General Information

What batteries should I use for my trail camera?

Ideally, a battery will offer a balance of the following: Long duration, High performance,and Fair cost.

Some recommendations:

Single-use batteries make excellent backup batteries: They store well for years, are always ready for action and offer high energy capacity.
• Lithium batteries are superb performers and cost more than the average battery, but check your equipment’s instructions first before using them. Lithium batteries (at 3 volts per cell) can overpower some devices (headlamps in particular) and fry their circuitry.
• Alkaline batteries are suitable for any device. Their main downsides: rapid depletion when used in a digital camera and the unending cycle of use-discard-replace.

Among rechargeables, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) are best
• They typically can be recharged and reused 150 to 500+ times and they outperform single-use batteries in “high-drain” devices, like digital cameras and frequently used electronics. Downside: NiMH batteries lose power when sitting idle, 1% or more per day. To keep them operating near their peak, standard NiMH batteries need to be recharged (and preferably used) every 1 to 2 months and they grow less predictable as they age.

There is no perfect battery and performance is not predictable – Many factors weight in the type of device being powered; the frequency or strength of normal use and/or flashes; the temperature; battery age—make it difficult to forecast how consistently a battery will perform. Operating a battery at elevated temperatures improves performance, but prolonged exposure will shorten life. Conversely, the performance of all batteries drops drastically at low temperatures (At –20°C [–4°F], most batteries stop functioning.) Please remember that your results may vary.

If continuous operation of your trail camera is paramount, solar banks/chargers are worth considering. For extended stays in remote corners of the wilderness, these solar units can power your camera and store energy in the day and then work off the stored energy throughout the night, saving the single-use batteries for emergency or unforeseen circumstances.

Wireless Information

What important information do I need to know about your wireless cameras?

All of our current Boly / Scoutguard wireless camera models use SIM cards to communicate with the cellular networks – Our cameras utilize the GSM spectrum frequencies, which is an cellular-industry standard and available world-wide.

Any SIM card you place in our cameras requires that the SIM card be provisioned with SMS and MMS activated, similar to services activated on a cell phone. Area coverage, text messages and data rates and limitations will vary from service provider to provider and may effect the effectiveness of the camera’s wireless capabilities.

All of our current cameras operate on 2G (2nd generation) and 3G (3rd generation) networks, with future models using 4G (4th generation) and 4G LTE networks.

How do I setup my wireless camera?

All of our current Boly / Scoutguard wireless camera models use SMS (text) and MMS (messaging) protocols to communicate with our cameras via the GSM cellular networks. Currently, only GSM cellular networks can be used with our cameras (Verizon and Sprint are not supported at this time).

There is a semi-brief setup quick web page that outlines the important information you may need to complete the configurations setup for your wireless cameras, which can be accessed here.

How do I remotely control my wireless cameras?

All of our current Boly / Scoutguard wireless camera models use SMS (text) commands to communicate with our cameras via the cellular networks – The camera must already be configured and connected to the cellular network. For help setting up you camera to work with your local/regional cellular network, you can download our Microsoft Windows application, BMC Config Tool (zipped), here for most of our current wireless cameras settings for over 40 countries and cellular companies.

The text commands can be entered manually or by the use of our app (BGTools) on AppleOS or on Android phones. BGTools can be downloaded for Apple phones via the Apple Apps Store (search for “BG Tools”) or for Android phone, use this link here.

This SMS quick guide reference document outlines the current text commands for our wireless cameras, which can be downloaded here.