Ok going to put out 8 mpe5's this weekend for a few months,. Will regular rayovacs do the job? Or do I need lithiums? I'm sure they will see snow sleet and cold temps. As these will be set in the New Hampshire woods!,,I'm not worried about 3000 pictures just regular action in these spots , just want cams to trigger with rayovacs
I've slowly been switching to the Rayovac brand... Just because they are cheaper. I got 48 batteries for $11 a few weeks back. I only run four cameras so I have not noticed a big difference in how one works better than the other. It would be interesting to set up a camera with rayovac and another with lithium and see which one comes out on top.
I was just at my home depo, they had a 70 pack of rayovacs for 13 bucks!.. I'm going back to buy them now! I'm going to run my mpe5's on these for 90 days on 2 picture burst mode!! See how they last with cold temps and snow!,
You honestly can't lose when you find a deal like that on 70 batteries. I've honestly had good luck with my rayovacs and I've used them in the brutal winters of central MN. I think you will be pleased... And if not, it's only $13 and you can make the switch to lithiums.
Thks MnHunter,.. I think from what I been reading they should be ok! My area is not that busy , I think in 90 days I may get 100-150 pictures per camera!,,,I can't wait to get them out!, love the winter pictures!
You will have 0 problem with getting 100-150 pictures in 90 days. I had one of my cams on a mineral site last spring and got 2500 pictures in 2 weeks and it barely made a dent in the battery life
Rayovac's or any other Alkaline battery will get the job done in decent weather, but their performance drop off steeply in extremely cold temps. Same can be said for NIMH rechargeable batteries. Lithium Ion batteries perform much better in those extreme temps, but obviously cost ALOT more. If you plan on leaving them out for an extended period of time, I would suggest using the Lithium Ions, but if you are going to be able to get out and check them every couple weeks or so, then an Alkaline battery will be fine because worst case scenario you only lose a week or so. Best of both worlds would be a rechargeable Lithium Ion AA, but those are really expensive at this point. Hopefully one day they will be an affordable option.
I had rayovacs in my cuddebacks all last winter and they made it thru just fine, I have gotten a full year on a set with a 5 sec picture delay. I will keep using them for the great price you get on them. Beefie
Well I'm going with the rayovacs, just bought. 70 pack!, 13 bucks!,,if they make the 90 day set ,I will be a rayovac guy for ever!, I mean 13 bucks will do 8 cams!,,can't beat that!
I run rayovacs in all my coverts. I had a mp6black take pictures on rayovacs @ -35° temps not including wind chill last winter. I see no need to run lithium batteries in coverts. Stock up on them rayovacs if you find deals. Menard's has some great deals too. I just put a mpe5 out and won't worry about them rayovacs till spring if that. I usually change batteries when the meter hits 3 to be on the safe side, but ran one down and it was taking pictures at "0" on the meter. Night flash acted goofy but still worked.
I use only lithium in my cameras now and get about one year iwth them. Alkaline batteries will be affected with low temps causing malfunctions in cameras. I have had them freeze when I used them and only got a few days use with them. No longer a problem with lithium.
I understand the performance behind the lithium batteries but to have a few cameras on rayovacs function in one of the coldest winters in Wisconsin I will save my $. If lithium's were cheaper yes I would run more of them but from what I put my cams through rayovacs never let me down. I got some Duracell procells I run in my Bushnell HD black flash and as of this weekend it has been out a year. My moultries couldn't keep rayovacs more then a month in the dead of winter, so something's depends on the camera too. My wireless thermometer says if you want it to read down to -40 run lithium batteries.
I changed over to lithiums and am happier with far fewer piles of old batteries to deal with. I get about $20,000 worth of fun out of $500 worth of lithiums. Far fewer battery change outs and fewer dead batts and fewer missed days due to dead batteries halfway through card pulls. Lithiums are worth the higher price IMHO. Makes a lot of difference how much traffic your cams get and how much at night too, it's common for many of my cameras to get 1200 pics per week set on one pic on 30 sec delay. Been running lithiums in some cameras since August and they are still showing full charge while cameras on procells have gone through two sets.
My Coverts seem to handle the Rayovac's pretty well in picture mode, but burn through them pretty fast in video mode. As the batteries wear down, I will get full length day videos, but will only get a second or two video at night in the IR mode. I really like my Tenergy rechargeable's. They have saved me quite a bit of money, but I have added several cameras and don't have enough rechargeable's to go around. I have been running Rayovac's on about half of my cameras. I hate spending money on batteries. I have 13 cameras out, which accounts for 120 batteries in the field.
Duracell copper tops for me. I can usually get a year out of a set of batteries. I have 4 coverts and run them all year round. Don't seem to be many Duracell fans here?
I know for me, I get over a year in my moultries with rayovacs and they're quite a bit cheaper than Duracell. To the op though, I wouldn't waste money on lithiums. I get a year out of rayovacs in my moultries. Like jake, my cameras were in the woods in -40 temps and did fine.
