Cuddelink 2020 GEN 2 version

[Bpressley]

Ha...that's what I'm trying to avoid but it's probably inevitable to cover the property like I want to. Remember...I'm just getting started. I'm new to trail cams and this is the system I chose based on multiple cams on a single cell account.

Question...Why would I buy another cell? I mean, what's the advantage of two cells when I can daisy chain upto 24 to this one camera.

Battery life. If you can keep each cam at 1 link and achieve good signal strength for those cams, you'll get better battery life and presumably faster transmission time of photos. The system will be more efficient. It's also best to "center" your home cam and place the remotes around it similar to the spokes on a wheel. I've gone the route of repeaters and multiple links and it's just a drain on batteries. Not to mention transmission times are slower and if that link goes down so does everything behind it. Low signal strength/multiple links will still work but be prepared to change batteries in about 60 days. A single link/good signal strength can yield up to 150+ days. That's with D alkaline and a booster pack. Another option you could try is a rat tail. Buy I've only seen about a 5-10 boost in rf signal, nothing significant. But I guess sometimes every little bit helps.

 

[willy]

reeltight, perhaps a couple repeaters could help you get your signal through. They work well on my MO river bluff topography.

 

[cheech53]

Battery life. If you can keep each cam at 1 link and achieve good signal strength for those cams, you'll get better battery life and presumably faster transmission time of photos. The system will be more efficient. It's also best to "center" your home cam and place the remotes around it similar to the spokes on a wheel. I've gone the route of repeaters and multiple links and it's just a drain on batteries. Not to mention transmission times are slower and if that link goes down so does everything behind it. Low signal strength/multiple links will still work but be prepared to change batteries in about 60 days. A single link/good signal strength can yield up to 150+ days. That's with D alkaline and a booster pack. Another option you could try is a rat tail. Buy I've only seen about a 5-10 boost in rf signal, nothing significant. But I guess sometimes every little bit helps.

Bpressley i have been reading all these post for months now and rat tail doesn’t get talked about for RF signal much , what length are you trying and have you tried a higher dBi antenna I think Cuddelink are 3 dBi ,

 

[Trlblzr3]

Battery life. If you can keep each cam at 1 link and achieve good signal strength for those cams, you'll get better battery life and presumably faster transmission time of photos. The system will be more efficient. It's also best to "center" your home cam and place the remotes around it similar to the spokes on a wheel. I've gone the route of repeaters and multiple links and it's just a drain on batteries. Not to mention transmission times are slower and if that link goes down so does everything behind it. Low signal strength/multiple links will still work but be prepared to change batteries in about 60 days. A single link/good signal strength can yield up to 150+ days. That's with D alkaline and a booster pack. Another option you could try is a rat tail. Buy I've only seen about a 5-10 boost in rf signal, nothing significant. But I guess sometimes every little bit helps.

This is why I said swap 1 & 3. Also why you may want to run a second cell network to keep all links to 1 and conserve battery life.

 

[reeltight]

Lots of good info guys. Really got me thinking...a lot.

I hear you on the batter life and links.

Talk to me more about these rat tail antennas?

On thought I had was to maybe put the cameras a little higher in the tree and point them down...doing this would take some of the smaller hills out of play? But doing a small amount of reading on the rf antennas proximity to the ground is also important it seems. I'm not talking about putting these things 10 feet in the air but I could certainly hang them higher and point them down. I'm going to do some more reading on the rat tail but any more info you can provide is appreciated.

 

[MadMadHoosier]

The south side of my farm has more hills, and terrible Verizon connectivity (ATT was not available when I bought my home devices), so I've tried several locations with the G-series home device (no camera) to get good cellular and good camera connectivity. I even tried way up a tree, high as I could reach, while standing in an 18' tall treestand. So about 24' off the ground., hoping this location near the center of the camera cluster would minimize links. While that helped cellular service, it seemed to hurt camera connectivity. Not sure why up the tree failed, but it is now relocated and working fine, about chest height off the ground, on the eastern lobe of my camera cluster. Causes a few more links to the west (5 on one camera), but some dual power banks help with reasonable time between battery swaps. Point being - depending on topography and canopy thickness (I guess) - higher may NOT be better??? I may swap to an ATT home w/camera down the road and retry a normal height in the middle of my camera cluster, but am good enough for now. Though as I think of it, improved battery life, and the cost of batteries might pay for the device swap in a reasonable amount of time?

PS: some of my north bottom land floods regularly, and I have several of those cameras, and their home camera, mounted 8-10' up the tree and angled down about 20 degrees. Not ideal for image capture, but better than losing cameras to flooding. Good camera connectivity on this cluster, but not sure if the height helps or the very flat land, and flooding keeping foliage from growing 5-6' off the ground.

 

[reeltight]

Higher might not be better...that’s what I’m reading on the rf signal. It’s relative to the ground plane so going up can hurt. That’s where the rat tail comes in, which I didn’t know anything about until I read it in this thread.

