are

https://www.midwayusa.com/s?promotionid=1643486&utm_source=general-promotion&utm_medium=email&utm_content=main-image-link&utm_campaign=muddy-trail-cam

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[kruppa24]

Probably due to the ease of acquiring AAs ….you can get them everywhere at any time.

MY Guess^^^^

[IkemanTX]

i have rigged a few up to use them. the 6v cams will run fine on a 5v power bank even.

ideally if you convert you would use a LiFePO4 battery as its easier to get desired voltage.

I have thought of doing some 12v lifepo4 battery packs instead of the solar panels. I found some nice 6,000mah 32650 cells and could probably put together a 4 cell pack for about $15 a piece. That would be about double the life of a set of ultimate lithiums, and should be just the right size to velcro to the back of the camera.


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[Krivoman]

That would be me

I found my new trail cam this season
For $29.99 each I bought 8 new muddy cameras and I started them in July. Those cameras are taking, on avg, about 1200-1500 pics each per week and they are still going on the same set of 8 AA batteries
Pics are great and they have worked without fail
Don’t know how I can beat that


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I have the same to report on the Muddys. I have 12 of them and they run flawlessly and battery life is crazy good. My only problem have been woodpeckers.

[OldRiverRat]

I have the same to report on the Muddys. I have 12 of them and they run flawlessly and battery life is crazy good. My only problem have been woodpeckers.

I didn’t really want to let the cat out of the bag on these , the price point is perfect
Glad someone can verify though


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[Wampuscat]

You’re wanting an entirely new battery platform for trail cameras? It was hard enough for them to switch from D-cell to C-cell and eventually to AA. I just wish that Stealth Cam would continue to make trail cameras that use their own 12v battery packs. I bought 2 Stealth Cams and battery packs on here and only one worked at night. Drove into Lufkin and got a replacement Stealth Cam at Academy and when I got back to camp, noticed there wasn’t a power inlet slot like the others.

[IkemanTX]

That would be me

I found my new trail cam this season
For $29.99 each I bought 8 new muddy cameras and I started them in July. Those cameras are taking, on avg, about 1200-1500 pics each per week and they are still going on the same set of 8 AA batteries
Pics are great and they have worked without fail
Don’t know how I can beat that


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I have had very poor results from the muddy, stealth, and WGI cameras… especially in their lower price points.

I settled on Browning Dark Ops or Spec Ops as my best performance for the price. Bushnell cameras were my second best performers, but i sold all of them to have a unified single brand so there were no formatting issues with swapping cards.

I have browning cameras that are 7 years running without fail.

Many of my cameras are 3-7 miles back on public land and are left for 6-9 months at a time. Anything but perfect functionality can leave me with no information for an entire season if I happen to not make it into a spot to swap cameras or card/batteries out.

The permanent, unmanaged and unfailing, functionality is one of the reasons I am pursuing my DIY solar backup battery setups.
Between a quality camera, high quality lithium internal batteries, a solar assisted external battery pack, and 256gig cards… I hope to be able to drop a camera unattended for 9 months, set on video mode, without filling a card or losing power.


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[Kevin]

So the biggest thing about 18650s is you can’t charge them without damage in weather under 32F. Once you drop below 32F, you have to drastically cut back on the charging rate. Electric cars get around this by having a battery warmer. They are also prone to catching fire when improperly used. If you question this, you have never seen someone puncture and 18650 with a nail.


That combined with the initial cost of 18650s and the drastic range of quality means risk. I’ve purchased upwards of 200k 18650s in my previous life, and sourcing great vendors is an ongoing battle.