Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[ormsbybrian]

I'm having major issues with battery packs lately. The majority of my cameras (G series bf and IR's) are not recognizing battery packs anymore and I'm burning through batteries like wild fire. I'm guessing now that most are probably unused batteries that these cheap Chinese components are not recognizing. I ran externals on all of these cams last year with out recognition issues, this problem started early spring. We really shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get these add-on's that Cuddeback forces us to buy working correctly. Is it asking too much to have it all streamlined? 25 cams with dual power bank and batteries is around 10k, Cudde's system shouldn't be so jenky for that price. It's incredibly frustrating, most of us use this system in remote areas that we have to plan/spend an entire day to provide maintenance.

I've been following instructions from a previous post...taking out internals/draining capacitor then attaching the 3358 or dual power banks then inserting internals into unit, the externals are still not being recognized on 15 out of 20 I put a few dual power banks on cameras the other day and only my home cam shows Ext-1 ok and that has changed on every report the past 3 days. Yesterday it showed ext-1 ok, this morning just ok and when I looked at yesterdays report on today's report(confusing?) it showed just ok lol. Also the previous reports are different on today's report than they were yesterday. What gives? This is all very frustrating for numerous reasons(time and money wasted primarily).

My 16 camera system has been rock solid with many different models of cameras, flash options, power options, etc...what firmware version are you running? 8.0/8.1 is showing the Dual Power Banks properly on my end. The only major issue I have had has been runaway sensors on 3 of the G cameras but the warranty replacement process isn't too bad and you get a new camera in return.

 

[Trlblzr3]

I'm having major issues with battery packs lately. The majority of my cameras (G series bf and IR's) are not recognizing battery packs anymore and I'm burning through batteries like wild fire. I'm guessing now that most are probably unused batteries that these cheap Chinese components are not recognizing. I ran externals on all of these cams last year with out recognition issues, this problem started early spring. We really shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get these add-on's that Cuddeback forces us to buy working correctly. Is it asking too much to have it all streamlined? 25 cams with dual power bank and batteries is around 10k, Cudde's system shouldn't be so jenky for that price. It's incredibly frustrating, most of us use this system in remote areas that we have to plan/spend an entire day to provide maintenance.

I've been following instructions from a previous post...taking out internals/draining capacitor then attaching the 3358 or dual power banks then inserting internals into unit, the externals are still not being recognized on 15 out of 20 I put a few dual power banks on cameras the other day and only my home cam shows Ext-1 ok and that has changed on every report the past 3 days. Yesterday it showed ext-1 ok, this morning just ok and when I looked at yesterdays report on today's report(confusing?) it showed just ok lol. Also the previous reports are different on today's report than they were yesterday. What gives? This is all very frustrating for numerous reasons(time and money wasted primarily).

What battery mfg. what model camera is not showing ext. J 12AA, J 4D , J 6D or G? Hope you don’t have lithium in camera and alkaline in 3358 or DPB.

 

[john volkman]

John,

I have the same issue. I had a spypoint cell camera on my food plot and would pick up the whole field if something moved in it. I agree the definition wasn't good at a certain distance but it told me which buck group was running together and eating in that food plot.

Now I have a cuddelink on that field and not one picture of a deer and I've move the camera twice. Once it was high and moved based on your feedback(thanks) and now at waist high where the deer are entering the field. This is a brand new camera with updated firmware.

I'm buying the cudde post to move this camera a third time to a location on the edge of the field where I know the buck group gathers to eat clover. If nothing, then I will be selling the complete system and going back to a one cell system that at least picks up movement. I like this system idea because i can't get cell service in the valley but I feel like i'm flying blind.

