Cuddelink 2020 GEN 2 version

[SwampCat]

Clear the Queue on cameras affected. You may also need to clear the SD images on each.

According to the report, there are only five pics in queue on one camera. Cell cam is showing low battery and 0 battery days. It has been 27 days since batteries were changed. I will try that

 

[Trlblzr3]

According to the report, there are only five pics in queue on one camera. Cell cam is showing low battery and 0 battery days. It has been 27 days since batteries were changed. I will try that

Just wandering you haven’t accidentally turned time lapse on?

 

[SwampCat]

Just wandering you haven’t accidentally turned time lapse on?

Havent done anything to them in a few weeks. If I turned on timelapse, it would be an accident. Dont even know how.

 

[Trlblzr3]

Havent done anything to them in a few weeks. If I turned on timelapse, it would be an accident. Dont even know how.

Look at your pics. If there is a clock symbol in lower left time lapse is on

 

[SwampCat]

Look at your pics. If there is a clock symbol in lower left time lapse is on

Nope. But thanks

 

[john volkman]

I am thinking a new thread, but have asked John V to weigh in since he started this thread. I found some rubber grommets at the hardware store to hopefully help with ants. I too am using the Cuddeback Power cables (just came in the mail this week) - getting the right voltage to the camera is critical (I think). I know this system is small, but I plan to use a Solar charge controller to regulate the voltage (not sure if it will give me all the information I need (Nature Power 8 Amp Charge Controller). The charge controller appears to have separate leads to both the solar panel and the battery. I'll consider setting up the cameras in similar locations. Concept one line wiring diagram attached.

im fine with whatever you guys want to do, ill share info on the new panel as soon as i have it,.

 

[MadMadHoosier]

im fine with whatever you guys want to do, ill share info on the new panel as soon as i have it,.

Cannot wait to hear. Excited about a panel that might work in the woods!

 

[ajtxwi]

Cannot wait to hear. Excited about a panel that might work in the woods!

new thread set up - "Cuddeback external battery and solar run times." Also, look forward to seeing Cuddeback's new, "woodland solar panel"!

 

[SwampCat]

Do all cameras on one network have to have the same firmware. I got some new cameras for christmas and wondered if they have to have same firmware as those already deployed.

 

[john volkman]

Do all cameras on one network have to have the same firmware. I got some new cameras for christmas and wondered if they have to have same firmware as those already deployed.

yes, if not, they wont link , especially if some of them are on the latest version.

 

[JonJ]

Anyone else having random issues with Cuddeback? In the last 3-4 months I've had cameras randomly drop off the network (though when you go to the camera they are still on and armed). I have two cameras that appear on my daily report emailed to me...and yet on camp they don't appear. And despite having solar, I am getting a lot of intermittent power issues. I've had some missing pics (on camp, never received via text/email). Never had these issues before...just started in the last 3-4 months. Is there something going on?

Only thought I have is I recently expanded my network and am pushing now 18 cameras. The problems started after I made the jump from 14 cameras.

I've only had system out 6 weeks, but when I expanded from H+4 to 7 now 11 J's I started seeing issues. Email report has all 12, where report on Camp and Device Settings is missing repeater (J set to repeater) and 2 J's that haven't been sending pics. These were added within last week, gave them a few days to settle down, they all appeared on Camp, then lost in space, now scratching my head. Evident, the email report isn't accurate. Seems cams with multiple options to link home, lock up and disappear. Eyes on Wednesday, we'll see.

 

[JonJ]

I've only had system out 6 weeks, but when I expanded from H+4 to 7 now 11 J's I started seeing issues. Email report has all 12, where report on Camp and Device Settings is missing repeater (J set to repeater) and 2 J's that haven't been sending pics. These were added within last week, gave them a few days to settle down, they all appeared on Camp, then lost in space, now scratching my head. Evident, the email report isn't accurate. Seems cams with multiple options to link home, lock up and disappear. Eyes on Wednesday, we'll see.

Is there a recommend "Unit Allocation Size" when formatting cards via Windows? I've been opting for "use default". With 32gb cards being as cheap as smaller ones it takes a while to format.

