birddog Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I got a Stealthcam Wildview Xtreme II Motion Camera for Christmas: This unit takes 4 "C" batteries, and has an external jack for a 12 volt battery: With the camera I recieved a 6 volt solar charger, with the only directions saying to use rechargeable C batteries: I am wondering if anyone on here knows how to hook up a solar panel to the unit? It has alligator clips and a solar panel and it is made by Moultrie? Will this unit work with my camera??? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help Dont know how much you know about electronics, but you fairly easily could hard wire the panel and make it where you have the wires with a quick disconnect going to the panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birddog Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help electronically disabled would be a good way to say what I know about electronics. It has alligator clips, and It some how hooks to the motion camera, that is about as far as I have figured ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00N Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help Copied from the FAQ's on the Moultrie website. Sounds to me the camera you have must have clips installed on it in order to use their solar panel on it because those alligator clips attach to them. You might be able to hotwire them yourself, but it'd probably void your warrenty with not only the moultrie solar panel but the camera, too. If nobody knows the answer to your question might want to e-mail StealthCam about it. [ QUOTE ] Can I use a solar panel on my unit? Answer: Yes and no, depending on the camera model you bought. The only cameras that do not have solar panel connectors are the Game Spy 100 and the Game Watcher 100. If your camera has connectors they are located on the bottom right hand side of the unit. As long as you are using a rechargeable battery, you can use one. Do not use a solar panel with a dry cell battery! NOTE: Remember the solar panel recharges the battery, the camera does not run off the solar panel. [/ QUOTE ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help Should be able to get the right type of connector at radio shack to fit the jack on the camera. Then all you would need to do is to determine which lead is hot and which is negative and remove the alligtor clips and put your connector on. Really very simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help [ QUOTE ] This unit takes 4 "C" batteries, and has an external jack for a 12 volt battery: With the camera I recieved a 6 volt solar charger, with the only directions saying to use rechargeable C batteries: I am wondering if anyone on here knows how to hook up a solar panel to the unit? It has alligator clips and a solar panel and it is made by Moultrie? Will this unit work with my camera??? [/ QUOTE ] I'm confused. If the camera uses 4 C cells, it should be a 6 volt camera (4 x 1.5 volts per battery). But it has an input for an external 12 volt battery? If so, it must be stepping down the voltage internally. If you hook up a 6 volt solar charger to that 12 volt jack, my guess is that it won't work. In fact, I doubt if it will charge your internal C cells at all. What you need to do is somehow connect the positive and negative leads from the solar panel to the positive and negative outputs from the battery holder in the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00N Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help [ QUOTE ] I'm confused. If the camera uses 4 C cells, it should be a 6 volt camera (4 x 1.5 volts per battery). But it has an input for an external 12 volt battery? If so, it must be stepping down the voltage internally. If you hook up a 6 volt solar charger to that 12 volt jack, my guess is that it won't work. In fact, I doubt if it will charge your internal C cells at all. What you need to do is somehow connect the positive and negative leads from the solar panel to the positive and negative outputs from the battery holder in the camera. [/ QUOTE ] I noticed the same thing and something I noticed on StealthCam's site is some cameras have the attachements for a 6-Volt External Battery Cables built into them while others have the 12-Volt External Battery Cables built into them. I'm thinking this camera may have been one of those 6-Volt ones that aren't meant to hook up to that 12-Volt External Battery. I'd make double sure the camera is even meant to be hooked up to that 12-Volt External Battery before doing so or you might ruin it from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help Bet the external jack is for a 6 volt source texan. Just glanced through a cabelas catalog at the wildview and stealth cams and both where they have external power supply ports are using 6 volt sources. Some solar panels are for 6 or 12 volt. If your solar panel is for either or it should work with the rechargeable batteries just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help If the source on the jack is for 12 volt, modifying the camera still would be fairly simple. Could either solder the wires in at the battery posts and put in a quick disconnect for the panel in the housing of the camera and make it water tight, or could use the alligator clips and attach to the battery terminals positive to positive and negative to negative and leave the wires hanging out the door which I would not suggest. Assuming the c-cells are connected 2 batteries to a slot, 2 slots side by side, the orientation should not really matter as far as to which post they are connected so long as you have the positive and the negative both connected properly it should charge all of the batteries. If the batteries are all lined up long ways, that would be really simple, just connect the positve to the positive post and the negative to the negative and they will all charge. Guess if possible if you could take a pic of the inside of it and post it, I could point out where you would connect or solder in the wires. If the jack is a 6 volt and not a 12 volt, just replace the alligator clips with a plug to fit your jack and you are done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birddog Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help Sounds good, I am going to run to the store at lunch and see what I can find as far as actually looking at the camera, and seeing if I can figure it out. I'll report back with more questions! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gitcha_some Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Re: Solar Panel Help i have the moultrie cam and i think the panel is deifnantly made just for them because they have little terminals on the side marked for the solar panel.....i lvoe it! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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