I recently purchased a game camera that I will simply set up off my back deck to capture images of animals that come by at night. Rather than use batteries and/or a solar charger, I plan to power it directly via an exterior household plug using an AC/DC converter. The camera has an outlet for this type of power.

The specs are

6V 2A 3.5mmx1.3mm 3.5x1.3 AC-DC Power Adapter 90 Degree Corner

However, I want to set up the camera about 20' away from the exterior wall plug and the cord is too short. I have identified an extension cord that will accommodate the distance

HDCA20W 20 ft 1.3mm x 3.5mm DC Power Adapter Extension Cable, 20AWG, White

, however, I do not know if at this long distance, will it still power the camera?

As you might've already concluded, I know very little about these matters!!

 

Where are you getting the specs....... off a plug in power supply ?
I'm guessing it's a 6vDC adapter at 2amps.

That is quite a hefty power supply but the camera may not need anywhere near that amount of power. The specs you really need are the camera specs.
How many and what size batteries does it use ?

 

It requires 8, AA 1.5 v batteries

 

8AA batteries is 12vdc. Pretty strange that it uses a 6v adapter.
What camera do you have there ?

 

It's much easier to just use batteries, all of my Bushnell cams go for a year or more on one set of them.

 

I put lithium batteries in my cameras and they go well over a year on a set of batteries. And with batteries you don't have the worry about water getting into your wire extension connections.

 

I have heard that lithium batteries produce or have an odor that bears can detect, don't know if that's BS or true but wouldn't be surprised since they are known to have an incredible sense of smell. I have always just used quality alkaline batteries with very good success. As a side note I use a sharpie to put the in service date on each battery so I get a real assessment of their longevity.

 

This is the camera I purchased:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It clearly states the specifications for the direct power supply.

My reason for direct power is that this cam takes very high-resolution videos and it is WIFI. Both of these features eat batteries huge. And, since it will be about 12' from my house, my thinking is to use direct power and never worry about batteries.

 

Well, I wish you luck with it, let us know how well it works out.

 

A few months ago, I purchases a similar camera that had both Bluetooth and wifi. It went through 8 aa lithium batteries in 12 hours. I sent it back, needless to say. Since this is basically taking images of my back yard, it doesn't make sense to use batteries when continuous power is a mere 12 feet away.

And, I happen to own land about 100 miles away, if I would put a camera out in the wild, it would be stolen within a week by the locals.

 

I've lost a couple cameras and recovered one with photos showing the bear playing with and chewing on the camera. All were powered by lithium batteries. Bears can smell almost anything so I don't doubt they could tell what batteries are inside. Still, they are curious overgrown trash pandas. Human scent may scare them off but the smell of our "stuff" has almost become a dinner bell for them. It's bloody hard to keep bears out of the yard and out of the trash in some areas.

Oh, and many trail cameras make a subtle sound when they take pictures. I think bears are curious and is part of why they love to play with the cameras.

If you are using wifi on the camera then you do need to power it externally. I wouldn't bother with plug in extension cables for powering the camera. I'd cut the power cord from your power supply and solder in a section of wire in the middle to make it the length you need. Soldered connections in heat shrink should be more reliable than plug & socket power connections out in the weather.

Since you will have power available you can consider using an IR illuminator. If your camera does fine at night you don't need it but I've used them to greatly extend the range of the camera and it can provide a more even illumination for better photos.

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And, I happen to own land about 100 miles away, if I would put a camera out in the wild, it would be stolen within a week by the locals.
Yea, if you have night vision or even a cell phone's camera it makes the trail camera's IR flash impossible to miss.

 

Boy, isn't that the truth. My neighbors constantly have problems with bears destroying their bird feeders and getting into garbage cans that are in bear proof enclosures. I don't get what the find so good about birdseed though.