Cuddelink 2020 GEN 2 version

[john volkman]

Success for my better half! last night my wife closed the deal on one of her target bucks on our home 40 acres. Our cameras told us this buck was bedding on our 40 in a NWSG planting which told her how to enter and exit the stand so as not to disturb him. Last night we watched him get out of his bed and after a few minutes work his way down a scrape line along a row of apple trees we planted specifically for that very reason. He worked a scrape in front of a cuddelink one last time(no sensing issues

) and walked down the line and gave her a perfect quartering away shot. His is a Big bodied deer i would guess at 3 1/2 but i plan on getting him aged. This is a high pressured hunting area in NE WI. Very satisfying for this to come together for her as 10+ years ago when we bought the property it was basically a large alfalfa field and we have spent many hours/days developing it for all types of wildlife.

 

[Jrozzi16]

remove all previous firmware versions on your computer and clear the card, your computer could be renaming the file . Send me a pm with your email and ill email you the file , the link is correct.

If I’m downloading from the gen 2 tab on cuddeback website and my computer shows it as 8.2. What do you mean my computer is renaming it, it has the correct name....I did what you said none the less still didn’t work apparently my cuddes are incapable of accepting 8.2.


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[john volkman]

If I’m downloading from the gen 2 tab on cuddeback website and my computer shows it as 8.2. What do you mean my computer is renaming it, it has the correct name....I did what you said none the less still didn’t work apparently my cuddes are incapable of accepting 8.2.


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oftentimes if you previously saved or downloaded the firmware file to your computer, the computer will add a number behind it the next time you download it , EX 8.02(1) effectively re-naming it. If it does this, it wont take when trying to load it on your cameras. Make sure there is no other versions on your computer. Unzip(even thought directions say you dont have to) the firmware file and copy it to your sd card.
version 8.3 just went live last week so use that version if you are updating. I know its working since we have 1,000's of downloads and cameras on it as of friday afternoon.

 

[Jrozzi16]

oftentimes if you previously saved or downloaded the firmware file to your computer, the computer will add a number behind it the next time you download it , EX 8.02(1) effectively re-naming it. If it does this, it wont take when trying to load it on your cameras. Make sure there is no other versions on your computer. Unzip(even thought directions say you dont have to) the firmware file and copy it to your sd card.
version 8.3 just went live last week so use that version if you are updating. I know its working since we have 1,000's of downloads and cameras on it as of friday afternoon.

I’ll try 8.3 when I go back next week. I don’t have high hopes since 8.2 won’t take. I did everything you told me to do deleted everything on the pc then redownloaded using the one you emailed me. No number in parenthesis.


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[john volkman]

I’ll try 8.3 when I go back next week. I don’t have high hopes since 8.2 won’t take. I did everything you told me to do deleted everything on the pc then redownloaded using the one you emailed me. No number in parenthesis.


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make sure you unzip the file before you copy it to the Sd card.

 

[Mtyhunter]

Been having some issues w/ my system recently. Reset my 7 nodes today with 8.3. Did do all the tips, such as: removed all batteries and completely powered down units. formatted all sd cards. loaded 8.3, reset the unit, reprogram all settings, with proper channel set up. Bingo, back in action, getting pics again. Here's a couple of issues you should watch out for...
I loaded 8.3 on a blank card. After programming the cell unit first, when I went to do cam 1, my update was gone off the card, with a cuddelink folder instead. Fortunately, had my laptop in my backpack. Reloaded 8.3 onto the donor card. Downloaded to cam 1 successfully, then same thing, update gone off the donor card. I figured out it was my dumb @!! leaving the donor card in the unit after updating, then resetting everything in the unit, which included resetting (clearing) the sd card. Second thing to watch out for...one of my cell antenna had the plastic black antenna come off the knurled base. Easy enough to put back on, but nervous, so i put a small 1 inch tall strip of camo duct tape around where the black antenna mates to the knurled knob, in hopes of keeping this loose connection stable, maybe keeping water out of this connection. I got OCD and did the other antenna to match. After doing that and remounting cam, couldn't ge tthe unit to complete a cell test. Removed the tape, and had a successful cell test.
My cell antennas are the older version. I've noticed the newer paddle style version avail now. Going to buy a pair since I have 1 suspect antenna. Is this new design better than the old design?

