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External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup #1551178 07/24/10 04:53 PM
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MathMan Offline OP
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I have a Moultrie D40 and My Father In Law has a Moultrie D50. We have been having problems with the batteries lasting for only 3 weeks. I had the Moultrie Power panel set up on my D40 and it worked ok but in the winter when the sun is not out and the panel cant charge the battery would go dead. The moultrie power panel battery does not last long when it isnt charging and D cell batteries arnt cheap. I had researched for a while and came up with a almost unlimited battery setup.

The D40 and D50 both have a external power port that accepts 12Volts.

I went to walmart and bought a marine battery box, Here is the link at overtons.com...It was $11 at walmart:

Then i bought a lawnmower battery from walmart that was $25:

I went to Radioshack and bought a size Q plug...The D4 uses the size Q plug and the D50 uses a different size that I had laying around :

and an adaptor harness :

and bolted a solar panel on top of the battery box...The solar panel was from ebay and is similar to this one :


I then got some alligator clips to conect the wires to the battery.

I wired together the Qplug, harness, and about 10 feet of wire wit te alligator clips on the end. I connected the clips to the battery and made sure that the inside of the plug was positive( If it is not positive it may kill your game camera).

With the solar panel mounted on the lid of the battery box and the game camera connected to the battery. I put it in next to my feeder on top of some plywood on some T Posts and it hasnt moved from 99% charge for two months.

I will get some pictures of the complete setup probably tomorrow.

I hope yall like this.


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: MathMan] #1551276 07/24/10 06:10 PM
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jeh7mmmag Offline
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Welcome, cheers cowboy texas
Great job, and economical components. Now you can add wires and plug to run your feeder motor also. I Wonder if you can buy RF sheilding to side your wires into to keep rat and coons from eating them up? Good job up



�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: jeh7mmmag] #1552693 07/25/10 04:38 PM
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Ranger Man Offline
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I am liking this.up Looking forward to the pictures. Unsure of the relationship of the adapter harness to other components? Would like to see it all connected. Thanks for sharing.



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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: jeh7mmmag] #1552926 07/25/10 07:25 PM
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TreeBass Offline
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Originally Posted By: jeh7mmmag
Welcome, cheers cowboy texas
Great job, and economical components. Now you can add wires and plug to run your feeder motor also. I Wonder if you can buy RF sheilding to side your wires into to keep rat and coons from eating them up? Good job up


I just had to pull a cam due to that. burnt up the battery as well. Cows ate the wires, so I picked up some of the flexible 3/8 tubing from lowes and plan on using that to protect the wires. I hate cows



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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: TreeBass] #1552995 07/25/10 08:12 PM
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jeh7mmmag Offline
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Lucky --Next time you might have a grass fire!!!!!

You might want to add a inline fuse holder w 5 amp fuse at the battery post. This would protect battery & wire, keep from setting something on fire if the wires short out again.



�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: jeh7mmmag] #1765338 10/21/10 04:37 PM
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Chief Joe Offline
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Did you ever get this rig up and running again?




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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: Chief Joe] #1766754 10/22/10 12:55 AM
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TreeBass Offline
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are you asking me?

if so, you have seen the repair

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...era#Post1749884



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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: TreeBass] #2401066 06/30/11 11:01 PM
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MathMan Offline OP
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Finally posting my progress.

I built is and have used it on a D50 and D40. It worked well for most of the season but one day i came to check it and it was fried. I have been researching about it and have came to a conclusion.

I do not use the solar panel on it because it charges it to too many volts and that is why it fried. I now just use a 12 volt battery that is no higher than 12 V when i hook it up to the camera. I drain the battery down to 12 V after charging at home and then just switch out batteries.

We have been swiching out the batteries when they go below 90% because it works much better at high charge. We have been doing this on two cameras all year and they have had no problems.


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: MathMan] #2401578 07/01/11 02:59 AM
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I did the same thing with my wildgame cameras. One camera came with a port and the other I had to wire and put a jack in. I've had both cameras in the field for a year now with no problems. You'll be just fine with your setup and a little more coin in your pocket.. not buying batteries! Good luck!