 

[Bpressley]

Higher might not be better...that’s what I’m reading on the rf signal. It’s relative to the ground plane so going up can hurt. That’s where the rat tail comes in, which I didn’t know anything about until I read it in this thread.

Rat tails may help a tiny bit. I've never had a camera improve more than 10 with most being about a 5 improvement in signal strength. As for the length of the wire I'm not sure I've never measured but I will. If I had to guess I would say they are around 9"? I also have not experimented with different lengths. I guess this is something I could play with this off-season. I also mount all my cameras about 8-10' up or more and angle them. In some instances I've noticed an improved signal after climbing the tree and hanging them. The terrain I hunt is rugged and has lots of saddles, draws, ridges, rocks, and blowdowns. The height also helps to avoid detection from people, bears and with the "clunk" Cuddes have when switching the IR lens...keeps it a bit further away from the deers ears.

 

[reeltight]

Here's another one for you...

I pinged 3 of my cameras to take a picture this morning. I haven't received the pictures and the account shows them "pending". I've got the home camera to send every hour. Does that affect how often the home calls to initiate? Or are they independent of each other? When I've done this in the past I generally got something back within the hour.

 

[reeltight]

Rat tails may help a tiny bit. I've never had a camera improve more than 10 with most being about a 5 improvement in signal strength. As for the length of the wire I'm not sure I've never measured but I will. If I had to guess I would say they are around 9"? I also have not experimented with different lengths. I guess this is something I could play with this off-season. I also mount all my cameras about 8-10' up or more and angle them. In some instances I've noticed an improved signal after climbing the tree and hanging them. The terrain I hunt is rugged and has lots of saddles, draws, ridges, rocks, and blowdowns. The height also helps to avoid detection from people, bears and with the "clunk" Cuddes have when switching the IR lens...keeps it a bit further away from the deers ears.

How are you attaching your rat tails?

 

[reeltight]

Here's another one for you...

I pinged 3 of my cameras to take a picture this morning. I haven't received the pictures and the account shows them "pending". I've got the home camera to send every hour. Does that affect how often the home calls to initiate? Or are they independent of each other? When I've done this in the past I generally got something back within the hour.

Finally updated. 7 hours later. I don't need speed...that's not important to me but it surprised me how long it took based of previous times.

 

[john volkman]

keep in mind the RF signal cant travel thru the earth, so getting it higher and centralized is usually best(bit not always). If you are in heavy conifers this can restrict the range somewhat. I wouldn't waste time on different rf antennas , we(cuddeback) have tried alot of options with minimal difference from the standard camera.

 

[Bpressley]

Here's another one for you...

I pinged 3 of my cameras to take a picture this morning. I haven't received the pictures and the account shows them "pending". I've got the home camera to send every hour. Does that affect how often the home calls to initiate? Or are they independent of each other? When I've done this in the past I generally got something back within the hour.

When you "ping" a picture the command goes to the home unit. The command stays with the home unit until it can connect to the remote camera(s). It can only connect with the remote camera(s) when they have pictures to transmit or a report to transmit. If neither picture or report are available to be sent the command will sit with the home camera, sometimes for hours and hours. This is part of the reason I run 2 reports daily.

 

[JF3]

I want to move a cell camera (and maybe one remote) to a different property for a few days, but leave all my other remotes alone. I know the remotes will still take pictures, but is there a way to get them to send the pictures they took to the cell camera when I bring it back?

 

[DavidHunter2001]

I upgraded all my cameras to 8.3 about two weeks ago and now several of my cameras are taking hundreds of images with no animals. Happens day and night. One camera has 2200 images. I keep having to clear the que's and finally told the cameras to use a 15 min minimum delay which I am sure I am missing a lot of what I am trying to capture. Did something change on the trigger sensitivity?

Well no responses so far. Anyone else seeing a bunch of blank pics?

 

[MadMadHoosier]

I want to move a cell camera (and maybe one remote) to a different property for a few days, but leave all my other remotes alone. I know the remotes will still take pictures, but is there a way to get them to send the pictures they took to the cell camera when I bring it back?

If you do not change channels, it should do so automatically when the cell is brought back.

 

[No-Tox]

Well no responses so far. Anyone else seeing a bunch of blank pics?

I moved a camera to a new spot and a couple of days later I started getting a bunch of pics with nothing. Finally figured outvit was a small branch with leaves on it that was triggering it. I turned the camera to a 30 minute delay and trimmed the tree the next weekend.

 

[john volkman]

Well no responses so far. Anyone else seeing a bunch of blank pics?

turn your delay to off for a couple days and then turn it back on , it should stop.... if not it needs ot go back. This has nothing to do with firmware.

 

[DavidHunter2001]

turn your delay to off for a couple days and then turn it back on , it should stop.... if not it needs ot go back. This has nothing to do with firmware.

I assume you mean turn off the day and night delays. Does that just turn off the delay between shots or turn off the picture taking completely?

 

[Adal2154]

So I installed the newest f/w on all my cameras and a home I was using as a repeater and I don’t see where I can use it as a repeater it only allows home in the selection do I leave it as home and it repeats since the cell service is off?


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