Feeder Battery

Is there a “ better “ battery for a feeder? I’ll pay a little more if it’s better

Most are only as good as having a solar charger to keep them charged. Even then, we keep several extra batteries at the lease because none of them are invincible. Your best friend is to slap a little diametric grease on the terminals to avoid corrosion. We've lost more batteries to that over the years than anything.

We use the grey ones with the blue tops

Ive never really done much research on this. Bucees seems to be cheapest and thats what we have been buying. As was said, the solar is the key and they last a long long time. Like you, its important enough that I would pay more if it mattered but it doesnt seem to.
My new lease we have been struggling first two years to get everything up and going like we like and we are using a hodge podge of feeders and a couple have bad solars. We check voltage every time we fill and it seems about every two to three months we have to switch out the battery.

I just use the cheap $10 sealed lead acid 6V rechargeable battery. They have different brand names on them, but are probably all made in China in the same factory. They typically last me 3-5 years. As said above, a solar panel that has a proper output is key.

blue and grey ones.

My buddy (he may chime in) just converted all of our new feeders to lithium with charge controllers. Time will tell, but I'm excited at 2,000 cycles versus a lead acids 3 cycles when a solar panel gets knocked over/chewed up/something goes wrong.

Many of the cheaper batteries will "read" fully charge yet lack the power needed to spin the feeder plate! Got to keep them charged and in optimal condition.

The grey ones are the best, have to agree.

always test batteries with a draw on them

I have run 6 volt batteries for many years. Had constant problems with batteries going dead. One year i replaced one
controller with an Academy brand controller. I run 7 feeders, out of all of them the only one that kept full charge that year was the one with the Academy controller. Since then then, all of my controllers have been changed. Using same solar panels, same cheap wild game 6 volt bateries no issues for the last 6 years. If you are having battery issues, check your controllers.

I’m using the “ timer”


From the batteries plus dude that is an apparent meth user , he said the Duracell they carry were better. They were the same price at the gray/blue. I went with meth head advice
The batteries are higher than giraffes as at battery plus

The best ones I have gotten were black with red lettering on them. They came out of phone system backup, and were 2 years old when i bought them and still were better than the ones I have gotten at walmart/academy etc. Bought them once and have never seen the listing again.

I use the batteries from academy. Good charger and one was still going strong 5 years later

IME, any battery made in Mexico will not hold or last near as long as one made overseas.

Solar power them keeps em going for year plus

Check out Bio-enno batterites, on web. The 7 or 10amphr battery will work fine with most small or larger feeders, even if they are solar powered
ones. you will pay more, the quality is there. check out some of the reviews, on those batteries.



Hunt safe, keep a good knife sharp! bullets are going away....

I have one of these that is 5 years old and still going strong. Always use with solar panel.

Don't ya just love spell check, when it changes dielectric to diametric.
That is a great idea and I do it on the feeder batteries and also on the AA ones in my game cameras. I think it helps, it sure doesn't hurt any.

I buy the ones at Buccees or Academy and they seem to last a couple of years with solar charger. Cheap enough to replace, so not too worries about their life, but the longer, the better. Seems mine usually make it through the cold of winter okay, but the heat seems to zap them dead. Most times I end up replacing in July or August, but that could also be coincidence.

I started scratching the date purchased onto the top of the battery with a pocket knife a few years ago. You will be surprised how long some will last.

solar charger IMHO

I ordered a 6-pk of the 6v 4.5ah gray with blue top ones (Power-Sonic) from amazon a few years ago - TWO were crap right from the beginning; the other 4 are still going strong.
Luck of the draw on 'inexpensive' batteries.

Yuasa & Panasonic are really good batteries $$, as long as you don't get a Chinese counterfeit of one.

Regardless of what you get, like everbody says, a good/reliable solar charger will give them max (5yr+) life,
and if you have long run times/multiple times/day, you need a bigger (higher capacity) solar charger.

If money is no object you can now get Lithium rechargeable batteries that replace SLA's -
6v - https://www.powerstream.com/LLLF-6v.htm
12v - https://www.powerstream.com/LLLF-12v-10ah.htm

the have the advantage that over-discharging them will not damage/shorten life like what happens with regular SLA's

still need a solar-cell to keep charged

This is the route we are going. You need a larger solar cell with higher output and you also need a charge controller

You can get 12v 6ah lithiums from Amazon for under $25. They claim to have built in overcharge protection. I have been using them this summer in a backpack sprayer without issue.

TLew, just curious if you found any good resources that discuss solar panels and charge controllers for the smaller 12v lithiums and if a charge controller is really needed? I have not found much on the issue myself. Thanks

The only bad thing on these small lithium batteries is using below 32 degrees if you find one with cold weather cut off your feeder won’t work if it doesn’t have cold weather cutoff using below 32 will kill the output of the battery

It's ok to use them below 32 degrees - you just don't want to CHARGE them below 32 degrees.
I'm not aware of any that completely 'turn off' below 32 degrees.

It's easy to 'disengage solar charging' for low temps:
I used a cheap 5°C N.O. bimetal switch (in my wifi relay) to open the solar circuit (not charge) below 5°C (41F ) - like this one...https://www.ebay.com/itm/314706486001[/quote]

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There’s a lot of lithium batteries that have high & low temperature shutdown built in the bms . If you put a solar panel on one with no low temperature cutoff then your going to be charging it below 32 degrees. Shutdown on most lithium batteries below 32 degrees and above 140 degrees some have built in heater so the battery never gets below 32 degrees.

I ordered these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MD8R4M6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I didn't know about the 32 degree charging thing. So I just ordered a few of the temp cutoff thingys noted above. I guess I just wire it in on the positive wire coming from the solar panel to the battery?

^ yep, and tape it against the battery so it goes by the battery temp.

When I buy new SLAs for my feeder, I usually put them on a 12v mA battery tender to top off before I throw them in the feeder- you never now how long they've been sitting on the shelf. Is that ok to use on the lithiums or is there a better low amp charger option?