External Battery Setup for Cell Cams

[Keith Nehrke]

I'm copying and pasting the gist of this from another site - it may be of interest to those of you looking to run external lithium batteries next year.

My current set-ups utilize 8 or 10 amp hour sealed lithium batteries inside of small Plano ammo boxes, connected via an external wire input that I protect from squirrels using split corrugated loom tubing. Buy once, cry once. I will never have to purchase batteries again...I hope. The cost of the setup per camera was ~$60, and could be less in the future. Small Plano boxes however are on sale now for $5 at Amazon, killer deal.

Purchased most everything from the dark overlord Bezos on amazon. Prices for lithium are dropping fast, so if you're thinking for next year, wait. I've used a couple brands, Nermak I recall is one, Lossigy is another. It seems like you can find 12V 10 Ah for ~$40 and 8 Ah for ~$30. I noticed that there's a 16 Ah cell for $60, but I don't know if it fits into the plastic ammo case, which you can find for ~$5 (item # PLA1312P, exterior dimensions are L=11.63in. x W=7.13in. x H=5.13in).

If you run an external setup, be aware that the cable connector to the camera can differ by brand. Standard 5.5 mm x 2.1 mm barrel connectors work in most brands, and I purchase the ones from Steathcam (also available on amazon), but Tactacam takes 4.0 x 1.7 mm...I think others like Spartan, Covert may as well. Verity before purchasing; they're cheap (Bolyguard makes a bunch of configurations), and if you're handy you can build them from parts. Don't forget to protect them from chewing by using plastic corrugated wire wrap! Also, I wrap the cord around the top of the camera once so it can't simply pull out. Some folks will use a fuse, but I have not.

Even on setups that are taking thousands of pictures a month in areas with marginal reception, I am still getting great results from cameras that were deployed in August. And I don't have to worry about batteries leaking and corroding the inside of my camera  - which has been the death of more than one the past few years.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Keith Nehrke