Batteries and Cold Weather

 

COLD TEMPERATURE USE

If you use your camera in cold conditions (daily temperatures consistently below 32F/0C) we recommend the following:

  • Expect significantly decreased battery life than what you typically get in warm temperatures.
  • It is a good idea to change batteries at the beginning of the cold season to assure your camera is properly powered during the upcoming cold conditions. Also, lithium batteries stand up better to the cold than an alkaline battery.
  • Using a longer Picture Delay setting, 1 minute or more, allows the batteries a bit of a recovery period which can help extend battery life and improve camera performance. 

 

TEMPERATURE AFFECTS ON BATTERIES

Alkaline batteries are greatly affected by temperature which results in a direct impact on the trail cameras performance. Below are some of the things that can be expected:

  • Camera will experience shorter battery life in cold temperatures
  • Camera may experience reduced IR image quality
  • The camera may experience intermittent performance when batteries are weak
  • Old batteries may will be impacted more quickly

 

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

Brand Differences: To complicate this even more, not all alkaline brands of batteries are the same. For this reason, the brands that are recommended in the trail cameras instruction manual are what should be used for optimal performance.

Battery Aging: An additional problem is that alkaline batteries lose their power overtime, even when not operating a device. Batteries manufactured 12 months ago may not have as much power as those manufactured recently.

Type: Batteries marked and sold as "Long Lasting" can cause diminished performance due to the power being restricted over a longer period of time to achieve this. 

 

A SELF TEST

If you are experiencing a problem with your camera such as some of the ones listed below and the area the camera is placed in is having cold temperatures the first thing to do is perform a self-test. Bring the camera into your home and place it in a common area, turned on, and let it perform for several hours or a day. View the results and see if the same issues are there. This typically will reveal what the cold weather is doing to the batteries.

  • Power Issues (slow to power on, turns off and on)
  • Flash Issues (weak or no flash)
  • Triggering Issues (slow to trigger or missed triggers)
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