Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[356]

System Update:
While time is rendering my J & G camera system somewhat obsolete, I am at day 300 from the start of my solar conversion and am pleased to share the system has worked flawlessly. While I did not add solar all at once, it has been over 170 days since I have checked a camera. All are currently worked as designed and I am pleased with the system. Last June I had issues with ants, so this year I will be proactive treating the trees.

This system was first put to use in 2019 on a non-cell coverage, but for only a few weeks. It was not until December 2021 that I started using the system as designed, and battery life was the Achilles heel of the system. Solar changed everything, IMO, and the standard 3600 panels have given good service even in low light areas.

The G-camera provides good pictures, and is the one that has 300 days of untouched service. For those wanting to use the G-camera with the new L system, it seems like a winter.

 

[MVO]

Looking for some advice.
I am currently running 10 J series cameras and I am not getting the link level range I am looking for. The max distance I am being able to achieve is around 350 yards. I would like to be able to reach 450 yards comfortably. I understand that terrain will have an effect on it. But this is woods that have gentle rolling hills. Will upgrading an antenna give me better link level results? Also does the new L series cameras come with better antennas to improve the distance?

 

[356]

Looking for some advice.
I am currently running 10 J series cameras and I am not getting the link level range I am looking for. The max distance I am being able to achieve is around 350 yards. I would like to be able to reach 450 yards comfortably. I understand that terrain will have an effect on it. But this is woods that have gentle rolling hills. Will upgrading an antenna give me better link level results? Also does the new L series cameras come with better antennas to improve the distance?

Camera 5 is 2/3 of a mile from the home camera, goes to a link (Camera 4) that is 470 yards away. The link is 712 yards to the home unit. As you can see, the signal is often between 10-20, but I seem to get pictures just fine.

I use the standard antennas, and other posts by John have suggested not trying to change them. I assume you are running the current firmware. Let us know what you find.

 

[SwampCat]

In flat ground with thicker vegetation, 400 yards is a dream on my property. But, I have found they do reliably send with link level 10

 

[john volkman]

Looking for some advice.
I am currently running 10 J series cameras and I am not getting the link level range I am looking for. The max distance I am being able to achieve is around 350 yards. I would like to be able to reach 450 yards comfortably. I understand that terrain will have an effect on it. But this is woods that have gentle rolling hills. Will upgrading an antenna give me better link level results? Also does the new L series cameras come with better antennas to improve the distance?

things that affect transmission and/or delivery speed-
Channel interference - NEVER use common numbers for your channel like 01,02,04 etc make sure your channel is random and spread the numbers apart - a good example is 09-19, 11-23 etc.
Atmospheric conditions- High Humidity , HEAVY leaf cover 12' high Standing corn is a example , High heat etc, will decrease range. Conversely, transmission distances increase in lower humidity , where as July and august are typically the worst months. Your link levels will increase in fall winter and spring.
Steep terrain - if you have steep terrain, try to get your Home unit higher than all or at least most of the your cameras, this will increase range. RF can not transmit thru the ground , rolling hills are usually not a an issue but everyone has a different idea of what rolling or steep terrain is.
Different antennas will not help you - centralizing and or getting your home unit higher than the others will .
L series dont have much better transmission than the J series do.

 

[Taxman81]

things that affect transmission and/or delivery speed-
Channel interference - NEVER use common numbers for your channel like 01,02,04 etc make sure your channel is random and spread the numbers apart - a good example is 09-19, 11-23 etc.
Atmospheric conditions- High Humidity , HEAVY leaf cover 12' high Standing corn is a example , High heat etc, will decrease range. Conversely, transmission distances increase in lower humidity , where as July and august are typically the worst months. Your link levels will increase in fall winter and spring.
Steep terrain - if you have steep terrain, try to get your Home unit higher than all or at least most of the your cameras, this will increase range. RF can not transmit thru the ground , rolling hills are usually not a an issue but everyone has a different idea of what rolling or steep terrain is.
Different antennas will not help you - centralizing and or getting your home unit higher than the others will .
L series dont have much better transmission than the J series do.

