Make almost any camera a cell camera

[yoderjac]

Jack or anyone else, are there products on market that someone could use to coat the circuits of the cheaper cameras?

Circuit boards are typically coated at the factory as part of the production process before a device is assembled. I'm not sure it would be worth your while to disassemble a camera and reassemble it. For specific details, I'd check with folks on a homebrew forum like this one: http://www.hagshouse.com/forums/index.php?

I find it pretty ineffective to try to modify a trail camera. The homebrew folks build as much for fun as anything. There are lots of factors in camera design that need to be balanced. The best trail camera designs do a great job of balancing all those factors. Many do a very poor job. Some cameras might catch every possible trigger but batteries burn out quickly. Others may have batteries that last for a very long time but miss triggers and have a short flash range. Some may have longer flash ranges but cause camera avoidance. Some have mechanical filters to save cost but have an audible click with the filter rotates. When you bring RF into the picture, it adds a whole new factor to power consumption. When you add a private communication network like Cuddelink it add even more to the complexity of balance. Cost becomes part of the balance as well.

For a while, you could by cheap cams from Cabelas or Bass Pro and return them. The Chinese cam problem got so bad, Cabelas and Bass Pro (separate at the time) changed their return policies to specifically exclude electronics like this because of the poor QC and short life span of these cams.

Whether a camera design has a good balance or a poor one, we tend to make it worse when we add third party stuff to them. There is nothing wrong with experimenting with them and having fun and seeding what you can do. If you are looking to save money or improve a camera you have, I'd say the chances of success are low.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Circuit boards are typically coated at the factory as part of the production process before a device is assembled. I'm not sure it would be worth your while to disassemble a camera and reassemble it. For specific details, I'd check with folks on a homebrew forum like this one: http://www.hagshouse.com/forums/index.php?



Jack

Thanks for the thorough response, Jack. I'm just wondering because I have personally spent about $3K on Cuddeback cameras in the last year, on top of the 16-18 other cameras we have. I feel like we should be able to find or make something more reliable for what we all want. So far, I love the Cuddeback system, but I am wincing at the thought of moisture or insects shortening the life of cameras for what we are getting as a bit more convenience.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks for the thorough response, Jack. I'm just wondering because I have personally spent about $3K on Cuddeback cameras in the last year, on top of the 16-18 other cameras we have. I feel like we should be able to find or make something more reliable for what we all want. So far, I love the Cuddeback system, but I am wincing at the thought of moisture or insects shortening the life of cameras for what we are getting as a bit more convenience.

BEC has a more reliable system than cuddeback. I've been running their now obsolete Orion series since it came out. They have been running 24/7/365 for over 10 years now. BuckeyeCam came out with the X80 several years back. It has a shorter range (but at least as long as Cuddeback) than the Orion. It is a 12 volt system which is nice compared to the old Orion 6 volt system. The cameras are significantly smaller than the old Orion and higher resolution. I got one of them for testing when they came out. It has been running 24/7/365 with no issues every since. They did have a few issues when they first came out, but they were soon resolved with firmware updates. The are a bit less expensive than the Orions were. You might want to look at those if reliability and long-term cost is more important than upfront cost.

I don't expect the Cuddebacks to have the lifespan of the Orions, but I will say this. It is typical for the Chinese to enter the low end. They put out a product that has lots of features with very poor QC but at a price that is so low you are willing to take the risk. As they drive other manufacturers out of the market over time, they begin to raise their quality and QC over time along with the price. I don't know who manufactures the guts of the cams for Cuddeback. I suspect China like most trail cams. You might be getting a better lifespan out of Chinese cameras now that they dominate the market. You would take a bigger risk opening up a Cuddeback disassembling it, coating the electronics, and closing it back up than just leaving it as is.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[FredG]

You would take a bigger risk opening up a Cuddeback disassembling it, coating the electronics, and closing it back up than just leaving it as is.

Thanks,

Jack

Cudde G model boards are already conformally coated. Can't speak for the J and K models cause I've never been inside either of those. The boards are all designed and patented in the U.S. by Cuddeback and manufactred to their specs in China.

 

[yoderjac]

Cudde G model boards are already conformally coated. Can't speak for the J and K models cause I've never been inside either of those. The boards are all designed and patented in the U.S. by Cuddeback and manufactred to their specs in China.

Sounds reasonable. I think the reason BuckeyeCam (ATSI) was way out ahead of others in reliability and lifespan was that they had a contract with the military. The Orions I'm using all went through shock & vib, thermal, and other environmental testing prior to the military sale. Consumers had to wait for production to fill the military order before they were available.

The technology is quite old by today's standards, but they sure are bulletproof. I fully expect Chinese sourced cameras to continue to improve reliability over time along with price. Cost is pulled in two different directions. Price is driven up as higher quality standards and QC measures are adopted. Moore's Law pushes it down. Price to the consumer is has profit and all the marketing costs added in but is limited by market competition.

I kind of chuckled at the patented comment. That means nothing in China. If there is a market for them, you will see China selling them in other countries. Even here, the patents are probably not for the "boards", they would likely be for some unique component of the design. It is typically not difficult to engineer around most patents. And, of course, patents have to be an original novel idea. Often others have the same concept documented contemporaneously or prior, so patents don't mean much until they are tested in court.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[35-acre]

Hurray! Not only did I get my lime down but I managed to fix the camera and cell-link.

