Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[john volkman]

Wanting to love this system, but really disappointed so far. I'm going to take a third stab at this because I cant imagine I am the only one with this issue.

Error 04

Back story - one J series purchased from Cabelas, one G from a website, and another G from a completely different website. All 3 report to a K series purchased from Cabelas as well. I have consistently received this error 04 on all three cameras at random times, even with new batteries (duracell or energizer max). As support has suggested, I have removed the batteries for 30 minutes let the capacitors discharge, then replaced the batteries. This works, but only for so long. Sometimes we'll get a week out of it, maybe only a day. The J series has now cleared 004, but as soon as the batteries are replaced, we can't get past "Error 03" I already have tickets open to send all 3 cameras in, but c'mon it's the 8th of November. We've been fighting these cameras all of October, and would rather send them in after the season. Support says 004 is a battery issue, but we've tried every brand, neew, alkaline only. Has no one else had this issue?

first you list error 4 than in your back story you list error 3, are you getting both or just one of these. Its VERY odd that you are having the same issue on 3 different cams . What brand SD cards are you using and are they all the same and bought at the same time? the first thing i would do is try another new sd card in one of the cameras. Error 3 is technically power on error so it can be the card or battery related.

 

[john volkman]

Quick question about the dual power bank.

If I’m connecting it to a J series camera, do I need to remove the internal batteries?

On the 1st report for the camera it said “ext 1” or something close to that. Each day since it shows “Ok”.

Camera is working fine and I’m running the latest FW (7.7).

yes you should remove them since they will likely run down on there own before the other two banks are used. the only reason to put internals in while using the DPB is off you are worried the cable connecting it will get disconnected by an animal etc.

 

[john volkman]

How high does everyone hang their camera? I just set mine up on Sunday and have it probably 4'-5' high. I recieved the batch pics overnight of me setting up the camera and walking around the food plot. Since then, I have only recieved a report but no pics. It simply could be that nothing has come by to trigger it but I didn't know if possibly I have it up to high?

you have them way to high, waist high at highest is what i use. Deer are not that tall.

 

[john volkman]

I have a j series that just died had 12 lithium and 6 ds lasted 23 days and took 308 pics. There a chance the booster is not functioning ? Is there a way to check this? I know when the voltage is the same an ext does not show up on report but obviously 23 days is low.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

you should get 60 -90 days pretty easily even possibly 120 days when run-in the booster alone with good batteries. I use rayovac, dont waste money running lithiums in CL cameras.

 

[RRAB58]

Unless im not reading your question correctly , CC rate doesnt have anything to do with your remote cameras images getting to the home.
Imagine your cuddelink network as a highway only so many cars(images) fit not he highway at once, they cant be on top of each other.. the most it can handle in ideal conditions is 1000 images per day and 30K per month. (this will increase with the next big firmware update.) IF other remotes/ cameras are all trying to send at the same time it takes some time for the system to catch up. the system is constantly trying to find the most efficient way to get images home which i s why link# can change form day to day or hour to hour.

Sorry John, let me re-phrase it. I have excellent cell phone reception. I have my CC Rate (Home camera transmit queue) set at 10, which usually sends fairly quickly. The remote is the 80yds from camera and has a signal of 99. Sometime's there's an good amount of time between emails. In an hour, I would think that one of the camera's, especially the closest one, would be able to fulfill 10 pictures to the queue. A couple of the camera's definitely have pictures in the queues.

I'm guessing that the mesh network has a protocol that will give even the slowest camera an opportunity to connect and transmit and then that weak camera takes up some amount of time on the network whether it succeeds or fails?

 

[john volkman]

Sorry John, let me re-phrase it. I have excellent cell phone reception. I have my CC Rate (Home camera transmit queue) set at 10, which usually sends fairly quickly. The remote is the 80yds from camera and has a signal of 99. Sometime's there's an good amount of time between emails. In an hour, I would think that one of the camera's, especially the closest one, would be able to fulfill 10 pictures to the queue. A couple of the camera's definitely have pictures in the queues.

I'm guessing that the mesh network has a protocol that will give even the slowest camera an opportunity to connect and transmit and then that weak camera takes up some amount of time on the network whether it succeeds or fails?

if you have remote cameras that have images in que and cant get them transmitted try increasing your CC rate to 20 or 30 or change it to once per hour, when the cell unit is transmitting images it shuts the rf system down for 6-7 minutes meaning the remotes cannot send during that time so they are waiting for the cell unit to complete its cell transmission so it can start receiving the remote images again. the home can only receive one image at at time via rf.

