Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[Pazdag]

Thanks for the explanations. All of that makes sense. Definitely seems like additional tolerance on the voltage thresholds would make sense. At any rate back on line. Any input on the detection sensitivity as battery level starts to go down?

 

[Booner21]

Southern Illinois. D batteries. Not sure on temps at the time, but could have been a cold spell. Came right back up with the new batteries. All of my cameras are under tree canopy so solar option is out, but looks like external battery packs should be in my future plans. If the network report only shows battery OK or nothing, because the batteries are dead, i don’t know what the point is of telling me the batteries are okay. If it’s online they are okay. If it’s offline batteries are likely dead. I was anticipating a low battery warning.

Usually you will see a 'battery low' signal on your report several days before the batteries go belly up. However, with the Power House flash modules in a G or K model camera you can occasionally go straight from 'battery ok' to dead without a warning. This is due to the super-capacitors in the Power House module hitting the batteries hard to refresh when the battery charge is at or near the 'ok' to 'low' threshold. Just for the sake of explanation (I don't remember the precise voltage where the batteries die or flop from ok to low), but let's just say that at 5.2 volts the indicator switches from 'ok' to 'low... and at 4.8 volts the batteries are considered dead and the system shuts down. So if you're battery voltage is floating along at 5.21 volts (still reading 'ok') and the capacitors need recharging the caps will put a short term demand on the batteries of slightly over 0.4 volts. If this is enough to cause your batteries to read less than 4.8 volts the camera can shut itself down. It's clearly a premature shut-down because the battery voltage would have popped back up after the recharge, but it can shut down none the less. It's happened to me on occasion and I'm sure to others. I think there needs to be a little more tolerance built into the controlling firmware to allow for the short term hits of the super-caps... perhaps this has already been addressed via firmware update or maybe not.

In my experience on internal batteries only on g series with black powerhouse will go straight from ok to dead. No warning you may get 1 day low if you are lucky. External packs have given me 14 day notice and will often go back to okay for a while. I added external packs and get 120 plus days on just the Ext. Once it switches to internal I then know I have at least 15 days to change out the external pack.


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[BWHunter]

I

In my experience on internal batteries only on g series with black powerhouse will go straight from ok to dead. No warning you may get 1 day low if you are lucky. External packs have given me 14 day notice and will often go back to okay for a while. I added external packs and get 120 plus days on just the Ext. Once it switches to internal I then know I have at least 15 days to change out the external pack.


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I purchased some J cameras; took the AA off and added the D external ones; how do you know when it goes to internal battery

 

[Bpressley]

I

I purchased some J cameras; took the AA off and added the D external ones; how do you know when it goes to internal battery

If you removed the AA pack and added the D pack....the D are now the internals.

 

[RRAB58]

Thanks for the explanations. All of that makes sense. Definitely seems like additional tolerance on the voltage thresholds would make sense. At any rate back on line. Any input on the detection sensitivity as battery level starts to go down?

I am not going to state this definitively, but yes it can (might). The PIR operates on a minute voltage change measured in millivolts. Low supply voltage might could cause a voltage drift at this circuit and adversely affect PIR. Not going to be able to prove this by a walk test.

When your batteries get below 25% expect things to go south.

 

[BWHunter]

If you removed the AA pack and added the D pack....the D are now the internals.

I thought the camera comes with an internal memory/battery

 

[spaniel]

I thought the camera comes with an internal memory/battery

The J currently comes with the AA pack as internals. They D pack is aftermarket, but apparently that is changing. You literally remove the AA pack and bolt on the D pack as part of the camera. This is considered the "internals". This D pack is different from the 3358 6-cell D pack or dual power bank, which are considered externals.

 

[Gordy77]

Meanwhile a buddy’s SPYPOINT is picking up deer at crazy distances. At this point I am glad I only purchased six cameras. I was set to load up enough for a full network, but going to have to see some drastic improvement to get me to shell out more money.

Crazy distances! Got my father a link micro and I swear it picks up deer at 50 yards! Bought in on 4 cuddes with intention to buy more as well, but have 3 with problems. Planned to get him on the cuddeback system but sort of used him as a guinea pig for spypoint. Will be sending in the 3 and most likely be buying one or two more by next season. But they need to work on software or something and clean the product up. Truthfully, all of the innovation and quality cuddeback has put into they're product makes them a great buy. Customer support in my opinion has been great. But the problems are out weighing the benefits thus far. My needs require a product that functions for 3 solid months, and I have yet to get 3 weeks. Fingers crossed for 8.0.

 

[Pazdag]

I’m not done with the Cuddebacks, but if SPYPOINT had a network system that could keep cost down for data like Cuddeback I would already have spent money on more of their cameras. I hesitated on buying the Cuddebacks last year, but reading this forum made me finally say I could work through the issues and I bought six cameras, but having this much money invested it is frustrating.


