Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[swat1018]

I'm running the AC Delco AA alkaline off of Amazon in my J-series IR cams. I'm getting 50 days in NE MO.

 

[PartsGuy]

ok, on your cell home or cell home cameras or any g series cams you should run the 3358 6 d cell battery booster. this will give you 120 days or more.
on your remote J cameras run the 3501 solar units if in full sun , if not in the open, run the 3495 6 d cell battery accessory this will give you 90 days sometimes up to 120.
If using solar pick up a tenergy tn438 16 bay AA battery charger, these work great for topping off the batteries and show you what level they re at , well worth the $30 if you are running multiple solar units.
As i said earlier, we are working on additional options that will allow the cams to run even longer incorporating the current solar kit and battery boosters. intention is to have this ready well ahead of 2019 camera deployment season.
I dont recommend the solar on the cell home or cell cameras because they are working very hard, the battery booster is the way to go.

John - so the tenergy tn438 charger is purely to keep my rechargable AA batteries maintained and to test those that go bad, right? will be able to run regular alkaline batteries on the tenergy unit also to read the battery charge. this can be pretty helpful i think. will pick one up asap (what's another $30 at this point, right?)

the solar info says this will work even if in partial sun, but you suggest it must be full sun. any suggestion on how many hours per day on full sun?

this is where it starts to get confusing for me - if sun, then solar. if not enough sun, then J series D cell pack. if G cameras, solar works with a booster, but not G camera cell units. cuddepower then for G units not in full sun. then what if i get this all set up and need to move a camera to a different location? we moved camera 6 at one setup 25 yards and now we get 10-12 pictures per day vs. almost 0. but the cover is different and solar may not work in the new location (would have prior). so to move a camera, i would need to have multiple power options available to apply to that camera, or limit where the camera is set up.

seems to me the simplest thing to do is put a cuddepower unit with each camera (J or G series), plug it in and let it go. can this be accomplished with a compatible cord? not trying to kick a dead horse here, but $50-$60 per solar unit over 15-20 cameras is not insignificant, if it's not a perfect fit. cuddepower for 20 cameras - even with the cost of batteries - looks to be a more consistent option. i have an option to pickup 6 cameras with solar for a good price, but don't want to do this if solar really doesn't solve my issues.

appreciate your insight - again.

 

[Rlsbowhunt]

Here is my experience so far. I have 8 j series black flash, 1 home unit and 4 solar kits. Started off running cameras on lithium and alkaline batteries. Longest I have gotten out of lithium is probably 50 days with low pic count, alkaline batteries less run time then lithium but not significant, some cameras with less reception and more pics would eat a set of batteries in 10 days.

To cure the battery problem I bought the solar kits. All solar units have at least 70% sun. I haven't been impressed so far, battery life between 2-4 weeks on the rechargable batterries so far. Won't be buying any more solar kits at this point.

At this point I'm going to try and solve the problem myself. They sell the d cell pack thing for j series but you just replace a 12 unit AA with a 6 unit d, doesn't make sense to me. I build a PVC tube with conductors on each end to hold 6 d batteries in series (9v). I wired the ends to a 4x1.7mm plug and plugged it into the back of the camera. So now I have the 12aa and 6 d batteries powering the camera. I think this should work well.

I love this system and the way it works, but I think they screwed the pooch on the battery system. The cameras cost enough to begin with, you shouldn't have to buy 50$ solar or 25$ d conversion kits to make them work.

 

[john volkman]

John - so the tenergy tn438 charger is purely to keep my rechargable AA batteries maintained and to test those that go bad, right? will be able to run regular alkaline batteries on the tenergy unit also to read the battery charge. this can be pretty helpful i think. will pick one up asap (what's another $30 at this point, right?)

the solar info says this will work even if in partial sun, but you suggest it must be full sun. any suggestion on how many hours per day on full sun?

this is where it starts to get confusing for me - if sun, then solar. if not enough sun, then J series D cell pack. if G cameras, solar works with a booster, but not G camera cell units. cuddepower then for G units not in full sun. then what if i get this all set up and need to move a camera to a different location? we moved camera 6 at one setup 25 yards and now we get 10-12 pictures per day vs. almost 0. but the cover is different and solar may not work in the new location (would have prior). so to move a camera, i would need to have multiple power options available to apply to that camera, or limit where the camera is set up.

seems to me the simplest thing to do is put a cuddepower unit with each camera (J or G series), plug it in and let it go. can this be accomplished with a compatible cord? not trying to kick a dead horse here, but $50-$60 per solar unit over 15-20 cameras is not insignificant, if it's not a perfect fit. cuddepower for 20 cameras - even with the cost of batteries - looks to be a more consistent option. i have an option to pickup 6 cameras with solar for a good price, but don't want to do this if solar really doesn't solve my issues.

appreciate your insight - again.

running the booster on the g series and the d battery pack on the J's is the simplest way to get better battery life. you will get 90-150 days on each unit by running these depending on which one and the situation. With solar, i say full sun because i dont want someone putting it in a cedar swamp and being unhappy. running solar is still less expensive than replacing aa's every 30-60 days regardless of the situation.

