Solar with rechargeables and no external battery

I just set up my first 2 Spartan cams and I'm liking them so far. I use eneloop rechargeable AA's on all of my other cameras. To perfect the Spartans it would be ideal to set up a solar panel to recharge the internal batteries and not have the bulky external. I realize the cameras are probably not set up this way to avoid charging alkaline or lithium batteries that are in the camera but I think it would be a huge improvement if they were. I realize it would void the warranty but I'm thinking about opening one up and rewiring it. Has anyone done this? I'm thinking of slowly phasing out of my other cameras (I have 17 homebrews) and going to all cellular. The only way I will do it is if I can come up with a reasonable way to leave the cameras out all season and not have to check them. I guess I could wait for the warranty to expire, but I'm kind of impatient like that! Any thoughts?

John Lockburner

November 03, 2019 21:16

Drew I've built my share of homebrews so I know what you're talking about. Just be carful because the solar panels can put out up to 10 volts and that will fry the camera and yes it will void the warranty. If you get the Spartan Ghost that actually has an internal rechargeable battery and you can connect a solar panel directly to it.

Permanently deleted user

November 05, 2019 09:39

Thanks John, good to know. I didn't realize the ghost cams were set up that way. They weren't in stock when I ordered mine so I didn't read about them, might check them out. For now I bought some cheap solar panels and external 4.5Ah batteries and I'll give that a try.

November 05, 2019 11:55

I would get a solar controller for that set up to protect the camera. Mike at Herd360 sells them and they work well. If you bought the solar panels that are for feeders they probably aren't going to be large enough to keep up with the cell cam demands.

Solar with rechargeables and no external battery

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