SSII (Snap Shot Sniper) Lithium Battery Blues…!!
A quick fix…!
Three different ‘Tupperware’ style boxes with SSII’s and battery modification…!
The little 3.6 volt lithium battery that comes with the SSII (Snap Shot Sniper) sensor is great until they start losing power. I went to India without checking the battery and after setting up my Nikon D3000 DSLR travel cam, it started tripping and would have gone until the camera batteries were done, or the card filled up which ever came first. With no spare within thousands of miles, I had no option but to close-out this location…I missed tiger and leopard because of that little battery.
I recently started building some new cams (Nikon D3s and Nikon D2h pro-body cameras) and pulled out my stock of SSII’s and the lithium batteries. Nothing would trip my cameras except for one that still had enough power and actually worked. All the other batteries were pretty much dead or close to that. What was I going to do? They are available here in Thailand but are very expensive due to taxes and shipping from where ever (I think it’s Israel-double or triple the price from the US).
Then I remembered someone on the forum had modified all his SSII’s with the 3 AA or 3 AAA battery packs. I had one and just soldered the wires from the pack to the spring (negative) and the post (positive). The sensor came on right away and went into walk test very quickly, and then shuttered the camera. I have now modified all my sensors to use these cheap battery packs depending on sensor box size (either AAs or AAAs). Even I can do this soldering modification…! However, there are some home-brew cams that will not allow this mod due to space restrictions.
I know it’s not glamorous but hope this helps those with limited skills and lithium battery blues like me…hah..!