In my opinion no excuse for these cameras being so difficult to set up on the edge of food plots and I'm extremely FRUSTRATED. This is like setting up a home network and you spend more time troubleshooting it than enjoying it...lol

Any words of wisdom before I go back to the property this week?

set up the camera , put it waist high at the highest( i do just below my waist more like high thigh ), make sure its level- put the camera within 30 feet of where you think the deer will cross. Put it on test mode, aim it where you want it to detect deer and walk in front of it, the red led will light up when you walk thru the detection area. At that point arm the camera , walk in front of it and make sure its flashing "image" on the lcd screen, if it captures you... it will capture a deer. I have zero issues with detection when its set correctly. Almost all issues i see are incorrect placement. if the camera doesnt trigger where its aimed after this it has something wrong with it and you need to send it back for service. If you need detection beyond 30-40 feet you can put a 9004 fresnel lens in it and it will increase the detection range.
If these steps dont work and its to time consuming or difficult then you will be frustrated and a cuddeback is not going to be your best choice. Many other cameras have sensors that trigger on any type of movement to make up for poor trigger speed, etc. In return, you get many blank images or partial images of deer.

 

[john volkman]

I have a question regarding my home cam not sending me my emails. All has been well for over a year, randomly this Monday i did not receive my emails, checked home cam and all was fine, scrolled the menu all cams were online and rearmed. An hour later all pjcs form past day came thru. Was fine yesterday, and now this morning no emails again. Just wondering what i can checkout to remedy issue, all cams seem to be functioning properly just not sending my emails? Not sure if service is issue? If should do a check there? Firmware is older 6.7 jseries and 7.3. Home cam, has been fine for over a year, not sure i see a reason to update just yet if has been fine. Any help appreciated

sounds like a service issue, but i would definitely update, you are 10+ versions behind on firmware. please understand its very hard it diagnose based off a couple sentences on forum- its a guess at this point- it can be anything from bad service , to a bad modem. Verizon has acknowledged some interruptions in the last two weeks but i have no idea if you area is affected.

 

[john volkman]

I'm having major issues with battery packs lately. The majority of my cameras (G series bf and IR's) are not recognizing battery packs anymore and I'm burning through batteries like wild fire. I'm guessing now that most are probably unused batteries that these cheap Chinese components are not recognizing. I ran externals on all of these cams last year with out recognition issues, this problem started early spring. We really shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get these add-on's that Cuddeback forces us to buy working correctly. Is it asking too much to have it all streamlined? 25 cams with dual power bank and batteries is around 10k, Cudde's system shouldn't be so jenky for that price. It's incredibly frustrating, most of us use this system in remote areas that we have to plan/spend an entire day to provide maintenance.

I've been following instructions from a previous post...taking out internals/draining capacitor then attaching the 3358 or dual power banks then inserting internals into unit, the externals are still not being recognized on 15 out of 20 I put a few dual power banks on cameras the other day and only my home cam shows Ext-1 ok and that has changed on every report the past 3 days. Yesterday it showed ext-1 ok, this morning just ok and when I looked at yesterdays report on today's report(confusing?) it showed just ok lol. Also the previous reports are different on today's report than they were yesterday. What gives? This is all very frustrating for numerous reasons(time and money wasted primarily).

if your cameras arent on 7.9 or later firmware they may not recognize your dual power banks but you need to give me more info , or you can pm me and ill get you my number to walk thru the issues. it would be VERY odd to have 15 out of 20 cameras all start to have the same issue in a short period of time. what exactly has changed from your set ups last year when things were working? the report variance is normal , keep in mind its not in real time its listing the last time the home checked in with that camera.

 

[tn4hunting]

set up the camera , put it waist high at the highest( i do just below my waist more like high thigh ), make sure its level- put the camera within 30 feet of where you think the deer will cross. Put it on test mode, aim it where you want it to detect deer and walk in front of it, the red led will light up when you walk thru the detection area. At that point arm the camera , walk in front of it and make sure its flashing "image" on the lcd screen, if it captures you... it will capture a deer. I have zero issues with detection when its set correctly. Almost all issues i see are incorrect placement. if the camera doesnt trigger where its aimed after this it has something wrong with it and you need to send it back for service. If you need detection beyond 30-40 feet you can put a 9004 fresnel lens in it and it will increase the detection range.
If these steps dont work and its to time consuming or difficult then you will be frustrated and a cuddeback is not going to be your best choice. Many other cameras have sensors that trigger on any type of movement to make up for poor trigger speed, etc. In return, you get many blank images or partial images of deer.

so these are new cameras if i open them up and put the 9004 fresnel lens in it will that void the 2 year warranty?

