As i have dove off the deep end building small solar external battery packs for my cameras this winter, i got to thinking about something i think the trail camera industry has REALLY missed the boat on.
I know that smaller and smaller has been the go-to for trail cam manufacturers. With the increased quality and availability of 18650’s, the comparatively high battery capacities available, and 500+ charging cycles with only 20% capacity loss…..
Why on earth haven’t the major camera brands offered an 18650 camera advertising reduced overall operating costs? Top of the line 3,500 milliamp hour 18650’s can be found for about $7 a piece. Cameras could easily be made in a 3 battery, or 4 battery configuration depending on what voltage the manufacturer runs the internals on. (Most boards are run somewhere between 9-12 volts)
In comparison to energizer ultimate lithium, which also run 3500mah, but at 1.5v, you could run 3 of the 18650’s ($7/per) versus 6 of the AA ($1.50/per). The AA’s would be running dead on 9V at full charge (it would take 8 non-lithium AA’s for this same voltage) and the 18650’s would be running 11.1v for the 3. That is a price disparity of $12 on the first set of batteries assuming a 6 battery AA setup, and only $9 assuming an 8 AA setup… and then never buying batteries for that camera again in it’s lifetime.
A set or two as spares for recharging at home plus a $10-15 charger and most guys could DRASTICALLY reduce their trail camera maintenance costs. Private land can always just add a big solar panel to reduce battery expenditures, but this isn’t always applicable to everyone who buys cameras.
This seems like a no-brainer to me…. Why hasn’t this been done?
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I know that smaller and smaller has been the go-to for trail cam manufacturers. With the increased quality and availability of 18650’s, the comparatively high battery capacities available, and 500+ charging cycles with only 20% capacity loss…..
Why on earth haven’t the major camera brands offered an 18650 camera advertising reduced overall operating costs? Top of the line 3,500 milliamp hour 18650’s can be found for about $7 a piece. Cameras could easily be made in a 3 battery, or 4 battery configuration depending on what voltage the manufacturer runs the internals on. (Most boards are run somewhere between 9-12 volts)
In comparison to energizer ultimate lithium, which also run 3500mah, but at 1.5v, you could run 3 of the 18650’s ($7/per) versus 6 of the AA ($1.50/per). The AA’s would be running dead on 9V at full charge (it would take 8 non-lithium AA’s for this same voltage) and the 18650’s would be running 11.1v for the 3. That is a price disparity of $12 on the first set of batteries assuming a 6 battery AA setup, and only $9 assuming an 8 AA setup… and then never buying batteries for that camera again in it’s lifetime.
A set or two as spares for recharging at home plus a $10-15 charger and most guys could DRASTICALLY reduce their trail camera maintenance costs. Private land can always just add a big solar panel to reduce battery expenditures, but this isn’t always applicable to everyone who buys cameras.
This seems like a no-brainer to me…. Why hasn’t this been done?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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