 

[Bpressley]

Just came back to check the thread. No worries at all. Thanks man. I've been around enough on other forums and here and on the old QDMA forum to know that my question was definitely going to come off as lazy. This system tends to get only lukewarm reviews online...poor customer service, low battery life, slow, unreliable, good idea but poorly executed. Things like that, and I was curious as to what you guys were saying; the guys who are using them and investing the time. And yeah, I got lazy. Didn't feel like reading the entire thread.

Really curious about this system...the pros, the cons, the cost to benefit ratio, the problems guys are having....or lack thereof. I run 6 to 8 $150 to $175 cameras. Happy with them and very reliable. And I do enjoy getting boots on the ground in a soft rain to check cards. But my place is primarily great doe and young buck habitat. The big bucks begin showing up around mid November and my place is hot for a 6 to 7 day window every year. It would be nice to get some real time info about that without having to get out and check cameras and disturb my place.

I'll stayed tuned and maybe if I get a few snowy mornings I'll go back and skim through some of the content over my morning coffee.

Thanks again.

I love my systems. They have been very reliable minus a cam or two but that's not out of reason imo. Battery life was an issue last year but with the 3358 packs added to all my cams it's been resolved. As of now I'm at 144 days on my longest running cams. Detection has been good. I run several double cam sets with Cuddelinks and Browning's. Both have had the same images/videos. Setup is a learning curve but once you figure it out it's easy. I would give them my recommendation without a doubt

 

[Peplin Creek]

John with the increase of the cuddelink network transmitting speeds in a firmware update, is it possible we’ll get to transmit larger thumbnails at some point?

 

[john volkman]

John with the increase of the cuddelink network transmitting speeds in a firmware update, is it possible we’ll get to transmit larger thumbnails at some point?

That is unlikely at this time.

 

[john volkman]

For those of you who are thinking about expanding your cuddelink network, adding a new one, or trying it for the first time. There is an upcoming holiday deal that will be available at select retailers that will be hard to pass up - it technically is a black friday offering but there are some arriving at stores shortly. You wont be able to find this on 3rd party sellers like Ebay or amazon- you will need to go to a retailer to get it. This deal is better than i can get them for, and as you know i work for the company. IF you have a favorite store you frequent that sells Cuddeback stop in or you can wait until later this month when its officially announced. I appreciate everyone on this forum and believe you have helped grow this system greatly. I wanted you all to know first so you could react as it will most likely sell out fast once we hit black friday. Nov 22nd is when it can be advertised so i cant post the actual details until then.

 

[Peplin Creek]

That is unlikely at this time.

I’ll keep asking until you guys give us the option. :)

 

[JLemon]

Today I moved one of my G series with a double strobe to a different tree. Tonight I got these 3 pictures. It was working fine before I moved it.

 

[Trlblzr3]

I love my systems. They have been very reliable minus a cam or two but that's not out of reason imo. Battery life was an issue last year but with the 3358 packs added to all my cams it's been resolved. As of now I'm at 144 days on my longest running cams. Detection has been good. I run several double cam sets with Cuddelinks and Browning's. Both have had the same images/videos. Setup is a learning curve but once you figure it out it's easy. I would give them my recommendation without a doubt

 

[FredG]

Today I moved one of my G series with a double strobe to a different tree. Tonight I got these 3 pictures. It was working fine before I moved it.

Your IR cut filter looks to be stuck in the down (off) position... it should be in the up (on) position for both day and night photos.

A few things you can do if it hasn't fixed itself by morning when it warms up:

Go to the test menu and scroll down to 'Filter' and run the test a few times with the camera in the upright position. It should go up and down a few times with each actuation of the test. If it doesn't stay up for about a second when it should (clicks up and immediately falls back down) when the camera is in the upright position test it again while holding the camera horizontally... facing up. If it works correctly in the horizontal position (the filter goes up and down and holds in each position for a second or so) then you know the electromagnet(?) that holds the filter up isn't working correctly but the swing arm mechanism of the filter isn't jammed by something. If this is the case, I'd pull the internal batteries and push buttons until the screen goes blank to deplete any latent charge and then reinstall the batteries (hard reset) and test again. If it still doesn't work right (the filter tries to go up but falls back down due to gravity) and the temps were below freezing, I would suspect that maybe a little ice formed while the camera was being moved and is preventing clean contact between the magnet and the swing arm. Take the camera in the house, remove the front trim pieces and carefully remove the fresnel lens over the PIR sensor to let any moisture thaw and dry out. If you suspect something is jamming the movement of the filter now is a good time to carefully move the filter by hand to see if it will dislodge. If none of this cures the situation I guess you'll just have to call CS... a fate worse than having to stop and ask directions when your wife is in the car.

