Just a quick note about the life of the batteries in three of my camera traps. They were out in the field from May 25 until September 28 when I changed the cards and batteries in all three. All builds had Bigfoot boards powered by three rechargable AAA batteries; the cameras (two Sony S40s and an S600) were powered by rechargable AAs (two in the camera and six externals). The batteries were a mixture of Imedion and Amazon 2400 mah rechargeables. When the cameras were checked they were all still taking photos; one had well over 1,000 photos on the card, the others between 400 and 600.

I've never tested the absolute maximum longevity of AA rechargables in a build, but I'm impressed by these batteries.

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I've used 3 x "AAA" NiMH Amazon batteries (Japanese cells) in the BF boards and got about 2 months before they had to be changed. My tester showed that there was 20% power remaining at that point. I talked to Gary prior to using 3 x rechargeables (3.6v) as opposed to 3 x alkalines (4.5v). He said that they should work but may not last as long, that's all. So his assumption was spot on with my results. The runtime for 8 x "AA" 2400 mah batteries does not surprise me at all, judging by my own experiences that is. So if those "AAA" cells are doing that well for you. I would certainly be pleased as punch with those results. I almost wonder if some BF boards just work better than some others. Different parts suppliers, unannounced upgrades to components, better soldering etc, etc. I think that you may have a very unique board Woody. Then again, I may just have a few odd boards.....who knows.

I once had an S600 w BF board and the cam had 6 x "AA" NiMH Envelopes 1900 mAh batteries powering them. The BF board finally gave up the ghost for some reason (6 years old) and that caused the board to go wonky. Made the cam fire off 600+ pics with flash before the cam's power died. I was surprised that the cam was able to fire off that many flash pics given the power supply.

Maybe Codger has some testimonials he can share with us. I recall that he uses S600's and has left them for very long extended periods of time. I don't know what board or batteries or how many that he was using though.

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To greater appreciate an animal is to walk in its footsteps

[quote="westcocanuck2"][quote="Woody Meristem"]Just a quick note about the life of the batteries in three of my camera traps. They were out in the field from May 25 until September 28 when I changed the cards and batteries in all three. All builds had Bigfoot boards powered by three rechargable AAA batteries; the cameras (two Sony S40s and an S600) were powered by rechargable AAs (two in the camera and six externals). The batteries were a mixture of Imedion and Amazon 2400 mah rechargeables. When the cameras were checked they were all still taking photos; one had well over 1,000 photos on the card, the others between 400 and 600.

I've never tested the absolute maximum longevity of AA rechargeables in a build, but I'm impressed by these batteries.[/quote]
I've used 3 x "AAA" NiMH Amazon batteries (Japanese cells) in the BF boards and got about 2 months before they had to be changed. I went by how much power was left in them and my tester showed about 20%. The runtime for 8 x "AA" 2400 mah batteries does not surprise me, that would seem about right. So if those "AAA" cells are doing that well for you. I would certainly keep running them.[/quote]
I use NiMH batteries in AAs(2400mah) along with 10,000 NiMH D-cells , 5,000 NiMH C-cells, and Powerex AAAs and 9v(actually 10v) cells. I have had good luck with all of them with the exception of the AAAs. They just don't seem to last very long for me. In colder weather I will use lithium AAAs to power the boards and in warmer weather I just use alkalines. In the cameras I use Ladda,Imedion, or Tenergy AAs.On the boards that use 9v batteries....the Powerex rechargeables have surprising worked really well....saving some $ at the same time

I've used NiMH AA cells for back-ups with good results, but decided to use D and C cell alkalines for 6-month overwinter sets i(still pics) n the Sierra Nevada. I fit 2 D and 2 C-cells in a Pelican 1060 case and left the cameras on a talus slope for 7.5 months. One cam was still going strong in late spring, but the other 4 were low on power.

Of course one hyperactive mouse can blow the batteries in no time at all. I have a camera at a log fall across a deer trail -- trying to get 30 sec clips of bears from a "creative angle". Logs are overpasses for deer mice, and the mice fill most of the 32 GB card. It takes only 2 weeks (about 600 clips) to run the Browning batteries down to 50% power. BUT, I've gotten a few good bear clips. I send most of the clips to "trash".