Hello all! New to the forum but love getting everyone’s knowledge!

So my question is what is the ideal setting to get a email with a picture every time it goes off? Surveillance? Im getting frustrated not getting pics consistently. I’ve had 300 some pics taken but only received about 20 on my cell camera (k series). Any thoughts why??
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mtyhunter]

Unless settings have changed since last hunting seaon, you can set to send avail pics every hour, max of 30 pics. And there's another setting or 2 that may need to be altered about the pic queue.. Been awhile since I've had to mess with my settings, so I can't get too technical. There's 3 or 4 Cuddelink threads on this site, many pages long on each thread, and I'm pretty sure you'll find your answer with some review of these threads. John Volkman is the man on this system, and he usually answers questions like this really fast. If he doesn't answer soon, send him a PM, he'll get you going for sure.

 

[Taxman81]

Unless settings have changed since last hunting seaon, you can set to send avail pics every hour, max of 30 pics. And there's another setting or 2 that may need to be altered about the pic queue.. Been awhile since I've had to mess with my settings, so I can't get too technical. There's 3 or 4 Cuddelink threads on this site, many pages long on each thread, and I'm pretty sure you'll find your answer with some review of these threads. John Volkman is the man on this system, and he usually answers questions like this really fast. If he doesn't answer soon, send him a PM, he'll get you going for sure.

Thank you I appreciate the info. Been running these for a few years but just can’t seem to dial it in just perfect

 

[john volkman]

Hello all! New to the forum but love getting everyone’s knowledge!

So my question is what is the ideal setting to get a email with a picture every time it goes off? Surveillance? Im getting frustrated not getting pics consistently. I’ve had 300 some pics taken but only received about 20 on my cell camera (k series). Any thoughts why??
Thanks in advance!

cuddelink is really not designed to send pics via cell "immediately " after each image is taken. 1 hour or batch 5 is the shortest your should run a CL network. 1 Hour is the most efficient, your network should be able to send all images inside of the hour they were taken in all but the busiest of networks. In that case, the oldest an image would be is 59 minutes, the most recent ...1 minute.
If you need each picture sent immediately as its taken , then you want a stand alone cell camera, not a cuddelink network.
The home cell que will send images anytime it hits 30 images or the chosen cell rate. If you set your camera to batch 1 image or batch 2 images , and you are running a network, it will actually SLOW down the time in which it takes you to receive images and it will never catch up.
You can run a camera on priority and that cam will send anytime it takes a picture but you will still not get them "immediately". Again, if that is what you need then you need a stand alone cell unit where you buy a plan for each camera. There are negatives to that scenario as well, as any camera struggles to take and send immediately without missing something.
The other factor that can slow your image transmission and your network down as a whole, is channel interference. If you are using the default channel (01-01), or any common number that others nearby may be using like 02, 03 , 04 etc. , and another user is using even one same number as you are, that is close by, (as in a mile or less) this can also slow down your network . For this reason, when choosing a channel always use a random number and spread the numbers apart by 8 or more - a good example for channel choice is 12-27 , a bad choice example is 01-01 or 02-02 .

 

[Taxman81]

cuddelink is really not designed to send pics via cell "immediately " after each image is taken. 1 hour or batch 5 is the shortest your should run a CL network. 1 Hour is the most efficient, your network should be able to send all images inside of the hour they were taken in all but the busiest of networks. In that case, the oldest an image would be is 59 minutes, the most recent ...1 minute.
If you need each picture sent immediately as its taken , then you want a stand alone cell camera, not a cuddelink network.
The home cell que will send images anytime it hits 30 images or the chosen cell rate. If you set your camera to batch 1 or batch 2, and you are running a network, it will actually SLOW down the time in which it takes you to receive images and it will never catch up.
You can run a camera on priority and that cam will send anytime it takes a picture but you will still not get them "immediately". Again, if that is what you need then you need a stand alone cell unit where you buy a plan for each camera. There are negatives to that scenario as well, as any camera struggles to take and send immediately without missing something.
The other factor that can slow your image transmission and your network down as a whole, is channel interference. If you are using the default channel (01-01), or any common number that others nearby may be using like 02, 03 , 04 etc. , and another user is using even one same number as you are, that is close by, (as in a mile or less) this can also slow down your network . For this reason, when choosing a channel always use a random number and spread the numbers apart by 8 or more - a good example for channel choice is 12-27 , a bad choice example is 01-01 or 02-02 .