Btw, thanks John for your help, and all that you do on this site! Good Karma for you, as evidenced by mama's nice buck! Congrats to her!

 

[john volkman]

the new paddle antennas are better regarding reception but they arent super durable but no worse than the others. I think its something that needs improving. ill watch out for the card clearing when updating , that would be a new one for me. I havent done 8.3 yet on any networks but plan on it. I use a batch for my cell rate so i didnt feel the need ot do it asap.

 

[Pyhntr]

@john volkman I upgraded my system to 8.2. I don't have the option to make my Model 1514 (with model 2153 cell cap) into a repeater. It is only allowing me to be "Home" or "Off" in Link mode. Any ideas? Cell is in "off" mode. Tried uploading firmware again with no luck.

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@john volkman I upgraded my system to 8.2. I don't have the option to make my Model 1514 (with model 2153 cell cap) into a repeater. It is only allowing me to be "Home" or "Off" in Link mode. Any ideas? Cell is in "off" mode. Tried uploading firmware again with no luck.

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@john volkman

if you have a first gen g cell, and want to use it as a repeater or remote we will need to get you a Cuddelink cap to replace the cell cap, the new firmware wont allow a cell unit to be anything but a home unit.

@john volkman Couple questions that maybe you can help with being the customer service is limited. 1) My auto renew for my plan was up Nov 22nd. I didn't want to sign up for a new plan, but did not have an opt out option online. I messaged Cuddeback and got a response 4 days later. Inorder to remove the auto renewal, they canceled my plan without talking to me. I just got a message saying they removed the plan even though it wasn't at the expiration date. I had to sign up for a month plan now and lost out on the "unlocking" of the K camera. Any suggestions on how to proceed? What do they plan on doing with all these 2019 Black Friday promotion cameras coming due?
2) Any suggestions on how to get the cuddelink cap as mentioned in the post above for my first generation g home unit?
3) I have a different Home unit that won't read the SD card and therefore can't upgrade firmware. I've tried switching to numerous cards, reformatted cards but with no luck. When i do a SD check, I get Error01. Any suggestions on how to send it in for warranty or additional troubleshooting to perform? How does Cuddeback plan on handling warranty work with Customer Service limited and only a 2 year window for warranty repairs?

Figured I would throw it out here being others may be running into similar issues.

 

[john volkman]

@john volkman

@john volkman Couple questions that maybe you can help with being the customer service is limited. 1) My auto renew for my plan was up Nov 22nd. I didn't want to sign up for a new plan, but did not have an opt out option online. I messaged Cuddeback and got a response 4 days later. Inorder to remove the auto renewal, they canceled my plan without talking to me. I just got a message saying they removed the plan even though it wasn't at the expiration date. I had to sign up for a month plan now and lost out on the "unlocking" of the K camera. Any suggestions on how to proceed? What do they plan on doing with all these 2019 Black Friday promotion cameras coming due?
2) Any suggestions on how to get the cuddelink cap as mentioned in the post above for my first generation g home unit?
3) I have a different Home unit that won't read the SD card and therefore can't upgrade firmware. I've tried switching to numerous cards, reformatted cards but with no luck. When i do a SD check, I get Error01. Any suggestions on how to send it in for warranty or additional troubleshooting to perform? How does Cuddeback plan on handling warranty work with Customer Service limited and only a 2 year window for warranty repairs?

Figured I would throw it out here being others may be running into similar issues.

send me a pm with your contact info and what you need help with , this goes for anyone else.I will have someone contact you. call response time will get better now that deer seasons are reaching peak or the end in most cases. Filling up the forum with customer specific issues isnt the best option. For the limited about of people that want their K to be a remote or repeater they will have a solution if you had an annual plan purchased. That number of people is very small. i think we have had to accommodate 1-2 people so far. Most people bought the cell unit to use as a cell unit although i know some f you didnt. Know that if you want to use 8.2 or later and want to use the K as a remote or repeater it may mean giving up your K for another unit. There is some challenges with the new firmware that havent allowed them to keep the unlocking feature open on the K or new G but still allow the system to work with the new algorithm.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

If it was picking you up before and you haven't moved it since, it may be something with the camera.

Do you have good Rayovac batteries in the camera? Did you pull the SD card to see if they were written but didn't send? If it's not a battery or SD issue, I would consider PMing John or contacting customer service about a replacement.