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[Trlblzr3]

The J currently comes with the AA pack as internals. They D pack is aftermarket, but apparently that is changing. You literally remove the AA pack and bolt on the D pack as part of the camera. This is considered the "internals". This D pack is different from the 3358 6-cell D pack or dual power bank, which are considered externals.

The D replacement pack, which appears to be no longer available, when used with the 3358 6-cell D pack are the same voltage and will not appear as ext. I believe this was stated in an earlier post.

 

[BWHunter]

The J currently comes with the AA pack as internals. They D pack is aftermarket, but apparently that is changing. You literally remove the AA pack and bolt on the D pack as part of the camera. This is considered the "internals". This D pack is different from the 3358 6-cell D pack or dual power bank, which are considered externals.

this is what I use; says model # 3495. its a 6 capacity of D batteries; is there something different/ better?

 

[swat1018]

I think the cuddelink concept is awesome, and the mesh network is plenty powerful in my application. I have cameras covering all of my 210 acre farm with all making 1 link. The most disappointing part is the camera itself, detection and flash mainly. I don't plan on giving up on cuddelink, but I wish they would focus future efforts on improvements in this area. I have better than a dozen Browning Strike Force Elites from 2016, that you hang and forget. Nothing gets by them, and I get 20,000 +/- images from 6 AA batteries. Cuddelink needs to figure out the sensor issue ASAP. If Browning would come up with a mesh network system, I have to be honest and say I'd be gone.

 

[Trlblzr3]

this is what I use; says model # 3495. its a 6 capacity of D batteries; is there something different/ better?

That is the D replacement pack Spaniel is referring. It say “Temporarily out of stock”, on Cuddeback website, but may no longer be available.

 

[john volkman]

Important note to anyone who purchased the promo J 2 pack, be sure you update the firmware to 7.9 on the J's, if you dont- night images will suffer when battery life falls past a certain level. If not using the New J in the very near future you can wait for firmware 8.0 which will have the remote control option update and this will also fix the issue on the J with 4 d battery pack.

 

[john volkman]

That is the D replacement pack Spaniel is referring. It say “Temporarily out of stock”, on Cuddeback website, but may no longer be available.

these will be offered again in 2020. Should have them in first quarter sometime.

 

[Trlblzr3]

these will be offered again in 2020. Should have them in first quarter sometime.

That’s good to hear, but I thought I called CS when I was looking at a deal from Farmstead that included free solar and they told me no.

 

[john volkman]

That’s good to hear, but I thought I called CS when I was looking at a deal from Farmstead that included free solar and they told me no.

at one point this item was going to be discontinued but demand remained high enough that they decided to bring it back for 2020.

 

[RRAB58]

I think the cuddelink concept is awesome, and the mesh network is plenty powerful in my application. I have cameras covering all of my 210 acre farm with all making 1 link. The most disappointing part is the camera itself, detection and flash mainly. I don't plan on giving up on cuddelink, but I wish they would focus future efforts on improvements in this area. I have better than a dozen Browning Strike Force Elites from 2016, that you hang and forget. Nothing gets by them, and I get 20,000 +/- images from 6 AA batteries. Cuddelink needs to figure out the sensor issue ASAP. If Browning would come up with a mesh network system, I have to be honest and say I'd be gone.

Hey Swat, have you tried Cudde’s “Centered” Fresnel lens? It has a little different detection zone.
What’s wrong with the flash? You running J’s?

 

[swat1018]

Hey Swat, have you tried Cudde’s “Centered” Fresnel lens? It has a little different detection zone.
What’s wrong with the flash? You running J’s?

I am running J's with IR. I don't mean the flash is bad, just difficult to get without IR burn or dark. The Brownings adjust exposure and make things easy. I probably should try the centered, most of my cams are at close range, and often on minerals.

 

[spaniel]

this is what I use; says model # 3495. its a 6 capacity of D batteries; is there something different/ better?

Yes, that is the "internal" D cell replacement for the AA cell pack. I installed those on all my cameras at setup. You can also get the #3358 6-cell external, or the dual power bank external, to extend your run time longer.

With just the #3495 on my J cameras I was getting 32-90+ days on a camera, depending upon whether it was being used as a repeater. I did not have 3358s on my J cameras this year as at the time I deployed them the cable to connect the J cameras to the 3358 had not yet been released. I did, however, have a 3358 on my cell transmitter. IIRC the system went up in early/mid June and I pulled the cameras on Jan 1. The transmitter had been on internals for some time, but made it that entire duration without touching it. I'm eager to put dual power banks on my cameras next year and run the whole season.