OK, I'm ready to go digital!

[LAKOTA]

I'm ready to try my first digital cam.

I will be using the D-380, (LP)MS-20, and Pelican case. What choices do I have as far as a refresh circuit board goes? And, what will I have to pay for the refresh board?

What kind of battery life should I expect with 4 C-cells for the camera? And most importantly, have the long power-up "lag" time issues the on the D-380 been resolved?

I don&#39;t want to waste time and money on a camera that takes 8-10 seconds to power up and take a picture. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif

[Hill Hopper]

It never has taken 8-10. The usual is about 2-3. That really isnt much different than an owl

[MCinIL]

Lakota Brian sells a board that will work with your setup. It has a setable refresh and lots of other options. Easy to use and install. In the 2.5 min refresh you can snap a pic in about 1 sec. Works great and if you get a slave flash the pics at night are super. His board I think is 36 bucks. MC.

[Haymaker]

LAKOTA,

If you&#39;re going to use the MS20 as your PIR source than Brian probably has about the only option in a board with a refresh circuit. Both my board and his new one has a fast shutter mode to take a pic in a second or less with your D380.

I would think you could get a few weeks of life out of 4 C Cells in fast shutter mode from the D380 if it just powers the camera. Hard to say what kind of batter life you&#39;d get if it powered the camera and control electronics.

Good luck!

[LAKOTA]

Haymaker,

I&#39;ve also been looking at your board. If I were to use it, what kind of batt. life will I get? Do you use a 9v to power the board and different power source for the camera?

________________________________________________

Brian,

If I use your refresh board with a MS20, are they both powered by the same battery? Battery life?

[Hill Hopper]

Lakota, if you use Brians timer, it is run from the MS20 regulated power. Mine work the same with his chip on it, and I have had very good results.

[Haymaker]

LAKOTA,

I haven&#39;t had a set of batteries go dead on my systems yet, so I can&#39;t give you an accurate answer to your question. I&#39;ve been running one camera system for 8 months now on 4 C Cells and it&#39;s still running strong. The PIR on the board uses very little power, and the board is kept in sleep mode until a PIR event comes in. I normally run the camera off of internal NiMH AA&#39;s, and the board on C&#39;s. You could probably set any of these systems up on 4 C Cell&#39;s running the camera and control board. You can run my board from a 9V battery too, but I&#39;m not sure what kind of life you&#39;ll get out of it because I have not run one like that yet.

[LAKOTA]

Haymaker,

What kind of life are you getting out of the NiMH AA&#39;s in a D-380? Are you using 4?

[Haymaker]

With 1600 MHR NiHM I&#39;ll get about 10 days from normal shutter mode (slower shutter times), and about 5 days in fast shutter mode. You can do much better using the D380 from an external battery source though.