Game Camera Batteries

I have 4 Moultree cameras and they all take 8 AA batteries. The battery life seems to suck! Your typical standard AA batteries is what I use. Is there a good battery out there? Don’t want to go with rechargeable batteries. Thanks. Shawn

Have to be honest, it’s probably the cam’s fault, not the batteries. How many days or weeks or months make up a “sucks”?

I just replaced batteries on my 4 Bushnell Trophy Cams today. All cams have been deployed and taking pictures since early later April / early May and together they have taken over 10,000 pictures and videos. All were still working, but I’ve learned over the years that the first cold snaps zap whatever’s left in the batteries after 5+ months, so I just replace everything.

The batteries I use are good old Raovac batteries from Menards. Bulk pack for $10 on sale, I think it’s like 48 batties in the pack.

Honestly, I can’t see it being worth going to lithium batteries. 2-3 times the cost for a small gain, if any. If I was trying to keep a camera going all winter, where it was not accsssible, I might be tempted, but not for regular use.

So depending on what you mean by “sucks”, I’d suspect it’s the cam and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I just deployed a new Moulitree cam today, the Gen 2 A-5 cam. I decided to get an el cheapo to do security duty on my property driveway, so we’ll see how it works out.

Grouse

Lithium batteries I have heard will help help with battery life and trigger speed. I have run the lithium batteries in my Bushnells and they work great. I have had good success with them. I guess I haven’t tried the other batteries to see the difference.

I know you said that you want to stay away from rechargeable batteries, but I have run them in my Moultrie and Wildgame cameras for the past few years with great results. I run them from August through November or December without changing.

Energizer Ultimate Lithium… One set of 8 will last me all year.I have ten cameras, so I cant be messing with batteries all the time. They are expensive, but well worth it. Make sure to purchase them at a high volume store for best price.

Lithium will increase your trigger speed when its cold from sleep mode to capturing the photo. Alkalines just flat out don’t work well(or for very long) when the weather is below 20degrees. Ultimate lithium will run perfect in temps as low as minus 40 below.

no brainer for me

Don’t have cameras of any sort. But go through alot of AA batteries for my work. Lithium gets ya 2x as long, but they are 2x more expensive, just my 2 cents.

My Moultrie(s) say right inside the door of the camera to use “only energizer or duracell” (which basically means they are saying use a high quality battery not Holiday brand or Raovac junk for best results…) It does not say anything about ‘lithium’ yet they do give extra life (for extra cost!)…RR

I’d still like to hear from the OP, how long exactly is your camera running on one set of 8 AA batteries? To me, this is key to know because the potential fix depends on this question.

And also important is how many pictures or how many minutes of video clips is it taking in that period? If you have the camera set to take a 3 or 5 shot burst every 15 seconds or if you’ve got it set up to shoot a 1 minute video with sound and it’s taking 100 clips per week, that’s going to be tough on batteries no matter what batteries you use.

Or it might be the camera or the setup/location that’s worth looking into.

Grouse

I have the cameras set to take 3 shot burst when it takes a picture. Usually will last 2-3 weeks, and 400-500 pictures. Thanks for the information so far.
Shawn

I have the Ultimate Lithiums in my cams. Last I checked I was 4000 pictures into this set of batteries and it hadn’t dropped a bar yet. That was over a months time.
DT

When comparing batteries, compare the mHA in addition to the properties of lithium.

riverruns wrote:

I have the cameras set to take 3 shot burst when it takes a picture. Usually will last 2-3 weeks, and 400-500 pictures. Thanks for the information so far.
Shawn

Sorry, but I think it’s just the way the cam is. Some are more power hungry than others. What model do you have?

Even with Lithium batteries, extending it by 2x, you’re still only going to get 4-6 weeks total. My Bushnell trail cams are lasting 5-6 months with regular alkaline batteries.

It wouldn’t cost that much to change to lithium and try it, but my expectations would be limited. It probably would also help to dial back the burst mode and only shoot 1 or 2 pics per trigger, just to save the repeats. But with some cams I realize that results in more “deer butt” pictures, so it may not be possible.

Grouse

My dad runs a couple Moultries and I have bought him two of these. he goes months (like 3-4) in cold conditions. I know they are a little spendy but I think your ROI would be returned very quickly.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9DUE5I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

My moultries ran almost 8 months with over 10000 pictures and still had around 15% battery left. They are my most efficient camera by far and they take 8 AA duracells.

I also use the ultimate lithiums, moultrie 880 taking 400-500 pics every two weeks, set of 8 aa will last Aug-Jan.Where they really shine is in -0 temps, I had issues with camera not functioning with alkalines, switched and have had no issues, even had pic’s stamped -38,very close to what weather service reported.

The cameras I have are GM-80XT. I bought two of them at the same time. I called Moultrie customer service and they told me to use the plain old Duracell or Energizer batteries. Something about using the higher end batteries that they will drain faster? I tried the Duracell Quantum and one camera had 478 pictures and still had 99% life and the other had 57 pictures and 0% life. Batteries were out of the same pack. I’m going to try a cheap pair in the camera that sucked up battery life quick and see what that does otherwise I will try the ultimate lithium’s in it.
Shawn

I run about 8 moultrie cams and have noticed the cheaper batteries don’t hold up well at all. My bushnells seem to run fine on the rayovacs. Use enegizer or duracell in the moultries and you will have better luck.

The one cam that has 57 pics and no battery power left is most likely toast. Send it back to Moultrie for repair/replacement. The cheap china cams(which is everything under $200) have a 20 cent voltage regulator in them that goes bad easily and then it eats the batteries in no time. Moultrie has been very good about replacing these cams if they are under warranty. The other cam sounds like it is working fine with the duracell batteries in it.