Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[12pointer]

If you can s

If you can send me a pm with your email address I can send you the latest.

John,

Did you get my PM? Not rushing you, just making sure I sent it correctly?

 

[john volkman]

John,

Did you get my PM? Not rushing you, just making sure I sent it correctly?

i was out of service but i sent you an email last night let me know if you need anything else.

 

[john volkman]

Good afternoon John,

So I have taken all my cameras down for this year and I must say, for the first time using Cuddelink I am 90% satisfied. Battery life was fine for me, transition was great all year. My only complaint remains the sensitivity and from what I have been reading on here, some of that is probably my set-up! I had my cameras set up pretty high pointing down at the trails, which I understand is not optimal.

I currently have 8 G series cameras and a home unit. I intend to add 6 more G series cameras to my network in the spring,but would like to experiment a little with a couple of my current cameras around my house in the off season, so that I understand them and different set-up conditions before I redeploy them this spring! Having said that...could you send me the most current firmware update and instructions on how to install the firmware. I only intend to upgrade the firmware on the two cameras I am going to be experimenting with and the home unit for now, as there will most likely be a new firmware update between now and spring!

Thanks again for all your help this season and I look forward to adding to my network in the spring and getting the most out of this system!

This is great to hear , i typically set my cameras between waist and knee high and level them. Only exception would be at times on scrapes i will set mine pointing down at an angle if i can get it to point right at the scrape and be far enough away to get the full deer image. Im not suggesting this is the only way but i have-not had sensing issues at all with either series. most of of the time my cams are still sensing deer beyond a range that allows for a good image especially when considering the low rez clink images. I do try to set my cams with anitcipation of the deer being within 25 ft if i can.

 

[bjseiler]

Do you think the battery level alerts will ever get better? Right now I'm getting 1 day, 2 days max of a warning at Low! before the cameras go dead. My cell home just went low this morning and now I won't be back to the farm for another week.

 

[john volkman]

Do you think the battery level alerts will ever get better? Right now I'm getting 1 day, 2 days max of a warning at Low! before the cameras go dead. My cell home just went low this morning and now I won't be back to the farm for another week.

if you arent using a battery accessory it wont be better until they can figure out a better way to gauge the level, currently it uses voltage level. The cameras need firmware that recognizes lower voltage rechargeable, standard alkaline and also lithium , these are all different. Lithiums are even more difficult since they hold full power until they die. When using a booster it gives you a buffer in that when the "ext Low" shows you have a rough idea of how long the internals will last. The 2019 battery options should simplify things greatly for anyone using solar or standard alkaline and they will work with all existing models and any models that are launched in the future.
i recommend to all to use a battery booster on the cell home units, it makes things much easier. at $25 or less retail its well worth it.

 

[12point]

Is there any difference in pictures that are sent to a home cell unit that is set in a central location and the cameras
located north and south of the home unit?

 

[john volkman]

Is there any difference in pictures that are sent to a home cell unit that is set in a central location and the cameras
located north and south of the home unit?

im not sure im following your question, but all images sent via the cuddelink network are a lower resolution , it doesnt matter if they are linked thru another remote or sent directly, they are the same. The hi rez image will be stored on the card of the camera that took the image.

 

[Potter co notill]

Do you think the battery level alerts will ever get better? Right now I'm getting 1 day, 2 days max of a warning at Low! before the cameras go dead. My cell home just went low this morning and now I won't be back to the farm for another week.

I put out 3 new G cameras 16 days ago without the battery pack to see how many days I would get out of them. Well one quit on day 15 the other on day 16 and neither of them gave me a battery low before they shut down.
John is a person able to change the flash modules on the G cameras?

 

[john volkman]

I put out 3 new G cameras 16 days ago without the battery pack to see how many days I would get out of them. Well one quit on day 15 the other on day 16 and neither of them gave me a battery low before they shut down.
John is a person able to change the flash modules on the G cameras?

what brand and style batteries were you using? 30-45 days is more typical when just running the internal batteries unless they arent a quality alkaline. A friend of mine bought a name brand of d cells at home depot this fall and the entire batch was bad, he was getting 10-15 days, when he switched the other brand for another location the battery life was back to normal( 90 days on a j d cell pack).

yes, you can change flash module on any g camera, pull the front face off the camera and the flash module will pull right out and you can replace with any of the powerhouse flash options.

 

[12point]

im not sure im following your question, but all images sent via the cuddelink network are a lower resolution , it doesnt matter if they are linked thru another remote or sent directly, they are the same. The hi rez image will be stored on the card of the camera that took the image.

Ok I'll try again.
Does this system work better if the home cell unit is at the end of the line or if it is in middle wilth cameras feed from the south and from the north of the home unit back to the home unit?
Also does it matter if the home cell unit is setup 30 feet from one of the remote cameras?

