![]() There are some rechargeables that produce a somewhat higher voltage that is then dropped down to 1.5 by an extra circuit in the battery. A regular battery might hold as much charge, but the voltage will drop earlier in its life and will be insufficient for the Blink camera to operate - hence the apparant short life. That's why the expensive lithium batteries are specified: they hold their voltage for longer than regular alkalines then fall off more suddenly as the battery starts to run out. the Blink cameras require a voltage of almost 3v (2x 1.5v batteries), so even if (big if) a given set of rechargeables can provide sufficient voltage in the first place then they won't for very long. The problem is that normal rechargeable AAs are 1.2v whereas normal batteries are 1.5v. 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. Hopefully this will clarify some of the varied information in these posts. ![]()
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