 

[Mtyhunter]

I’ll try 8.3 when I go back next week. I don’t have high hopes since 8.2 won’t take. I did everything you told me to do deleted everything on the pc then redownloaded using the one you emailed me. No number in parenthesis.


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As long as you have 8.3 on the sd, you're good to go. I did all mine in the field this weekend, with one self-inflicted issue. My system is working great now (after 2 weeks of issues), so I'm happy.
Here's what I did, in order, using all tips I gleaned from this site...
a-removed batteries, powered down the cam by pushing buttons until it died. Reinstalled batteries.
b-Put in donor card with 8.3. Turned unit on. Went straight to FW download, DL went right thru, cam shut off & restarted. Went straight to FW version to confirm the DL.
c-went thru every setting and command that had a reset function, and reset everything. **here's where I messed up....I left the donor card in the unit when I reset everything, forgetting that one of those reset commands deletes the SD card. If I didn't have my laptop with me, I'd been screwed, cause I was in the field. Either don't forget or keep an extra copy on an extra card.**
d-i put all the settings back in the camera, including John's tip of first channel sequence a lower number, and over 17 for the subchannel number.
It all worked for me, hopefully it will for you.

 

[DavidHunter2001]

I’ll try 8.3 when I go back next week. I don’t have high hopes since 8.2 won’t take. I did everything you told me to do deleted everything on the pc then redownloaded using the one you emailed me. No number in parenthesis.


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Right click on the link and do the save target as. Then select your SD card as the save as location. Hopefully that helps.

 

[Lewgar]

Not sure if I should post this here or in a separate thread. I have 4 J cameras and a K. All on solar. 2 J's just stopped working, no pictures. I have changed the batteries, changed SD cards, did the walk test and it picked me up successfully, and left it in my kitchen for about 8hrs passing by and standing in front often. Nothing was written to either SD card both SANDisk one Ultra one non-ultra. I updated to 8.3 before these tests but stopped working on 8.1.

One camera stopped working before the other and cuddeback is RMAing the device. The second device they are saying nothing wrong with the camera since the sensor is picking me up in the walk test. But nothing is writing. The second camera needs RMAd and is just 1 month over a year old.

I know support is swamped. Calling I cannot get through so this is all via email. Who should I reach out to escalate this? I am hoping John V sees this in this forum and can provide guidance.

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[HB_Hunter]

Not sure if I should post this here or in a separate thread. I have 4 J cameras and a K. All on solar. 2 J's just stopped working, no pictures. I have changed the batteries, changed SD cards, did the walk test and it picked me up successfully, and left it in my kitchen for about 8hrs passing by and standing in front often. Nothing was written to either SD card both SANDisk one Ultra one non-ultra. I updated to 8.3 before these tests but stopped working on 8.1.

One camera stopped working before the other and cuddeback is RMAing the device. The second device they are saying nothing wrong with the camera since the sensor is picking me up in the walk test. But nothing is writing. The second camera needs RMAd and is just 1 month over a year old.

I know support is swamped. Calling I cannot get through so this is all via email. Who should I reach out to escalate this? I am hoping John V sees this in this forum and can provide guidance.

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Have you tried to format the memory card with the camera before arming? Is it able to format the card? Does it create the standard folders on the card at any point or is the card just blank when you put it in your computer?

 

[Lewgar]

Yes I have tried formatting both cards. Formatted on the PC first then Formatted on the camera. I did not check to see if the camera created the folders or not. I will have to check that, but either way the camera is not working properly. I tried one of the same SD cards in a working J camera and it wrote pictures to this SD card, so I know the SD cards are good.

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[Mtyhunter]

When u run an SD card test on the units, does it say Success? And, yeah, I agree it should put Cudde folders on a blank card when first installed. That would be a good clue to look for...

 

[Lewgar]

It does say success. Battery test says good 99.

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[Mtyhunter]

Only other thing I could think to do is on the test menu select picture. I think it's supposed to take a pic when selected. But, if there's no folders being installed on the blank cards, you're likely not going to have a pic. Other than that, looks like better wait on 'ole Johnny V. He's the master of the cudde universe around here!

 

[Lewgar]

We must think alike I did that as well no pic sent and no pic on SD cards for this camera.

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[Trlblzr3]

We must think alike I did that as well no pic sent and no pic on SD cards for this camera.

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Can you post your settings? Do you have your day or night delay turned off?