The problem was that the SD card was getting yanked out a little when I closed the camera door. So I routed the cord out the bottom leaving some slack inside the camera. AND it immediately was able to connect and see pics.

 

[Peplin Creek]

Yeah so for me now that I have had the cameras deployed for about a month. Everything seems to be working great. No complaints. I’ve put the cameras in lower traffic areas and set the delay to 30 seconds and I was able to stay under the 100 pictures for the month. So from a data plan perspective I ran them free for the month.

 

[Tamarack]

Is every month free if kept under 100? And do you get charged if over 100 or does it/can you make it stop before it goes over?

 

[35-acre]

I have 10 days left until I can answer definitively. The way the app is worded is that the "FREE plan offered when no other plan is selected" (it does call this my current plan). So that could mean that the first month is free under the 100 photos or every month under 100 photos. I can't really tell. Other options are $5/250, $10/1000 or $15/unlimited. I will have to move to one of these other plans anyway with the cam/location that I have it setup at right now. I could just put this as a security camera on my camp and I would be in better shape to stay under the 100. If it's always free under 100, I'm going to grab a couple more and use them at my camp for security (if I can get cell signal - which will be tough).

Right now my camera says that i am getting 25% cell signal but it's working well enough - as far as I can tell.

 

[bjseiler]

I have 3 of the spypoints. Out of hunting season I drop down to the free plan. It just stops sending at 100.

 

[Tamarack]

Tempted to try this with an older cam like the Cuddeback Capture. Guess it depends upon if it'll fit with the cord etc. I was thinking of even cutting/drilling a slot for it, and then caulking around it with a removable/peel-able caulk or even just doing that w/out the cutting- caulk around the whole door to make sure it's water/moisture-proof. The smell of the caulk is strong when applied..seems to go away when dried. Never sniffed it dry. Could use reg latex/acrylic caulk too I suppose. Cut it open each time.

 

[Rit]

Tempted to try this with an older cam like the Cuddeback Capture. Guess it depends upon if it'll fit with the cord etc. I was thinking of even cutting/drilling a slot for it, and then caulking around it with a removable/peel-able caulk or even just doing that w/out the cutting- caulk around the whole door to make sure it's water/moisture-proof. The smell of the caulk is strong when applied..seems to go away when dried. Never sniffed it dry. Could use reg latex/acrylic caulk too I suppose. Cut it open each time.

You will have to be careful they might start calling you a caulk sniffer. You know what they say build a thousand bridges in your life............

 

[35-acre]

The cord is so slim, I can't imagine that you would have trouble closing any cam on it. They have you route the cord out the bottom so if it gets wet, the water drips before the cord goes into the cam. I bet you could get it to work.

 

[Rit]

The limiting factor that I found was where your SD card is in relation to the latch and bottom. If you have clearance you can route it to the bottom. I’m not sorry that I sent mine back but glad some of you are having success.

 

[Tamarack]

Maybe I misread some of the earlier posts on the wire and being able to close things enough to seal. Good to know it's slim.

Sending pics to my phone from my oldest cam. Who woulda thunk it?

 

[nitro27]

So far working great on a Covert cam. Nothing worth sharing yet.

 

[35-acre]

So far working great on a Covert cam. Nothing worth sharing yet.

Nothing worth showing here either. But I have my Cell-Link set to send 12 times a day so it's nice to check it a few times a day while I'm bored and see a pic here or there.

 

[Tamarack]

Decided to connect mine to a Stealth XV4X. Impressed with the picture quality. Was getting test pictures right away but if I came back 20mins later and tried it, it didn't send them. Turned the Link off then back on and it was the same way. I'm guessing they have it set up to do that?..although they didn't say that when I contacted them. Got a reply saying to update the firmware- which I had already done.

Did end up getting my first deer triggered picture tonight. It's set for sending 6 times a day but maybe I'll change it to 12, too.

 

[35-acre]

Decided to connect mine to a Stealth XV4X. Impressed with the picture quality. Was getting test pictures right away but if I came back 20mins later and tried it, it didn't send them. Turned the Link off then back on and it was the same way. I'm guessing they have it set up to do that?..although they didn't say that when I contacted them. Got a reply saying to update the firmware- which I had already done.

Did end up getting my first deer triggered picture tonight. It's set for sending 6 times a day but maybe I'll change it to 12, too.

I think the reason it didn't get to you 20 minutes later was that it will only send at certain intervals. So, it won't send immediately once you get things running. There had to be some "buffer time" once it's first turned on to send immediately. After that time lapses, it only goes on intervals. I can't confirm it but that's my experience.

BTW - I only show 2 bars on the device but I don't seem to be missing pics. However the web interfaces says I'm running 3/5 and the phone app says that I have 90% connection.

 

[Tamarack]

I was thinking that too but the last time I reset it and tested it then walked in front of it 20mins later a few times (after the minute delay), those last pics were never sent. Decided to just leave it and take a chance. Contact Spypoint if needed.

Here's a day and night one. Mine currently is showing 4 bars /90%.