They had cords with cigarette lighter or OBD-II plugs. I used to see similiar panels on ebay that came from Volkswagon. Mikeinkaty, the solar panel from AutoZone looks like a good deal. If I were building a solar powered battery pack for a camera I'd want some voltage regulation so my expensive cameras didn't get fried if, no not if, but when the battery wasn't connected to the camera while the solar panel was. When a camera is running without a solar charger, it runs at the nominal battery voltage, give or take 10%. The camera people must make some allowance for overcharged batteries, but who knows how much. Typical feeder solar panels don't have regulators and when there is no battery on the solar panel, I routinely measure 18-20V+. On a 65mA solar panel, and at 16V, that 12V battery was waaaayyy over charged. Just when you take a FULLY CHARGED lead-acid battery off a charger, it is going to be 6.7V-7.1V for 6V batteries and 13.4V-14.2V for 12V.
I'm almost as happy as you that yours are all OK. The camera manufacturers just say 6V or 12V. I'm thinking 16V might not be good for a 12V game camera. I saw the feeder battery voltage as high as 16V when the batteries and solar panels were new and there was 14 hours of daylight, no clouds, no shade. They run on 12V 7Ah lead-acid batteries and have common 7"x7", 12V, 65mA solar panels. I could be too cautious, but here's why I think you might be near the edge of disaster. Mattpatt, your cameras are a lot tougher than I thought a camera would be, and you have quite a variety. I will post pics and document the building process and post back up when this is complete! Thank you to everyone who provided insight and thoughts and ideas on this matter! I appreciate it greatly! So im sure there will always be something sucking juice! This is easing to me! I am concerned with burning something up!! These cameras that im going to be using for this are in a high traffic area and see at minimum 100 pics a night on 1 shot standard mode. I have one battery pack that is two years old now and still using the same battery. These small solar panels put out so little electricity that it isn't going to make much of a difference. I was worried about overcharge too and possibly ruining the battery but have found that as long as you have it connected to something so that the battery is being drained (SLA batteries also discharge over time by themselves) then you have nothing to worry about. My favorite is the Wildgame solar panels. I build my own external battery packs and use the small solar panels that are used for feeders. Great info there, this is the info I was looking for.someone who has done this before and has some first hand experience! Also thanks for the links! The combination of these two should give perpetual service in both winter and summer, assuming your not taking 100 video's at night.
Get a couple of slip-on connectors to hook up to the battery. Or you can make your own if Radio Shack has the proper size power plug. You may have to get a special power cord from the camera manufacturer if the power plug is an unusual size. Power Sonic has a pretty good reputation for SLA batteries: Autozone has a neat little 12V solar panel that works for me and will not overcharge the battery. For your stationary cams I'd use a 12V 7ah battery with a solar panel.
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