Trailcam Issues

[kl9]

I recently began having issues with my Moultrie 880. The battery has been dying very rapidly. It did take 1800+ pictures in a matter of a week but I wouldn't think this would kill it so quickly. The cam is no older than 2 years. WI weather and the sort. Any suggestions?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I recently began having issues with my Moultrie 880. The battery has been dying very rapidly. It did take 1800+ pictures in a matter of a week but I wouldn't think this would kill it so quickly. The cam is no older than 2 years. WI weather and the sort. Any suggestions?

It does seem to be a very fast burn on a set of batteries. What kind of settings do you have operating? Is it over an attractant/bait? What kind of batteries? Alkaline? Lithium Ion?

 

[Terrific_tom]

Clean the battery contacts. A pencil eraser works well. After a period of time especially with temp changes will cause some corrosion.

 

[ruskbucks]

My father in law bought one of the panoramic view moultries . He said that his batteries were going dead with in a day or two. He called Moultrie and they said to go on their web site and download a upgrade. I'm not sure if that solved the problem or not.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

My father in law bought one of the panoramic view moultries . He said that his batteries were going dead with in a day or two. He called Moultrie and they said to go on their web site and download a upgrade. I'm not sure if that solved the problem or not.

Yep....a firmware upgrade may be in order.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

cold weather will contribute to this as well

 

[kl9]

Thank you all for the replies. The batteries are alkaline. The settings aren't set to high sensitivity or anything of that sort. The camera is supposed to be good for ~9500 pictures. I opened up the battery compartment and found the following picture which is attached. Seems to have some corrosion. Do I need to replace the battery compartment? Is this possible or do I have to order a new camera?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i would contact Moultrie and see if you can get a replacement part of if they have instructions for how to clean it.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I had this same exact thing happen with a browning cam. They replaced the battery compartment. I used rayvac batteries when that happend. I now spend the extra an purchase energizer or Duracell

 

[kl9]

Thanks all. Just got off the phone with Moultrie and they are suppose to be sending me another battery compartment within a few days.

 

[SD51555]

I would consider switching to energizer lithiums too. On amazon, you can usually find some for about $1/ea. Alkaline's can run somewhat less, but I think your burn rate will be much worse than the extra money spent on the lithiums. We can get thousands of pics per cam per summer/fall and end the year with 60-80% battery life left

 

[tooln]

Lithiums are the only way to go. I'm going on 2 years on mine.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

That is the first they thing they will tell you to do. It may or may not work. I had two M80s that would go through a set of batteries in a week. They had me do the upgrade. That didn't work. There was no corrosion to the battery compartment area. I replaced batteries 4 or 5 times and they never worked right. I had them replaced and still had issues. I used the more expensive lithium batteries Replacing lithium ion batteries on a weekly basis gets expensive. I've given up on Moultrie.

I had what sounds like the same issue with my m80. It was eating batteries excessively and was only getting between 80-100 pics in the process. When I called them they had me do the firmware update and it fixed the problem. That same m80 is still deployed and taking pics on one set of lithium batteries for several months at a time. Sorry you didn't have a similar experience with them. It's sounds like your experience with moultries is like my experience with cuddle back.

 

[kl9]

Alright so I talked with Moultrie and they sent me a new battery case free. I installed this as well as a software update and the camera is still having poor battery performance. Anything else?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Alright so I talked with Moultrie and they sent me a new battery case free. I installed this as well as a software update and the camera is still having poor battery performance. Anything else?

sounds like a dud of a unit....not sure what else in terms of trouble shooting, but i would definitely call them back and fill them in on the lack of performance and see if they are willing to make it right in some way.

 

[hillHuntR]

If your nights get cold at all ditch the alkaline batteries like others have said....camera will not operate when cold, then the camera will act alright again when batteries warm back up but drain quickly. Lithiums save you money in the long run. If lithiums don't last then it is the camera

 

[kl9]

Alright thanks guys, will give lithium a try.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Yeah I've not had good experiences with Moultrie the past several years. Switched to DL Covert and have been very happy. Some cams batteries lasted a whole year.

My brother purchased some cheap Moultrie cams last summer. By November they were not working properly. Not taking photos when they should have. Missed several great photos with large sized tracks in the snow in front of the units. At least his are not eating batteries though.

I just picked up a covert mp 8 black. So far it's been a good unit. It's eating through alkaline though....but that's partially my fault for having it on 3 shot burst on a corn pile. My m80 and m100 are on lithiums now. Those batteries have been in for almost 3 months now and the m80 is at 86% and the m100 is at 82%. My m80 is four years old and has taken 10's of thousands of pics in that time....only ever needed a firmware update and that has been the only issue.

 

[swat1018]

Alright so I talked with Moultrie and they sent me a new battery case free. I installed this as well as a software update and the camera is still having poor battery performance. Anything else?

Send it back to Moultrie, they'll send a new one. They always do for me. Problem is, the 2014s they are sending out are junk.

 

[JERRED GRACEY]

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