 

[john volkman]

I've only had system out 6 weeks, but when I expanded from H+4 to 7 now 11 J's I started seeing issues. Email report has all 12, where report on Camp and Device Settings is missing repeater (J set to repeater) and 2 J's that haven't been sending pics. These were added within last week, gave them a few days to settle down, they all appeared on Camp, then lost in space, now scratching my head. Evident, the email report isn't accurate. Seems cams with multiple options to link home, lock up and disappear. Eyes on Wednesday, we'll see.

post a copy of your report , make sure i can see your channel and firmware version on it. Many times what you described is a result of using common numbers for the channel which causes signal bleeding.

 

[john volkman]

Is there a recommend "Unit Allocation Size" when formatting cards via Windows? I've been opting for "use default". With 32gb cards being as cheap as smaller ones it takes a while to format.

I like 16gb sandisk cards and i just clear in the camera and that formats them, you will never fill a 16gb card

 

[JonJ]

post a copy of your report , make sure i can see your channel and firmware version on it. Many times what you described is a result of using common numbers for the channel which causes signal bleeding.

Date: 12/27/2021 - Network: JONJ57 - Channel: 03-16
#	Mode	Location ID	Camera ID	Level	Links	Battery	Battery Days	Image Queue	SD Images	SD Free Space	HW Version	FW Version	CL Version
1	Home	001	JONJ57	-	-	OK	36	0	674	29777 MB	G-0	8.3.0	1.0.44 / 5.5.11
2	Camera	002	ROCK TO SALAD	38	1	Ext OK	13	0	130	29672 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
3	Camera	003	PARK_RD	88	1	OK	42	0	115	29680 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
4	Camera	004	GUT RIDGE	52	1	Ext OK	42	0	83	29711 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
5	Camera	005	BEARRIDGE	62	1	Ext OK	4	0	74	29728 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
6	Camera	006	R FEEDER	40	1	OK	20	0	167	29430 MB	J-2	8.3.0	1.0.44
7	Repeater	007	REPEATER	32	1	OK	0	Repeater	0	29591 MB	J-2	8.3.0	1.0.44
8	Camera	008	RIVER	52	1	OK	16	0	46	7535 MB	J-2	8.3.0	1.0.44
9	Camera	009	MASSEY FLD	28	1	OK	2	0	38	29573 MB	J-2	8.3.0	1.0.44
10	Camera	010	SIX N	Good	2	Ext OK	0	0	0	29600 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
11	Camera	011	SIX S	32	2	Ext OK	0	0	17	29582 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
12	Camera	012	CHAIR	60	1	Ext OK	0	0	0	29600 MB	J-3	8.3.0	1.0.44
13
...
24	This network supports up to 24 devices.

 

[JonJ]

John V,
7, 10, and 12 have fallen off camp. I think 11 is linking through 9. 10 is even closer to 9. I turned 10 and 11 off, put 7 as repeater way up in tree, 100 yds closer to home to get line of sight with cams and home, got 50ish link. Went back and turned 10 & 11 back on, confirmed linked. Cards are new PNY Elite, 32gb, class 10, 100 mb/s (cams 6-12). These were used cams, is there a ohms test for antennas? Antennas are hinged type, not sure if they are OEM. 12 is closest to home, so it's just being stupid. Jon

 

[john volkman]

John V,
7, 10, and 12 have fallen off camp. I think 11 is linking through 9. 10 is even closer to 9. I turned 10 and 11 off, put 7 as repeater way up in tree, 100 yds closer to home to get line of sight with cams and home, got 50ish link. Went back and turned 10 & 11 back on, confirmed linked. Cards are new PNY Elite, 32gb, class 10, 100 mb/s (cams 6-12). These were used cams, is there a ohms test for antennas? Antennas are hinged type, not sure if they are OEM. 12 is closest to home, so it's just being stupid. Jon

everything looks good on your report , Camp version should be most accurate.i would order at least one new antenna or two or swap with a non hinged antenna(current version) if you have any, ive seen instances where moisture got into the hinged version and then freezing caused issues. A different SD card or swapping them out in the problem cameras might be worth a try too. Only other thing may be another network sharing a channel or one of your numbers but that seems unlikely given what you have it set up as.