Thank you for the information! I guess I’m not needing immediate transmission, I was just super frustrated on pictures being taken according to the number of pics on the report but wasn’t getting the majority of them. Going to look at it this weekend before I link other cameras to it. It may be a signal issue but I’ve had a camera there before and it was fine. Might be the humidity. I think you mentioned that would affect signal.

 

[356]

Third Party Review: At the recent NDA deer steward habitat module, the host farm was using the Cuddelink system throughout their 6000 acre operation (which had been in the family since 1816 here in Missouri—wow!). All of the cameras were on solar, and the owner said several had been in the field for three years. They continued to rave about the system, and its reliability. It was good to hear from someone who is not sponsored, and more importantly, someone who has had the system in the field for a long time.

The cameras were brought in once per year to download the SD card info, update firmware if needed and give a good cleaning.

 

[john volkman]

Thank you for the information! I guess I’m not needing immediate transmission, I was just super frustrated on pictures being taken according to the number of pics on the report but wasn’t getting the majority of them. Going to look at it this weekend before I link other cameras to it. It may be a signal issue but I’ve had a camera there before and it was fine. Might be the humidity. I think you mentioned that would affect signal.

maybe you can post your report so we can take a look and help. If you feel the cameras arent sending ( which is VERY Rare). There are a couple other things to know.
1. Check the online camp page or the app , if the pics are there.... they are being sent. If you are using the text option to receive them, your cell phone provider is likely blocking images , this is very common.Use email, the app or the photos page on camp as those cant be blocked.
2. Know that the SD images shown on the home sd are a the images taken by the remotes and the home so the remote images are listed twice , your total images received should mirror closely to the home image sd but when the report is built has an effect and it may not sync perfectly.
3. The remote will try to send even if the signal is low ,but if its below 10 it may fall off the network occasionally and thus get behind.

 

[Taxman81]

maybe you can post your report so we can take a look and help. If you feel the cameras arent sending ( which is VERY Rare). There are a couple other things to know.
1. Check the online camp page or the app , if the pics are there.... they are being sent. If you are using the text option to receive them, your cell phone provider is likely blocking images , this is very common.Use email, the app or the photos page on camp as those cant be blocked.
2. Know that the SD images shown on the home sd are a the images taken by the remotes and the home so the remote images are listed twice , your total images received should mirror closely to the home image sd but when the report is built has an effect and it may not sync perfectly.
3. The remote will try to send even if the signal is low ,but if its below 10 it may fall off the network occasionally and thus get behind.

Thank you for the info. At this point I only have my K series camera out. No other remote cameras yet.

This is the report after a few days. Just counted my emails and had only received 29 pics at that point. That’s why I was concerned. I’ll check the app and see if pics are there

 

[john volkman]

Thank you for the info. At this point I only have my K series camera out. No other remote cameras yet.

This is the report after a few days. Just counted my emails and had only received 29 pics at that point. That’s why I was concerned. I’ll check the app and see if pics are there

Check your junk file then check the website under photos to see how many are there - you will need ot hit clear all to have them all show up in photos. , also see if the K is actually online since that report is from the 7/09 so if that is when you last received a report then its been offline for a while, was the card cleared when you put it out?What are u you using for external power ?
see my note on channel as well, NEVER USE 01 if you can help it highly likely someone near you is also using one. Where are you seeing that 300 images have been taken?