 

[JLemon]

Your IR cut filter looks to be stuck in the down (off) position... it should be in the up (on) position for both day and night photos.

A few things you can do if it hasn't fixed itself by morning when it warms up:

Go to the test menu and scroll down to 'Filter' and run the test a few times with the camera in the upright position. It should go up and down a few times with each actuation of the test. If it doesn't stay up for about a second when it should (clicks up and immediately falls back down) when the camera is in the upright position test it again while holding the camera horizontally... facing up. If it works correctly in the horizontal position (the filter goes up and down and holds in each position for a second or so) then you know the electromagnet(?) that holds the filter up isn't working correctly but the swing arm mechanism of the filter isn't jammed by something. If this is the case, I'd pull the internal batteries and push buttons until the screen goes blank to deplete any latent charge and then reinstall the batteries (hard reset) and test again. If it still doesn't work right (the filter tries to go up but falls back down due to gravity) and the temps were below freezing, I would suspect that maybe a little ice formed while the camera was being moved and is preventing clean contact between the magnet and the swing arm. Take the camera in the house, remove the front trim pieces and carefully remove the fresnel lens over the PIR sensor to let any moisture thaw and dry out. If you suspect something is jamming the movement of the filter now is a good time to carefully move the filter by hand to see if it will dislodge. If none of this cures the situation I guess you'll just have to call CS... a fate worse than having to stop and ask directions when your wife is in the car.

I’ll give it a shot. Temps were in the mid 40s and sunshine when I moved it and probably still in the high 30s when the pics were taken.

 

[igadget56]

Can someone tell me where to get correct firmware update?
The one on the website doesn't work.

 

[JLemon]

Can someone tell me where to get correct firmware update?
The one on the website doesn't work.

7.7? It worked fine for me. Did you unzip them and then put the files in the root of your SD card?

 

[john volkman]

Can someone tell me where to get correct firmware update?
The one on the website doesn't work.

depending on your computer you may need to unzip the file and copy it to your sd card that way, it should work if you do that.

 

[Gordy77]

first you list error 4 than in your back story you list error 3, are you getting both or just one of these. Its VERY odd that you are having the same issue on 3 different cams . What brand SD cards are you using and are they all the same and bought at the same time? the first thing i would do is try another new sd card in one of the cameras. Error 3 is technically power on error so it can be the card or battery related.

Error 03 only happened on the one camera after error 04. The primary issue is 04. As for SD cards, I know one is 4gb PNY, another SanDisk 8gb, and the third is a SanDisk 16gb class 10 I believe. Not sdxc.

In the end, purchase locations (website/store), batteries, and SD cards are all across the board. I've since flashed 7.7 again to all the cameras, formatted the SD cards, used the clear command once reinstalling the cards, and installed new alkaline Duracell batteries. We'll see how soon one fails again.

 

[JLemon]

Your IR cut filter looks to be stuck in the down (off) position... it should be in the up (on) position for both day and night photos.

A few things you can do if it hasn't fixed itself by morning when it warms up:

Go to the test menu and scroll down to 'Filter' and run the test a few times with the camera in the upright position. It should go up and down a few times with each actuation of the test. If it doesn't stay up for about a second when it should (clicks up and immediately falls back down) when the camera is in the upright position test it again while holding the camera horizontally... facing up. If it works correctly in the horizontal position (the filter goes up and down and holds in each position for a second or so) then you know the electromagnet(?) that holds the filter up isn't working correctly but the swing arm mechanism of the filter isn't jammed by something. If this is the case, I'd pull the internal batteries and push buttons until the screen goes blank to deplete any latent charge and then reinstall the batteries (hard reset) and test again. If it still doesn't work right (the filter tries to go up but falls back down due to gravity) and the temps were below freezing, I would suspect that maybe a little ice formed while the camera was being moved and is preventing clean contact between the magnet and the swing arm. Take the camera in the house, remove the front trim pieces and carefully remove the fresnel lens over the PIR sensor to let any moisture thaw and dry out. If you suspect something is jamming the movement of the filter now is a good time to carefully move the filter by hand to see if it will dislodge. If none of this cures the situation I guess you'll just have to call CS... a fate worse than having to stop and ask directions when your wife is in the car.

It took some pictures last night and they came out ok. May have to change the flash setting from Far to Near.