 

[ajtxwi]

I've only had system out 6 weeks, but when I expanded from H+4 to 7 now 11 J's I started seeing issues. Email report has all 12, where report on Camp and Device Settings is missing repeater (J set to repeater) and 2 J's that haven't been sending pics. These were added within last week, gave them a few days to settle down, they all appeared on Camp, then lost in space, now scratching my head. Evident, the email report isn't accurate. Seems cams with multiple options to link home, lock up and disappear. Eyes on Wednesday, we'll see.

I cannot comment too much and not sure if my issue is related. Lost ALL four cameras on 12/19 in camp and NO reports since then, but I think this is a battery problem that I hope to fix on my next visit.

 

[john volkman]

I cannot comment too much and not sure if my issue is related. Lost ALL four cameras on 12/19 in camp and NO reports since then, but I think this is a battery problem that I hope to fix on my next visit.

its likely your cell unit is off line for some reason, battery is one of those possibilities.

 

[BC18]

Ok....been having tons of issues with Cuddelinks now in year 3. Over %60 failure rate on 23 cameras, not a good average. It's a pain going in/out to the fie;d for troubleshooting and having to pay shipping to send back lemons. The 5 J's(I assume stand for Junk) all had to be sent back. Majority of the issues with the J's is they one day decide to start taking pics at a certain time of the day and nothing else. For me it's between 7:30 and 8am. This happened on all 5 J's I own, hardly random. Now they are out of warranty, I'm pretty much S.O.L and either replace with new at a whopping %30 discount or trash 'em where they belong. This goes without saying the horrible sensors and slow trigger on the J's...feel like I got fleeced even owning one. How they can keep these on the shelves knowing the failure rates is beyond me.

Latest issue is my K Home camera. It's taking pics and writing them to the sd card, it's transmitting pics from the other cams without any issues. However....it was not sending the pics the home camera took on the emails I receive every hour. I know it's taking pics without any issues. I see the "image" flashing when I open the cover and the pics are on the sd card. I changed the sd card ac couple times in the past week wondering what was going. The home cam pics where there but not being sent. Why weren't the home cam pictures being sent along with the rest of the batch? Seems like a transmission error would be my guess. I double checked all settings to see if I inadvertently changed something. I did not.

I called CS this morning, was told I need to be on site to run a few tests. Make the trek out there, tests are run, can't find anything wrong. The snarky CS gal asks how I view my pics....."I pull the card out, pop it in a usb card reader, plug the usb into my PC"....how should I be viewing them...she exclaims "on your computer" ...isn't that what I just said. She obviously has a listening comprehension problem. Then I'm asked what card reader I use? Are you serious? The same card reader that I use to view hundreds of thousands of pics every year. I don't have issues with my cards on any cameras and basically use a rotation of 60-70 cards on all my cams, some are Cuddebacks, most are other brands. Never any any issues outside of a "check SD" every blue moon. I guess I fail to see how a card reader, same one I've been using for a while without any issues, has any bearing on why the home cam pics are not being sent along with the rest of the pack. I have swapped cards twice before calling in to be sure it wasn't a corrupted card. At some point CS needs to realize that it's most likely the cheap chinese components Cuddeback uses and not the end users fault.

I most likely have to send the K-home cam in for repair, fine I'm ok with that. I ask is my cam under warranty? She walks me through the settings to find purchase and start dates I'm guessing on the info area of the cam. I'm then put on hold for 10 minutes standing next to the camera on a pretty cold Wisconsin day, sweet! She comes back and tells me my warranty ran out a little over 2 months ago. I don't have much of a choice to fix the home cam as it's needed to protect my investment in the other cams but I'm pretty sure I'm done giving Cuddeback any more money. Cheap Chinese components that are unreliable, poor CS....same ol' Cuddy. Should have learned my lesson 15 years ago. Waaaay better options out there to whoever reads this and is thinking of investing in a 20+ cam system.

Now that I'm home and writing this there are pics of me talking to the Cudde CS walking around in front of the camera that were sent in the last normal batch emails. Hopefully whatever test she ran or did while we were talking worked because they are the first pics sent from that cam in weeks. I will see if that cam continues to transmit without issues or if it randomly stops again. Still a dog and pony show dealing with CS.