DIY Herd360 Battery Boxes for Trail Cams

Wanted to lay out how I put together external battery boxes for those interested. These have made life a lot easier, have paid for themselves compared to replacing lithium AAs and last way longer.

The three things needed are a container, a cable kit that fits your camera, and a battery. This is the basic DIY assembly video from Herd360. All his stuff is bulletproof including completely pre-built kits and solar options if you want to go that route. Parts below are not the absolute cheapest it can be done, but have worked well for me without breaking the bank. These boxes can easily be set up to run a feeder, you would just need to verify if it takes 6V or 12V and buy that type of battery. Some cams run on 6V as well.

Parts for the box:

MTM mini ammo can

Herd360 cable kits, we use chew proof with the thru-fitting included

Highly recommend the Herd360 kit since it is high quality and comes with everything you need, but you can buy the pieces individually if you want as long as you get a cable with the right size plug for your camera (Mike has listed all the plug sizes in the link above). The thru-fittings are size PG7 cable glands, and most batteries will use F2 spade terminal connectors. Harbor freight sells plastic ammo cans for next to nothing.

It’s not a bad idea put a 2A fuse on the positive wire, but I don’t and haven’t had any problems. I used to put silicone around the base of the fitting, but it was overkill and just made a mess. I had some pluck foam left over from a gun case and used a piece to keep the battery from rattling around in the first couple boxes I made, but it doesn’t make a big difference and isnt worth buying some just for this.

Battery/charger:

12V LiFePO4 Battery

Cheap lithium smart charger

All the 7ah lithiums on Amazon are made in china and probably in the same factory, buy enough and you’ll have to send back a dud but most work well. I have bought a dozen of the one I linked that all worked, and they come with terminals prewired.

Lithium batteries do have their quirks, they require a higher voltage charger and have a circuit board inside that turns the battery on and off, called a BMS. If a battery has sat for awhile and not been used, it will need to be “woken up” with a charger that has a lithium setting. When it gets below a certain capacity and needs to be charged, it turns itself completely off.

The regular SLA 7ah feeder batteries will work ok, but they’re about the same price and modern cams are really made to run at the higher lithium voltage. As they get low the camera will lose range and brightness, show it has battery but start doing funny stuff like not sending pics, dying overnight when it gets cold, etc. The lithiums on the other hand will run at 100% voltage until they get to a certain point, start showing 80-90% for a few days then shut off. This sounds like a bad thing at first but it makes it easy to see when they need a charge and the camera will work how it should right up until the battery turns itself off.

Other shite:

I’ve learned the hard way it’s a good idea to zip tie your box and cable onto the tree, post, whatever so varmits can’t pull it out. On tactacams I run the cable through holes on the back so it can’t be easily yanked out.

I am experimenting with solar panel controllers now but can’t recommend any yet, all I’ll say is do your homework. A solar panel that doesn’t have a controller on it can overcharge a battery or fry a camera. With the run time I’m getting, solar isn’t necessary for me.

On mineral sites, trails, and unbaited fields getting less pics these will last 3-4 months even set on instant send on tactacams. If over a feeder getting 100+ pics a day, they will run about a month. Your mileage will vary with the camera, flash settings, and delay between pics. I wouldn’t be surprised if these lasted all season on a single charge if you have the cam set to a moderate flash and sending periodically as the cell modem connecting is what consumes the most power. I’ve built a couple using 18ah lithium batteries and they run 2.5 months over a feeder with settings maxed out.