 

[john volkman]

Ok I'll try again.
Does this system work better if the home cell unit is at the end of the line or if it is in middle wilth cameras feed from the south and from the north of the home unit back to the home unit?
Also does it matter if the home cell unit is setup 30 feet from one of the remote cameras?

the system will be most efficient if the home unit is in the center of the wheel with the remotes at the end of spokes of the wheel so to speak. It will work either way, but you will get images faster and more efficiently if you put the home in the middle of your cameras. Imagine the network as a highway, if all the images are forced to travel on one highway, traffic slows down. The less "links" you can build into the system the better, but theoretically you could run them in a single line for several miles if you wanted to.
There is no issue with running a remote camera close to your home cell.

 

[Potter co notill]

what brand and style batteries were you using? 30-45 days is more typical when just running the internal batteries unless they arent a quality alkaline. A friend of mine bought a name brand of d cells at home depot this fall and the entire batch was bad, he was getting 10-15 days, when he switched the other brand for another location the battery life was back to normal( 90 days on a j d cell pack).

yes, you can change flash module on any g camera, pull the front face off the camera and the flash module will pull right out and you can replace with any of the powerhouse flash options.

they are Rayovac batteries using them in all of the cuddebacks. both cams were the powerhouse strobes do they use more power?

 

[Ed Brodt]

I have been running 4 G cameras and on one J camera since mid summer. Everything works fine. My only complaint was battery life. I installed the solar option on the J camera and it is now at 140 days and still going strong. A couple of weeks ago we were able to get our hands on the solar units for the G cameras. Hope they work as well at the J camera set up.

 

[john volkman]

they are Rayovac batteries using them in all of the cuddebacks. both cams were the powerhouse strobes do they use more power?

the strobe can use more power if you are getting a lot of nighttime images but there shouldn't be a huge difference. Cold temps can also have an effect.

 

[john volkman]

I have been running 4 G cameras and on one J camera since mid summer. Everything works fine. My only complaint was battery life. I installed the solar option on the J camera and it is now at 140 days and still going strong. A couple of weeks ago we were able to get our hands on the solar units for the G cameras. Hope they work as well at the J camera set up.

Ed they should work even better since you will also have a backup of 4 d cells in the camera , the J's are completely reliant on the rechargeable batteries.

 

[Booner21]

what brand and style batteries were you using? 30-45 days is more typical when just running the internal batteries unless they arent a quality alkaline. A friend of mine bought a name brand of d cells at home depot this fall and the entire batch was bad, he was getting 10-15 days, when he switched the other brand for another location the battery life was back to normal( 90 days on a j d cell pack).

yes, you can change flash module on any g camera, pull the front face off the camera and the flash module will pull right out and you can replace with any of the powerhouse flash options.

they are Rayovac batteries using them in all of the cuddebacks. both cams were the powerhouse strobes do they use more power?

Across close to 30 cams running powerhouse black flash battery life has ranged from 15 to 60 days since september. Rayovac vs Duracell vs energizer didn't seem to matter. Most of them did not show a low battery just dropped off the network. All of them are wearing external packs now.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Potter co notill]

Across close to 30 cams running powerhouse black flash battery life has ranged from 15 to 60 days since september. Rayovac vs Duracell vs energizer didn't seem to matter. Most of them did not show a low battery just dropped off the network. All of them are wearing external packs now.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Good to know. I do have some more external battery packs to use, I just wanted to see how they would do without them plus being near end of season it didn't matter if they went dead faster but I thought they would make it more than 15 days.
I got a 6v from Custom Enterprises Im going to try next, I know it will void the warranty but I like the idea of being able to charge the battery up and lasting even longer than the D batteries with booster pack

 

[12point]

the system will be most efficient if the home unit is in the center of the wheel with the remotes at the end of spokes of the wheel so to speak. It will work either way, but you will get images faster and more efficiently if you put the home in the middle of your cameras. Imagine the network as a highway, if all the images are forced to travel on one highway, traffic slows down. The less "links" you can build into the system the better, but theoretically you could run them in a single line for several miles if you wanted to.
There is no issue with running a remote camera close to your home cell.

Thanks, I have it set up set up similar to a spoke pattern with the cell home in the center where the strongest cell service is. Thanks again.
The one down side I see to the cell system is. When I receive photo's to my cell phone while I'm at work.
It makes me want to leave and go hunting. BAHAHAHA
Made this beats the days when we were running 35 mm cameras.

 

[john volkman]

Good to know. I do have some more external battery packs to use, I just wanted to see how they would do without them plus being near end of season it didn't matter if they went dead faster but I thought they would make it more than 15 days.
I got a 6v from Custom Enterprises Im going to try next, I know it will void the warranty but I like the idea of being able to charge the battery up and lasting even longer than the D batteries with booster pack

it would be great to do a side by side comparison of the 6V setup against a camera with the 6 d cell booster on it. Let us know what you find out

 

[Potter co notill]

it would be great to do a side by side comparison of the 6V setup against a camera with the 6 d cell booster on it. Let us know what you find out

I will do that when I put my two feeders out for the winter.