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: Knightdiscshooter] #2401867 07/01/11 07:59 AM
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kk1181 You could put your solar panel back on if you wanted too.
What you need to do with that is go and get a charge controller.
You can get them at Northern Tool if you have one near you. I've got the model number and brand right here.. Nupower Item # 121182-1106 It's ideal for 5 to 130 watt panels. price is 29.99
Hope this helps!


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: Knightdiscshooter] #2401970 07/01/11 12:35 PM
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jeh7mmmag Offline
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The controller is a good idea to prevent hi voltage when fully charged, or open circuit voltage, or no load.

but:
I would visit with Moultrie Tech service and find out what the acceptable voltage range is for camera operations.

If Moultrie are very sensitive on voltage (say 9.6VDC to 12.5VDC max)you may have problems using the controller to prevent hi voltage burn out.

The controller may not prevent over voltage on a real sunny day with a full charged battery since it has a cutoff of 14.2 volts

Increasing battery size (more decay)or decreasing panel size (lower MA VDC) might keep you from going above the voltage limits.



�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: Knightdiscshooter] #2401972 07/01/11 12:38 PM
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kk1181, have you used the Moultrie solar panel supposedly designed for use with the D50 and other models? If so, what, if any, success have you had with the setup? I'm asking as I have four D50s and the panel is useless for any kind of auxillary power. When the D cells are near 20% the cam shuts off. Also, only one of the D50s will take night/dark flash photos. The other three records completely black photos which are useless.



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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: gamebear] #2402089 07/01/11 01:36 PM
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I forgot to say I'm interested in a DIY solar arrangement and am interested in all of you're experiment results...



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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: gamebear] #2403531 07/02/11 02:39 AM
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MathMan Offline OP
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I have used the moultrie power panel and it sucks. I would have batteries in the camera and the power panel hooked up and it wouldnt last long. I ended up selling it on ebay and then building some of these.

Also I have noticed that when the battery percentage goes below 90% the pictures are more blurry and it seems it doesnt take as many pictures at night.

you might be getting black photos because the flash may be out.

i will check into the charge controller...I have also thought of getting a voltage regulator that would regulate the voltage going to the camera to be only 12 volts. If they make something like that that is cheap enough.

The batteries last about 2 months to go to 90% and i am at the ranch every weekend so its no problem for me to switch out the batteries.

I just bought a Bushnell trophy cam and 3 D50s and two Stealth Cam 450s...I will be setting these up with just a battery and a wire to the camera and switching out the batteries...I dont want to blow any more cameras...


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: MathMan] #2404281 07/02/11 06:53 PM
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Interesting that you've had probs with the so called "accessory panel" too. Useless with the D50. I do have one of the panels powering a 12V DC fan. With the cam- forget it.

Now I'm experimenting with bypassing the internal guts in the cam with a solar panel and charge controller on the D50s. Looks like it might work. I'll post if it does.



"You can't aim a duck to death." -Beverly Sills

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Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: MathMan] #2720532 11/04/11 05:38 AM
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I had also researched on Solar Panel Battery Setup and came up with a almost unlimited battery setup. There are many other best options that can be assemble in cheap and low price. System used in such batteries are very simple and it is eco friendly.

solar panels texas


Re: External Game Camera Homade Solar Panel Battery Setup [Re: bevanwillson] #2853264 12/19/11 10:36 PM
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JLG89 Offline
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The reason the cameras fry on 12V batteries is that Moultrie used a resistor instead of a $0.25 voltage regulator on the 12VDC input jack. The result is that, if your input voltage goes above about 12.5V, it's liable to fry the camera. If you're building your own rig like this, get an ST Microelectronics L7812CV (or, if you want to wire directly to the battery terminals instead of the 12VDC input jack, get an L7809CV which will regulate to 9V). The input voltage can be anything up to about 38VDC, and the regulator will keep it at 9 or 12V. I recommend attaching the regulator to a small heat sink, or just a piece of metal, to keep it from overheating.


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