NIMH batteries in game cameras.
Equipment
I read the owners manual for my new Moultrie game camera. It says Alkaline or lithium batteries only. The store where I bought it pushes NIMH with the purchase. Does anyone know what the risks are?
Hello Pat. It is a M880. My m80 works great with Nimh. I put them both out last night.I had a dozen bear pictures on each.
I have used Nimh batteries in my Moultrie 990I cameras & have had zero problems with them. No experience with the M880, but would think they would be very close to the same as the 990s.
I used them in my bushels trophy cam and had trouble. They kept getting hot
I've used the energizer nimh in several cams over the years with no issues. The energizer brand seemed to last the best.
The Tenergy NIMH rechargeables are compatible in my m880 and older 75ixrt as well (AA and C respectively). Rechargeable batteries run slightly lower voltages than alkaline batteries, so your battery guage on the camera will read lower (approx 50%) even at full charge but they will last just as long. Rechargeables do self discharge slightly faster than alkaline a but not a problem as often as I check mine (and swap out fresh batteries). Long run, you'll save money with rechargeables. Dave
In earlier digital home-built cameras, I had lots of trouble with them. I invested in an 8-battery charger that had the ability to not just charge, but to delete the charge adn cycle them. I would put new batteries in the camera and check it 2 days later (I was hunting nearby) and find it dead. At home, 3 of the batteries registered as a full charge, the 4th showed dead. After several of these events, even eliminating the offending battery, I stopped using them.
One guy I haev hunted with out of state uses them, but doesn't use them for long periods. If hunting nearby, he switched them out for newly charged ones as well as the card. With my WildGame & Bushnell newer cameras, Lithiums take thousands of shots and last about 6 months (temperature dependent), so I have not bothered with them.
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The nerd answer:
Like other said above NiMH run at slightly lower voltage. Older tech used 3.0V +/- 10% (2 regular batteries in series). Newer tech uses 1.8V and might have better voltage regulation. The other thing is the slope of the voltage fade of the batteries. NiMH drop off a cliff where regular batteries fade slowly. No telling which technology is in these cameras but I could see why NiMH can be a poor choice in many devices possibly improving in newer ones.
Also some of the flash circuits use higher voltages 6V (4 series batteries) and LEDs are brighter at higher voltages/currents too so you could affect the brightness and photo taking quality.
Thank you for the responses. I have been working with Moultrie and my camera issue does not appear to be a battery issue.