Yeah if on food plots it will only detects out to 40 feet then i might need to rethink that strategy using the cuddeback. I like to get clear up close pics but also pics of the whole field to show total deer movement.

thanks for the feedback

 

[john volkman]

so these are new cameras if i open them up and put the 9004 fresnel lens in it will that void the 2 year warranty?

Yeah if on food plots it will only detects out to 40 feet then i might need to rethink that strategy using the cuddeback. I like to get clear up close pics but also pics of the whole field to show total deer movement.

thanks for the feedback

Will not effect the warranty . Cuddeback offers the 9004 lens and several dealers do . It’s a very simple process . Know that transmitted images taken beyond 40 feet are not going to allow much detail , even a high res pic at that range is very difficult to discern detail on a rack .you might also want to try the new prime time feature for monitoring your food plot, this would allow you to have time lapse pics of the entire plot during your ore determined time period morning and or evening

 

[tn4hunting]

Will not effect the warranty . Cuddeback offers the 9004 lens and several dealers do . It’s a very simple process . Know that transmitted images taken beyond 40 feet are not going to allow much detail , even a high res pic at that range is very difficult to discern detail on a rack .you might also want to try the new prime time feature for monitoring your food plot, this would allow you to have time lapse pics of the entire plot during your ore determined time period morning and or evening

Thanks! That's a good idea and I hadn't thought of it.

 

[Cullen3402412]

Hi all, I’m running a dual cell k home with 7 j-2 remotes. I am on 8.0fw with remote control. I have one j-2 that seems to be running away. It will randomly start taking pictures(hundreds in a day). I figured it must be wind, I retrieved it and tried it in the shop, and does the same thing. I reset the camera, re set it and now it’s taking off again. So first can I remotely shut the camera off before I blow the data, and second why is the camera doing this? Lol. I’ve adjusted it to 60 min delay to slow the issue
Thanks

 

[john volkman]

Hi all, I’m running a dual cell k home with 7 j-2 remotes. I am on 8.0fw with remote control. I have one j-2 that seems to be running away. It will randomly start taking pictures(hundreds in a day). I figured it must be wind, I retrieved it and tried it in the shop, and does the same thing. I reset the camera, re set it and now it’s taking off again. So first can I remotely shut the camera off before I blow the data, and second why is the camera doing this? Lol. I’ve adjusted it to 60 min delay to slow the issue
Thanks

you can turn it off online. go into your device settings, advanced , then set camera delay to off day and night, then when you can retrieve it , contact Cuddeback for an ra and send it back for replacement or repair.

 

[Cullen3402412]

you can turn it off online. go into your device settings, advanced , then set camera delay to off day and night, then when you can retrieve it , contact Cuddeback for an ra and send it back for replacement or repair.

you can turn it off online. go into your device settings, advanced , then set camera delay to off day and night, then when you can retrieve it , contact Cuddeback for an ra and send it back for replacement or repair.

John, you are a good man! I don’t know how I missed the “off” in the roll down. I just set it and will wait for it to deactivate. Thanks again for your knowledge and willing to help!

 

[tn4hunting]

Will not effect the warranty . Cuddeback offers the 9004 lens and several dealers do . It’s a very simple process . Know that transmitted images taken beyond 40 feet are not going to allow much detail , even a high res pic at that range is very difficult to discern detail on a rack .you might also want to try the new prime time feature for monitoring your food plot, this would allow you to have time lapse pics of the entire plot during your ore determined time period morning and or evening

If I add the 9004 lens will the field of view and quality be similar to my spypoint? I'm just looking for a reference point. Will the up close pictures be the same quality I'm getting today without the 9004 lens?

 

[john volkman]

If I add the 9004 lens will the field of view and quality be similar to my spypoint? I'm just looking for a reference point. Will the up close pictures be the same quality I'm getting today without the 9004 lens?

Fresnel lens only changes detection, it has nothing to do with the actual image

 

[md19]

For John.

If verizon goes down and the home unit goes dark, will the unit fire back up when service is restored? My cell home and cam system was deployed on 7/31. Had perfect performance for 2 days and then lost contact approx 7:30pm on 8/2

Cell Home is set up in reliable cell service area. Home and entire system has been updated to 8.01 firmware. Fresh batteries with D double bank battery packs installed on all. So power can't be an issue. Further, is there anyway to determine if/when cell service was interrupted?

