BuckeyeCam Connector Change

yoderjac

5 year old buck +
When Buckeye cam moved from the Orion to the X-Series, I knew they changed the power connector, but I did not realize they changed the antenna connector. After doing some quick field testing with my X-Series, I placed my X80 at camp to monitor our entry gate during a logging operation so I could count truck loads that went out. I had power, so I simply connected the charger to the battery and used that to run the camera. Since the base antenna was right above the camera on an antenna mast, I just used the rubber ducky that came with the camera. All was well.

Today, I decided to move it to the field to replace an Orion that I need at a more distant location. I set up a large solar panel. I knew I was missing the cable to go from the panel to the battery so I ordered that from BEC. I'll install it when it comes, but the panel is in place along with the charge controller.

When I tested it, I only had about 3 bars of signal. Since the Orion already had a 6db yagi pointed at the base, I figured I'd just use that but I wanted to see how much increase I'd get in the signal. When I hooked it up I got nothing. The Orion that was using it was working fine with a string signal so I started scratching my head. I switched back and forth and the higher gain antenna gave me no connection and I consistently got 3 bars with the rubber ducky.

Hummm.....

I then took a closer look...The connector used to connect the antenna to the Orion cameras is a Male RP SMA. It turns out you need a regular Male SMA to connect to the X-Series.

So, when ordering cables for larger external antennas from L-Com or any third party source, you'll need Male N to Male SMA for X-series and Male N to Male RP SMA for Orion.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Well, I was wrong. I got a cable with a standard SMA connector. It fits fine and is the right general type, but the conductor is not long enough. Take a look at the rubber ducky:

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Notice how much longer the conductor is than a standard SMA. I think I'll need to call BEC on this one. Maybe they used a different connector on this one. It was one of the original X7Ds.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Jack,
Something looks wrong about that. My original cams were X7D's that I sent back to upgrade to X8D's.
Both X series cams use a male mini BNC on the camera and female on the antena side.

Here is a buckeye stock rubber ducky for the X series cams. Is it possible the male pin pulled from the connector on the camera side and is stuck in the original antena?

image.png
 
Interesting. Mine must have been one of the originals. I pre-ordered it. I know the x-series had a rough start and the made a number of refinements. I'll have to give them a call. Given your picture of an antenna, it looks like yours uses the same RPSMA connectors as my X-series.

Thanks for the photo. Now I have come context to chat with them.

Thanks,

jack
 
I finally got this issue resolved and just thought I'd update this thread. It turns out that they used the same RF connectors on the X-series as they do on the Orioins. The conduit actually broke off and stuck in the antenna. I sent the camera back to BEC and they replaced the connector for free. I got it back last week and tried to deploy it. I was able to talk to it and had good signal levels, but it would not transmit pictures back to the base. After I thought about it for a while, I realized that when I send cameras back to BEC they always update the firmware to the latest version. I was using an old version of the desktop software so I decided to upgrade to the latest version to see if that would solve the problem. I assumed the install would do an upgrade, but it did not. It did a full new install. Since I had not unregistered the camera from the old version of the software, I could not register it with the new version. I tried uninstalling the new version and reinstalling the old version, but I could no longer talk to the camera.

When I can back this week, I went to the camera and did a manual unregistration of the camera. I was then able to register it with the new version of the desktop software and everything ran fine. Signal levels are much higher now as well.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Jack
How are they doing at selling these systems now. Really do hear about them or see any advertising for them any more.
 
Jack
How are they doing at selling these systems now. Really do hear about them or see any advertising for them any more.

I have no idea. They really are aimed at a different market segment than most systems. Most of the folks using these are biologists doing research and game departments. There are a number of deer managers using them. The X-series was an attempt to bring down cost and reach a larger market, but I don't think the cost came down low enough. Except for the professionals, few folks are willing to pay for the reliability and lifespan. I would expect most of their sales come through the professional community where advertising is not a driver. I do know that cameras are not the core of their business.

I can say from my personal experience that they are still very responsive when I need support. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that they are still supporting my older Orion series so well. Most of my cameras are quite old now. I've sent some back for refurbishment (things that wear out with use like Lexan, connectors, etc.). They sometimes charge me a small amount for parts and labor, but not always. For example with the X80 issue described in this thread, they replaced the connector and the Lexan lens cover. The bill said "Courtesy Repair". They charged me nothing.

I have had some recent interactions with them. In addition to this X80 issue, I just bought John Walton's old Orion system. I figure that they won't be able to get parts for the Orion forever. The primary reason I bought it from John is for backup in case I do eventually have a hard failure on an Orion, I can swap in one of the cameras I bought from him. In the mean time, I'll probably use his cameras as "roving" cameras to learn about deer movement verses the fixed position cameras I currently have for tracking population, sex ratios, and recruitment.

At any rate, John forgot to unregister his cameras from his base and he had misplaced the passwords. I tried to install his base on another Windows 7 computer to unregister the cameras. I could not get the latest desktop software to recognize the base. After a short discussion with BEC, they believe the firmware in the base is not compatible with their latest windows drivers. They had me send the base back to them so they could update the firmware. In the mean time, I gave them John's name and the serial numbers of the cameras and they were able to verify those serial number matched cameras sold to John and they gave me the passwords. This allowed me to unregister them manually and register them with my PC base. I've deployed a couple of them already.

I don't have any insight into the company beyond being an end user.

Thanks,

Jack
 
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