This is not directed at your post but just a general comment-
Battery management is a challenge when running this system. Keep in mind if you turned off cuddelink. The cameras would last 6-12months easy on just the standard battery option with no booster at all. Imagine how long your phone would last if you just turned it on and left it sit without even using it? they cost $500 but they still havent figured out how to have the batteries last and there are billions of them on the market.
if you add a battery accessory to match your situation the cuddelink system will work as designed and help you stay our of your hunting area, save you gas and $ and save you time , its really that simple. The intention is to come up with a battery system that will allow any camera to be deployed for over 6 months regardless of situation. Believe me, there are thousands of man hours spent on power management when designing these, its not something taken lightly. On top of that, you have to hit certain price points or people wont buy them and retailers won't stock them!
Everyone wants longer and better , I do too , but technology only moves so fast and there are limitations.

 

[PartsGuy]

Here is my experience so far. I have 8 j series black flash, 1 home unit and 4 solar kits. Started off running cameras on lithium and alkaline batteries. Longest I have gotten out of lithium is probably 50 days with low pic count, alkaline batteries less run time then lithium but not significant, some cameras with less reception and more pics would eat a set of batteries in 10 days.

To cure the battery problem I bought the solar kits. All solar units have at least 70% sun. I haven't been impressed so far, battery life between 2-4 weeks on the rechargable batterries so far. Won't be buying any more solar kits at this point.

At this point I'm going to try and solve the problem myself. They sell the d cell pack thing for j series but you just replace a 12 unit AA with a 6 unit d, doesn't make sense to me. I build a PVC tube with conductors on each end to hold 6 d batteries in series (9v). I wired the ends to a 4x1.7mm plug and plugged it into the back of the camera. So now I have the 12aa and 6 d batteries powering the camera. I think this should work well.

I love this system and the way it works, but I think they screwed the pooch on the battery system. The cameras cost enough to begin with, you shouldn't have to buy 50$ solar or 25$ d conversion kits to make them work.

With you on the J series cameras - want to be able to keep the AA power pack that came original on the J camera plus add the Cuddepower 3358. The only thing missing to make this work is a power cable with the 90 connection on one end and straight on the other. This is the exact cord that comes with the solar adapter kit 3532 - the cord that goes from the AA recharge pack to the G series camera.

I have a solar kit, another Cuddepower 3358 and 4 new J series cameras coming in this week. Will run the 3358 on a J camera with the solar kit cord and see if it's recognized as an external power supply. Will let you know what I find.

Would be very interested in your home-brew power pack. Keep me posted here. Thanks.

 

[Booner21]

Battery life G series with powerhouse black flash if taking any amount of pics at all from having close to 50 cameras out has been between 30 to 40 days. 2 cams lasted 60 but had less than 500 pics during that time. Learning experience for sure. Sitting right now with half the cams dead during the time I need Intel and can't afford to be tromping around fixing cams. Some have went dead in as little as a week. Extender packs for sure for next year.

I have a cam currently that is in runaway mode lucky it is 50 yrds from me I will reset it on the way out, took picture of me walking in and is emailing me pics non stop of nothing for the last 7 hours.



Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[john volkman]

With you on the J series cameras - want to be able to keep the AA power pack that came original on the J camera plus add the Cuddepower 3358. The only thing missing to make this work is a power cable with the 90 connection on one end and straight on the other. This is the exact cord that comes with the solar adapter kit 3532 - the cord that goes from the AA recharge pack to the G series camera.

I have a solar kit, another Cuddepower 3358 and 4 new J series cameras coming in this week. Will run the 3358 on a J camera with the solar kit cord and see if it's recognized as an external power supply. Will let you know what I find.

Would be very interested in your home-brew power pack. Keep me posted here. Thanks.

if you do this i would recommend keeping the battery compartment on the camera empty and just running the external pack.
Cuddeback will preview the newest battery management tool for the Cuddelink cams at this years ATA show.

 

[ACCMan]

I hope they come up with a 120VAC to DC adapter to use with the Home Cell for those of us that don't have it in the woods and would like to plug it in to a house receptacle. I just had the entire system go down because of dead batteries in the Home Cell, and the previous nights report stated batteries were OK. The battery status of OK/Weak/Dead should be upgraded to show battery percentage of charge on the nightly report. I've found on my cameras that a "LOW" report means I have a maximum of 2 days before the battery is dead and drops off the report. For guys that have their cameras miles away from home this is a major inconvenience.

I recently went to the D cell adapters on my J series cameras and my battery life is not appreciably longer by any means. I spend entirely too much time baby sitting these cameras because of poor battery life and can't imagine the time required to keep 16 operable, not to mention the cost in batteries.