Great thread BTW...tons of info here that has helped the last couple years.

 

[Peplin Creek]

For John.

If verizon goes down and the home unit goes dark, will the unit fire back up when service is restored? My cell home and cam system was deployed on 7/31. Had perfect performance for 2 days and then lost contact approx 7:30pm on 8/2

Cell Home is set up in reliable cell service area. Home and entire system has been updated to 8.01 firmware. Fresh batteries with D double bank battery packs installed on all. So power can't be an issue. Further, is there anyway to determine if/when cell service was interrupted?

Great thread BTW...tons of info here that has helped the last couple years.

A bunch of us had some service issues yesterday and today. On the gen2 thread. No idea if it’s a Verizon thing or a cudde thing.

 

[squerril]

I have a cell home with service thru Verizon and it fail on each cell test. All I get is fail 208 or fail 220. Had great reception all last season.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

 

[john volkman]

For John.

If verizon goes down and the home unit goes dark, will the unit fire back up when service is restored? My cell home and cam system was deployed on 7/31. Had perfect performance for 2 days and then lost contact approx 7:30pm on 8/2

Cell Home is set up in reliable cell service area. Home and entire system has been updated to 8.01 firmware. Fresh batteries with D double bank battery packs installed on all. So power can't be an issue. Further, is there anyway to determine if/when cell service was interrupted?

Great thread BTW...tons of info here that has helped the last couple years.

at times yes it will others it has not.it all depends on what is causing it to go offline. You can try changing the report time remotely. Several had said that it regained signal when doing so.

 

[BC18]

My 16 camera system has been rock solid with many different models of cameras, flash options, power options, etc...what firmware version are you running? 8.0/8.1 is showing the Dual Power Banks properly on my end. The only major issue I have had has been runaway sensors on 3 of the G cameras but the warranty replacement process isn't too bad and you get a new camera in return.

I'm running 8.0 on all of mine. I have been dealing with the battery pack issue since early spring when I had to change all the batteries out completely after winter. I had 3358's on all of them at the time. When I arrived in late February...5 of them looked like they exploded (batteries on the ground and the 2 plastic holding pieces + springs strewn about). All the cams are 1-1.5 yrs old and have had battery packs on since they were available.
Maybe the packs are fried? I'm upset because I've probably burned through a lot of good batteries over bad connections. I check the cords every time at the cams and have had squirrels chew through many. They sent 2 cords with the 3358's(long & short). I use both on different cameras. That still doesn't explain why the 5 new mega packs are not registering with new cords? I did the whole "remove baterries/wait/plug in cord/install batteries deal to no avail...maybe I need to ....Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start?

 

[john volkman]

what

I'm running 8.0 on all of mine. I have been dealing with the battery pack issue since early spring when I had to change all the batteries out completely after winter. I had 3358's on all of them at the time. When I arrived in late February...5 of them looked like they exploded (batteries on the ground and the 2 plastic holding pieces + springs strewn about). All the cams are 1-1.5 yrs old and have had battery packs on since they were available.
Maybe the packs are fried? I'm upset because I've probably burned through a lot of good batteries over bad connections. I check the cords every time at the cams and have had squirrels chew through many. They sent 2 cords with the 3358's(long & short). I use both on different cameras. That still doesn't explain why the 5 new mega packs are not registering with new cords? I did the whole "remove baterries/wait/plug in cord/install batteries deal to no avail...maybe I need to ....Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start?

what brand and type batteries are you running in the camera and running in the booster? im assuming mega means Dual power bank ? what camera are you running these on and do you have batteries in the camera ?

 

[BC18]

if your cameras arent on 7.9 or later firmware they may not recognize your dual power banks but you need to give me more info , or you can pm me and ill get you my number to walk thru the issues. it would be VERY odd to have 15 out of 20 cameras all start to have the same issue in a short period of time. what exactly has changed from your set ups last year when things were working? the report variance is normal , keep in mind its not in real time its listing the last time the home checked in with that camera.