yoderjac
Well-Known Member
Most of my camera network is very old technology wireless BuckeyeCam Orion series. When BuckeyeCam came out with the X80 series, I got one of them and a PC base for it to test it out figuring that my aging Orion network would begin to fail in time and I would need to upgrade. The two systems are not interoperable, but they don't interfere with each other so they can run in parallel with no issues. It has been many years since I got the X80 and the Orion network is still running strong.
The Orion cams are designed to use 6v Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries. The X80s are designed to use 12v SLA batteries. The 6v Orion system is sort of unusual and there are many fewer solar chargers available for 6v systems. The change to 12v is one of the nice features of the X80 system. There are a lot of 12v solar chargers available.
SLA batteries have a downside in that if they discharge below 60% or so and stay in that low-charge state for a period of time, the life-span of the battery is sharply reduced. When this happens with my Orion system, a battery can fail withing a year or so. When the solar panels are sufficient to offset the power used for operation, these batteries can last 3 or more years.
By contrast, LiFePO batteries do not have this characteristic. They can be fully discharged and suffer no ill-effects. In my Orion system the SLA batteries are 12 amp hour. I have been able to find 6 to 8 amp hour LiFePO batteries that physically fit into the camera. They are smaller and lighter than the SLAs, but I can't quite fit two of them inside the camera. LiFePO batteries can be charged with a charger intended for SLA batteries, but they do better when put on a charger that is setup specifically for the charging characteristics of LiFePO batteries. Slowly, over time, I've been replacing the SLA batteries in my Orion network with these 6 ah LiFePO batteries. In cameras where I'm setup for an external battery, there is no problem hooking up two of these in parallel to get equivalent amp hours.
So far, the only downside I've found with the Orion Cams, is that the discharge voltage is different. Since the camera doesn't know what kind of battery it is, it assumes it is the SLA that it was designed for, so the percentage of charge the camera reports is inaccurate. That has not been a real issue as my setups are balanced enough that the chargers can keep up with the use.
I recently decided to replace the 12v SLA that I uses with my X80 with a LiFePO battery. I figured that since the battery was external and the commercial solar charger I was using was quite old, I would replace it with one intended for the LiFePO battery. Basically, the solar charger is connected to the battery terminals which are also connected to the camera. This worked at first, but when I went back to the farm to check it, it only ran for a short while and then I lost communication with the X80. After going to the field, I found the issue. Fortunately, the X80 was able to detect an overvoltage case and turn off the camera. It gave me the overvoltage message. The charge characteristics for a LiFePO have a peak voltage too high for the camera. So, when the panel got full sun, the overvoltage condition occurred, and the X80 shut down.
I ended up ordering a voltage regulator from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHQNRVMN?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
I placed it between the battery and the camera. Regardless of the voltage coming from the battery/charger, the camera only sees 12.6 volts. So far, this system has been running flawlessly again.
I doubt many hunters use the BEC cams because of the upfront cost, but there may be other 12v SLA cameras out there and owners may want to consider this before upgrading from SLA to LiFePO batteries.
The Orion cams are designed to use 6v Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries. The X80s are designed to use 12v SLA batteries. The 6v Orion system is sort of unusual and there are many fewer solar chargers available for 6v systems. The change to 12v is one of the nice features of the X80 system. There are a lot of 12v solar chargers available.
SLA batteries have a downside in that if they discharge below 60% or so and stay in that low-charge state for a period of time, the life-span of the battery is sharply reduced. When this happens with my Orion system, a battery can fail withing a year or so. When the solar panels are sufficient to offset the power used for operation, these batteries can last 3 or more years.
By contrast, LiFePO batteries do not have this characteristic. They can be fully discharged and suffer no ill-effects. In my Orion system the SLA batteries are 12 amp hour. I have been able to find 6 to 8 amp hour LiFePO batteries that physically fit into the camera. They are smaller and lighter than the SLAs, but I can't quite fit two of them inside the camera. LiFePO batteries can be charged with a charger intended for SLA batteries, but they do better when put on a charger that is setup specifically for the charging characteristics of LiFePO batteries. Slowly, over time, I've been replacing the SLA batteries in my Orion network with these 6 ah LiFePO batteries. In cameras where I'm setup for an external battery, there is no problem hooking up two of these in parallel to get equivalent amp hours.
So far, the only downside I've found with the Orion Cams, is that the discharge voltage is different. Since the camera doesn't know what kind of battery it is, it assumes it is the SLA that it was designed for, so the percentage of charge the camera reports is inaccurate. That has not been a real issue as my setups are balanced enough that the chargers can keep up with the use.
I recently decided to replace the 12v SLA that I uses with my X80 with a LiFePO battery. I figured that since the battery was external and the commercial solar charger I was using was quite old, I would replace it with one intended for the LiFePO battery. Basically, the solar charger is connected to the battery terminals which are also connected to the camera. This worked at first, but when I went back to the farm to check it, it only ran for a short while and then I lost communication with the X80. After going to the field, I found the issue. Fortunately, the X80 was able to detect an overvoltage case and turn off the camera. It gave me the overvoltage message. The charge characteristics for a LiFePO have a peak voltage too high for the camera. So, when the panel got full sun, the overvoltage condition occurred, and the X80 shut down.
I ended up ordering a voltage regulator from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHQNRVMN?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
I placed it between the battery and the camera. Regardless of the voltage coming from the battery/charger, the camera only sees 12.6 volts. So far, this system has been running flawlessly again.
I doubt many hunters use the BEC cams because of the upfront cost, but there may be other 12v SLA cameras out there and owners may want to consider this before upgrading from SLA to LiFePO batteries.
