I bought 2 Tactacam Reveal SK cameras last year (the SK is a package with a solar panel). They worked great for about a year, but this year it seems like the solar panel is no longer charging the battery. I would expect these to last more than a year, but curious if anyone else has had this issue.

I'm wondering if the best solution is to buy another (different) solar panel or buy rechargeable battery packs instead? I see that Tactacam sells solar panels, but I'm not sure if I want to pay $60 per panel to get these cameras working. Although the battery packs are $50 each as well.

https://www.tactacam.com/reveal-sk

I use the separate solar panel and it has worked great for a couple of years. I like being able to point the solar panel in the direction of the sun (south) while pointing my camera away from the sun (north). Not sure how well the embedded panel on this one works.

Thanks. I should have noted that the solar panel does detach and can be mounted anywhere within the reach of the cable and pointed in any direction.

I have the same one and I detached the solar panel and faced it more up so it gets more light for longer!

I run two of those and I guess due to size, placement is very important. It does help to detach panel.
With that said, I still invested in battery packs and am shifting over to their panels. It's a big investment but price of batteries and price of fuel and time to tend the cameras are justification.

Yeah, I guess that will be my justification too. It's 1.5 hrs to my lease, so at least half a day to go mess with cameras. I guess $60 per "better" solar panel is worth it.

I do think, however, that the SK solar panel is actually able to charge the lithium battery in the camera (when working properly). I believe the external panel you can purchase from Tactacam will use up the battery in the solar panel, and then switch to the internal battery, but does not charge the battery.

Yea for whatever reason one of mine does really well. The other does not do as well and the panel only prolongs battery life a few weeks. I'm closer to 4-5 hours from house to cameras.

I run three of these as well, but one is the older model without the solar or rechargeable battery. I just buy the 48 pack of batteries off Amazon for $15 and I'm good for the year.

The other two are both solar and ones runs perfectly and never goes below 90% battery. The other solar never stays charged. It's on a T post getting as much sun as it can get, way less than the other one that stays charged all the time, but it takes 100 pictures a night of hogs. So I'm guessing that's why it can't stay charged.

ETA: still the best game cams I've ever bought, and I will continue to buy them.

Run the same camera. Damn solar panel never worked and customer service was nonexistent. I added a generic external panel and it works like a champ!

Had a problem early on, but I followed their directions on which way to face the sun (which was not the way the sun comes from). Pointed them in the direction with the most full sun and rarely have issues unless it is extended cloudy days.

Also, I do find their customer support to be fairly helpful

I have one SK. I have scrapped the solar panel it came with and bought the 'free standing' one. I have also replaced the battery pack once. (I'm on year two.) My X-Pro is better.

Well surprisingly enough, one of the cameras started sending pictures again yesterday and it popped up at 60% battery! I know for sure it was around 10% the last time it sent a picture in August, so maybe something started working again.

The other camera is still dead. Guess I'll spring for the new external solar panel for that one.