 

[john volkman]

I hope they come up with a 120VAC to DC adapter to use with the Home Cell for those of us that don't have it in the woods and would like to plug it in to a house receptacle. I just had the entire system go down because of dead batteries in the Home Cell, and the previous nights report stated batteries were OK. The battery status of OK/Weak/Dead should be upgraded to show battery percentage of charge on the nightly report. I've found on my cameras that a "LOW" report means I have a maximum of 2 days before the battery is dead and drops off the report. For guys that have their cameras miles away from home this is a major inconvenience.

I recently went to the D cell adapters on my J series cameras and my battery life is not appreciably longer by any means. I spend entirely too much time baby sitting these cameras because of poor battery life and can't imagine the time required to keep 16 operable, not to mention the cost in batteries.

The status is OK, low on the report. I have always recommended the 6 d cell booster pack on the home cell. I get 120 days when running that on my home cell. IF you do the same, when you get the EXT LOW on your report you know you have approx month to change out the batteries since it will switch to the internals when the external goes dead. I have my externals at 117 days currently and they still haven't switched to the internals on my cell home and on my G series. my estimation is Cost is about $10 to run the home cell for 4 months.
i have consistently been getting 90+ days on my J's with the 6 d cell adapters, how many days are you getting? what batteries are you using ? i use rayovac, i figure its about $2 per camera per month to run them this way.

 

[squerril]

Booner 21,
I have a G series camera that has been doing the same thing of taking pictures non stop since 3 am this morning. Don't no why settings changed but it did. I guess I will wait till it run out of battery power. Unfortunately its eating up all my cell plan minutes. I will also just leave them out and wait until the season is over before refreshing batteries. What started out as great has been frustrating the past month with issues on my repeater switching from repeater to home to the issues above on the G cam.

Sent from my Android Tablet FT7 using Tapatalk

 

[john volkman]

Booner 21,
I have a G series camera that has been doing the same thing of taking pictures non stop since 3 am this morning. Don't no why settings changed but it did. I guess I will wait till it run out of battery power. Unfortunately its eating up all my cell plan minutes. I will also just leave them out and wait until the season is over before refreshing batteries. What started out as great has been frustrating the past month with issues on my repeater switching from repeater to home to the issues above on the G cam.

Sent from my Android Tablet FT7 using Tapatalk

if you have a camera doing this return it to cudde for replacement or repair once you are able to retrieve it.

 

[squerril]

I will do just that. John you have been very helpful on other issues that i have had in the past. I dont know what myself or other's would have done without your knowledge and advice you have given on these cams.

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[ACCMan]

The status is OK, low on the report. I have always recommended the 6 d cell booster pack on the home cell. I get 120 days when running that on my home cell. IF you do the same, when you get the EXT LOW on your report you know you have approx month to change out the batteries since it will switch to the internals when the external goes dead. I have my externals at 117 days currently and they still haven't switched to the internals on my cell home and on my G series. my estimation is Cost is about $10 to run the home cell for 4 months.
i have consistently been getting 90+ days on my J's with the 6 d cell adapters, how many days are you getting? what batteries are you using ? i use rayovac, i figure its about $2 per camera per month to run them this way.

I just changed a set today at 36 battery days, 156 pics qued, single pic. They were Rayovac but replaced with Energized Industrials.

 

[john volkman]

I just changed a set today at 36 battery days, 156 pics qued, single pic. They were Rayovac but replaced with Energized Industrials.

Days is more important that images qued.
that seems way to short, the d's that lasted 36 days were rayovac alkaline? I had some people that had very poor performance with energizer, i have hard time thinking that brand would be a huge difference but this is the second time I've heard it.

 

[Booner21]

I just changed a set today at 36 battery days, 156 pics qued, single pic. They were Rayovac but replaced with Energized Industrials.

Days is more important that images qued.
that seems way to short, the d's that lasted 36 days were rayovac alkaline? I had some people that had very poor performance with energizer, i have hard time thinking that brand would be a huge difference but this is the second time I've heard it.

Rayovac here and days are between 30 and 40 on most cams.

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[ACCMan]

Days is more important that images qued.
that seems way to short, the d's that lasted 36 days were rayovac alkaline? I had some people that had very poor performance with energizer, i have hard time thinking that brand would be a huge difference but this is the second time I've heard it.

Nope, Rayovac alkalines lasted 36 days. What is the part # for the Home Cell battery extender?

 

[PartsGuy]

if you do this i would recommend keeping the battery compartment on the camera empty and just running the external pack.
Cuddeback will preview the newest battery management tool for the Cuddelink cams at this years ATA show.

why empty the battery compartment of the J camera? wouldn't having the AA is the battery compartment and the cuddepower 3358 external be better? is there a technology or voltage conflict?

 

[john volkman]

why empty the battery compartment of the J camera? wouldn't having the AA is the battery compartment and the cuddepower 3358 external be better? is there a technology or voltage conflict?

you run the risk of the external charging(or attempting to) your internals which would cause issues.

 

[john volkman]

Rayovac here and days are between 30 and 40 on most cams.

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booner, you are getting 30-40 days with the 6 d cell pack on the j camera?

 

[john volkman]

Nope, Rayovac alkalines lasted 36 days. What is the part # for the Home Cell battery extender?

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