Stealthcam on car battery - short run time
10-17-2012, 09:53 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 1
Stealthcam on car battery - short run time
My StealthCam eats AA batteries like candy, so I rigged up a power cord to a brand new 12V car battery in a marine weather box. The Stealthcam takes maybe qty. 20 - 30 second videos (sometimes a LOT fewer - say 5) and then blinks "LOW BATT" and won't take any more videos. When I put the battery on the charger, it shows full charge. It is almost like the Stealthcam is DESIGNED to NOT work with a car battery (that is, so sorry, please buy OUR battery). Is anyone else out there experiencing this?
10-17-2012, 11:42 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,592
springbay1: I'm not familiar with that brand of camera. I did what you are doing with the early version of WildView EZ Cam which were hard on (C-batteries). Here are a few suggestions which you may have tried: 1)if using an older battery, it may show full charge on the battery charger, but it may not hold a charge properly under load. I would suggest testing the battery about a half hour after taking it off the charger. This will give the battery time to stabilize. Batteries always read higher when first removed from a charger (automotive or rechargeable camera batteries). 2)check your connections, making sure they are clean and making a good contact. 3)I found if my 12 volt battery dropped to around 6 volt (checking with a digital meter) the camera would not function properly. In my case, my batteries were used in winter time which also cuts there out put.
Does your camera have an internal switch to change, say from AA to either rechargeable or external? The reason I am asking, I recently had access to some SpyPoint IR6 which has this. They told me if I used the solar panel, the switch has to be set to rechargeable, but if I was using AA or AA rechargeable to leave the switch to alkaline.
Another thing to be very careful of is: the center of the external plug is positive. This has to connect to the positive post of your 12 volt battery. This wire should have either a dotted or solid tracer on it usually white or grey. You can confirm this using a meter set for continuity. I put a small piece of white talpe on this wire near the end I would connect to the battery. Mark it "+" for a quick reference. If these connections get swapped, there is a component in the camera that gets fried, then the external port will not work. Your internal battery system will still work. If this did happen, then this may be why you are showing "low battery" due to the camera using up the "AA battery" power.
You could also send an email to the manufacture explaining what the camera is doing. They may be able to help or have a software up grade to correct the problem. Best of luck.
Does your camera have an internal switch to change, say from AA to either rechargeable or external? The reason I am asking, I recently had access to some SpyPoint IR6 which has this. They told me if I used the solar panel, the switch has to be set to rechargeable, but if I was using AA or AA rechargeable to leave the switch to alkaline.
Another thing to be very careful of is: the center of the external plug is positive. This has to connect to the positive post of your 12 volt battery. This wire should have either a dotted or solid tracer on it usually white or grey. You can confirm this using a meter set for continuity. I put a small piece of white talpe on this wire near the end I would connect to the battery. Mark it "+" for a quick reference. If these connections get swapped, there is a component in the camera that gets fried, then the external port will not work. Your internal battery system will still work. If this did happen, then this may be why you are showing "low battery" due to the camera using up the "AA battery" power.
You could also send an email to the manufacture explaining what the camera is doing. They may be able to help or have a software up grade to correct the problem. Best of luck.
