Integrated trail cam/external battery/charger/mount

[J.B.]

Going to give this a try and see how it works. Found these T-post brackets and used as base for mounting the battery box, solar panel and trail cam. Made a rain/sun hood out of an old bucket that is separate and attaches to T-post by itself

[EastTexun]

Looks great! I have done a couple varieties of something similar, with both the sun/rain shields and the charger. One thing I found was the larger the sun shield, the more it gathered deer attention and made a great house for wasps. As for the charger and battery holder, I now use a plastic ammo box with the solar panel mounted on the side and it sits on the ground. I wrap the power wire around the T post up to the camera and just call it good. I went this route only because it was cheap and easy to do multiple units in a short time span, and I can move them easily.

[nimrodtracy]

nice

[Gunnyart]

That works.

[Cstat_Mex]

Just out of curiosity, why did you go this route vs utilizing Tactacam’s solar panel with integrated lithium battery?

[donpablo]

I assume the panel is hooked up to the battery which is plugged directly into the cell camera? What brand is (or what are the specs of) the panel?

[J.B.]

Just out of curiosity, why did you go this route vs utilizing Tactacam’s solar panel with integrated lithium battery?

I don't know other than the joy of tinkering around with stuff

[J.B.]

I assume the panel is hooked up to the battery which is plugged directly into the cell camera? What brand is (or what are the specs of) the panel?

Solar panel just a regular ole deer feeder battery panel

[dustoffer]

Made some years ago but used a GI ammo can to hold the battery with the solar panel bolted to it and metal flex conduit to the camera to protect the wiring from rodents.

[T-roy66]

Looks great! I have done a couple varieties of something similar, with both the sun/rain shields and the charger. One thing I found was the larger the sun shield, the more it gathered deer attention and made a great house for wasps. As for the charger and battery holder, I now use a plastic ammo box with the solar panel mounted on the side and it sits on the ground. I wrap the power wire around the T post up to the camera and just call it good. I went this route only because it was cheap and easy to do multiple units in a short time span, and I can move them easily.

I've made similar one with metal ammo cans. I keep having problems with the camera using up the rechargeable AA batteries in the camera. I then bought their lithium battery pack and I'm still having the same problem. Next trip to Arkansas I'm going to put a y-connector on the camera power inlet and run their lithium battery pack/ solar panel and my home made battery pack together. Hopefully that will give me longer camera life.

[EastTexun]

I've made similar one with metal ammo cans. I keep having problems with the camera using up the rechargeable AA batteries in the camera. I then bought their lithium battery pack and I'm still having the same problem. Next trip to Arkansas I'm going to put a y-connector on the camera power inlet and run their lithium battery pack/ solar panel and my home made battery pack together. Hopefully that will give me longer camera life.

I have had that issue in the past, but determined it was either a bad inline fuze or the external power port was not quite getting good contact. I don't use rechargeable ones...just regular batteries in the camera. I never figured the solar panel would charge those batteries.