![]() ![]() My biggest issue is degradation of the solar panels! After a year or so, the plastic encapsulating the (inexpensive) solar panels degrades and becomes opaque enough to keep the battery from fully charging each day. After a few iterations of designs and tests, I now have a reliable solar battery pack that can handle 100's of recording per day with typical Florida sun. Along the way, I tried various batteries and have at times left the Energizer Lithium batteries installed as backup to the solar battery pack. All of my cameras are running off of solar charged battery packs that I designed and built myself. I have a total of 6 XT cameras with some at remote locations so changing batteries is not a workable approach for me. It will show "OK" until the batteries shut off and then without warning, the camera is dead. Good quality 1.5 volt lithium batteries will work in Blink cameras, however, the battery level indicator will be useless. These works great in most devices designed for alkaline batteries. These have a circuit that holds the voltage steady at 1.5 volts until the battery is discharged to a certain level and then the battery shuts off. There are also lithium 1.5 volt rechargeable batteries (blackcube is one example). Again, the cameras are just not designed to work with that low of a voltage range and you can expect to have problems. The only positive to NiMh batteries is that they handle higher current than alkaline batteries, so maybe the voltage won't drop as much under load than an alkaline battery. Regarding NiMh rechargeable batteries, they have a lower operating voltage (1.2 - 1.25 volts) than fresh alkaline batteries and therefore likely to have more problems in a Blink camera. ![]() The cameras are just not designed to work with that voltage range. Also, the Blink cameras start to have problems when the voltage drops - dropped wifi connections, clicking on/off IR illuminator, and failing to record when everything appears to be perfect. Under load, new alkaline batteries run at 1.3 - 1.4 volts, so the Blink battery level indicator will show "Replace" very quickly. Typical alkaline AA batteries are about 1.5 volts when new and gradually degrade to about 0.9 volts where they quickly degrade to zero volts. ![]() The battery level indicator in the Blink cameras is designed for this voltage range (1.8 - 1.5 V) and will not work well for other battery types. The Blink recommended batteries ( Energizer Ultimate Lithium) actually have a voltage of 1.8 volts when new and slowly drop to about 1.5 volts where they quickly degrade to zero volts. But if you want to use these in electronics that are on for long periods or use a lot of power, like a set of string lights or a video game controller, you may need to recharge these batteries frequently.Hopefully this will clarify some of the varied information in these posts. That’s quite a bit of time for devices used infrequently or with minimal power, like TV remotes or flashlights. ![]() If you aren’t using them immediately, they can maintain a storage charge for up to a year.Įach charge gives these batteries 5.5 to 8 hours of use. These batteries are pre-charged and ready to use right out of the package and can be recharged about 1,000 times in their lifecycle, potentially replacing hundreds of single-use batteries.Įnergizer’s “Extended Life Composition” also promises up to five years of regular use before they need to be recycled. They’re also made from 4% recycled batteries, making them more environmentally friendly. This set of eight AA batteries from Energizer is an excellent household pack for keeping remotes, cameras, and kids’ toys up and running year-round. Runs down somewhat quickly between charges ![]()
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