 

[Taxman81]

Check your junk file then check the website under photos to see how many are there - you will need ot hit clear all to have them all show up in photos. , also see if the K is actually online since that report is from the 7/09 so if that is when you last received a report then its been offline for a while, was the card cleared when you put it out?What are u you using for external power ?
see my note on channel as well, NEVER USE 01 if you can help it highly likely someone near you is also using one. Where are you seeing that 300 images have been taken?

Sorry that report was just after a few days. Here is the latest. As you can see I changed it to time lapse and got a thousand pictures and changed it the next day. Power source is dual power bank and a solar panel. It was a blank card. I will definitely change the channel this weekend when I’m out at the farm. I may switch it out for a g series as well. Do you recommend the g or the k series? Thank you

 

[john volkman]

Sorry that report was just after a few days. Here is the latest. As you can see I changed it to time lapse and got a thousand pictures and changed it the next day. Power source is dual power bank and a solar panel. It was a blank card. I will definitely change the channel this weekend when I’m out at the farm. I may switch it out for a g series as well. Do you recommend the g or the k series? Thank you

here is what i would do when you visit the cam-
Clear SD card in camera and also clear cell que in cell menu
set cell rate to batch 5 images in cell menu
Change channel to something more random in link menu
set camera delay to what you desire (5 seconds works best for testing )
Run cell test - if you get a success you should receive an email with the cuddeback logo - i would then set cell rate to 5 images , arm it , keep the door open - get it to take 5 pics of you confirming it flashes image 5 different times and then wait for the screen to show "CELL TX" . shortly after that you should receive an email with the 5 images to your email address- (not a text - an email)
IF you dont receive the email ,check your junk file and then pull the card to confirm the camera wrote the images on the card.
IF the images are on the card and you didn't get the 5 images to your email we would need ot dig deeper to figure out what is going on, possibly a bad SD card but thats unlikely if its writing to the card.
Once you confirm its sending, then you can adjust the cell rate or camera delay to you preference but DONT use batch 1 image or batch 2 images , use a cell rate of batch 5 or larger or One hour or longer.

 

[Taxman81]

here is what i would do when you visit the cam-
Clear SD card in camera and also clear cell que in cell menu
set cell rate to batch 5 images in cell menu
Change channel to something more random in link menu
set camera delay to what you desire (5 seconds works best for testing )
Run cell test - if you get a success you should receive an email with the cuddeback logo - i would then set cell rate to 5 images , arm it , keep the door open - get it to take 5 pics of you confirming it flashes image 5 different times and then wait for the screen to show "CELL TX" . shortly after that you should receive an email with the 5 images to your email address- (not a text - an email)
IF you dont receive the email ,check your junk file and then pull the card to confirm the camera wrote the images on the card.
IF the images are on the card and you didn't get the 5 images to your email we would need ot dig deeper to figure out what is going on, possibly a bad SD card but thats unlikely if its writing to the card.
Once you confirm its sending, then you can adjust the cell rate or camera delay to you preference but DONT use batch 1 image or batch 2 images , use a cell rate of batch 5 or larger or One hour or longer.

Sounds great! Thank you again! I appreciate it

 

[Taxman81]

Sorry to bother you again but I have another question. So I got two pics of a buck with his face up to the home camera (again only camera I have out). My report shows an increase of 4 pics. Is that because the sd card has it in 2 folders? I did get email pics of the 2 pics and on the app as well but only 2 pics not 4. Just curious. Thank you again!

 

[john volkman]

Sorry to bother you again but I have another question. So I got two pics of a buck with his face up to the home camera (again only camera I have out). My report shows an increase of 4 pics. Is that because the sd card has it in 2 folders? I did get email pics of the 2 pics and on the app as well but only 2 pics not 4. Just curious. Thank you again!

it saves the hi res image it took and the low res images that is transmitted , it will also save the lo res link images that are transmitted to the home from the remotes that are linked to it when set up in a network. The remotes will save the hi res images they take on their own card.

 

[Taxman81]

Thank you. That’s what I was assuming but I’ve learned it’s better to ask than assume. I appreciate you!