Cuddelink general Q&A recommendations

[roymunson]

for external you want 9 volt or a (12 volt while using a cable with a reducer to 9 volt) if you have a 6 volt external the internal may be running power out ot it and that is why the external died so fast. the external port is designed to have more than 6 votes coming into it.

ok. I can check that. But I ran a 6v marine battery lastyear and it ran the entire season from September to February.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

ok. I can check that. But I ran a 6v marine battery lastyear and it ran the entire season from September to February.

If you or anyone else needs any 12 volt to 9 volt reducer cables for the cuddeback cameras let me know. I have about a dozen of them that I'm no longer using.

 

[SwampCat]

Yeah, I went stupid on cameras. That's just one of 3 systems on 550 acres. Loved being able to see the Kentucky activity from my Florida home. A few years ago, I decided to limit feeders and spend that money on cameras - and it got out of hand (57). White cameras are the home for each system. The blue system to the north (flooding bottom hardwoods) is 300-450 yards apart. The two southern systems are much closer between, and a few need to be moved at some point. Most are at neat pinch points or crossings that give me a good survey of the wildlife. We have a few nice 8-12 pointers, but the really big guys are camera shy, or someplace else.

View attachment 46098

I thought I was a camera junkie. You make me feel a lot better

 

[Trlblzr3]

They said Check SD as soon as you armed them after doing a full format?
Mine that did this last year would work for a few days or a week or so and then get corrupted.

Are you using the same model of SD card across all cameras? I couldn't pick up a pattern with mine from last year as it happened on multiple brands and sizes of SD cards. This year I made sure every one of my cameras has the same SD card.

It would be interesting to try one of the "corrupted" SD cards in another camera to narrow down if it is the camera or the SD card. Also, I'd be curious to see what the last thing written to the SD card was. Maybe it was in image file or a report from that camera. That might help in diagnosing the problem.

If I have any of these issues happen again this year I'm going to try some of the above and to better document when and where it happens. So far I feel like it's been working well with no issues (*immediately knocks on wood)

Yes all Sandisk Class 10 16 GB. Not sure if they were new or used. I full format each year. The computer could not reformat .

 

[Dirt519]

I wasn't aware the G series remote cameras were discontinued. Bought 5 cameras 3 months ago and are working great went back to get more and couldn't find any, guess that's why. Don't see any information on Cuddeback website about G series being discontinued or the new L series. Why did they discontinue them? Why aren't they advertising the new L series? Will the L series have a strobe for color night pictures.

 

[john volkman]

I wasn't aware the G series remote cameras were discontinued. Bought 5 cameras 3 months ago and are working great went back to get more and couldn't find any, guess that's why. Don't see any information on Cuddeback website about G series being discontinued or the new L series. Why did they discontinue them? Why aren't they advertising the new L series? Will the L series have a strobe for color night pictures.

L series were initially delayed because of supply chain issues on a specific part needed in the link cameras., Then the initial production run didnt meet quality standards so an adjustment was made and production had to be halted. The goal was to have the L in stock for this year. J and G series were both discontinued in anticipation for the L coming out. The L will work with G,J and K when they finally arrive which wont be until late this year at the earliest. Eventually there will be a strobe L but that one is a way out, likely late 23 or later.

 

[Persimman]

? Higher quality thumbnails ?
I'm running a G-5109 alone in cell mode. I thought I read somewhere that if I'm running the home unit with no remotes, I can change the settings to get better quality emailed pics. I can't see how to do that in CAMP. Sorry if this is a repeat discussion. I tried wading through all the material so far, and it takes a long time to cover. Maybe I should go through once and put all the entries on a spreadsheet. I like spreadsheets, almost as much as I like cultipackers.

 

[john volkman]

? Higher quality thumbnails ?
I'm running a G-5109 alone in cell mode. I thought I read somewhere that if I'm running the home unit with no remotes, I can change the settings to get better quality emailed pics. I can't see how to do that in CAMP. Sorry if this is a repeat discussion. I tried wading through all the material so far, and it takes a long time to cover. Maybe I should go through once and put all the entries on a spreadsheet. I like spreadsheets, almost as much as I like cultipackers.

you can only do it if cuddelink mode is set to "off"which you need to do it on the camera not in camp NOTE...you ill go thru your data VERY FAST increasing the image size- so i advise you not to do it.

 

[bayouboys]

New to cuddeback and I'm not having the best experience so far. Set out the cameras over the weekend, linked everything up got pictures while putting them out. Then found out that I needed to update the firmware to be able to control the cameras online. Went back out, updated the new firmware, and manually put the setting back on the cameras. I used the easy mode as I planned on changing the settings from my CPU. ran a test on the cameras those came through. received 2 reports see below and all looked well. I went into the setting on the cameras to name them and put 3 in surveillance mode, not the all-out surveillance mode, just where it will let you pick 3 cameras to send you images right away. clicked save. All cameras went to pending I read that this could take up to 24hr to go through. So I have been keeping an eye on the account over the last three days. Yesterday they went offline, and this morning I can even see the cameras on the account anymore. It looks like it did before I did the firmware update. Below is a screenshot of the report after I did the Firmware update. I also looked at the cell camera status, and it had 0 failers and 24 good transmissions with 0 timeouts. prior to them going offline. I called Cuddeback this morning, set on hold for 10 mins or so got to 2 in the queue then a message comes over and says they are limiting wait time to better SERVE ME and I have to call back WTF. I call back and make it to 3 in the queue, and the same thing happens.

The lease is 2 hours away so just running over there is not an easy thing. Also, the season opens at the end of the month, so I am trying to limit my presents in the woods, which is why I paid the money for cell cameras.

Is there anything Cuddeback will be able to do remotely to get this problem resolved without me having to go to the cameras? Any ideas of what the problem is in the first place.

 

[john volkman]

New to cuddeback and I'm not having the best experience so far. Set out the cameras over the weekend, linked everything up got pictures while putting them out. Then found out that I needed to update the firmware to be able to control the cameras online. Went back out, updated the new firmware, and manually put the setting back on the cameras. I used the easy mode as I planned on changing the settings from my CPU. ran a test on the cameras those came through. received 2 reports see below and all looked well. I went into the setting on the cameras to name them and put 3 in surveillance mode, not the all-out surveillance mode, just where it will let you pick 3 cameras to send you images right away. clicked save. All cameras went to pending I read that this could take up to 24hr to go through. So I have been keeping an eye on the account over the last three days. Yesterday they went offline, and this morning I can even see the cameras on the account anymore. It looks like it did before I did the firmware update. Below is a screenshot of the report after I did the Firmware update. I also looked at the cell camera status, and it had 0 failers and 24 good transmissions with 0 timeouts. prior to them going offline. I called Cuddeback this morning, set on hold for 10 mins or so got to 2 in the queue then a mView attachment 46300essage comes over and says they are limiting wait time to better SERVE ME and I have to call back WTF. I call back and make it to 3 in the queue, and the same thing happens.

The lease is 2 hours away so just running over there is not an easy thing. Also, the season opens at the end of the month, so I am trying to limit my presents in the woods, which is why I paid the money for cell cameras.

Is there anything Cuddeback will be able to do remotely to get this problem resolved without me having to go to the cameras? Any ideas of what the problem is in the first place.

1. you need to give it some time to get established,
2. do not make a large number of changes online all at once. do a couple at a time per day at most and let them work thru, especially when first establishing the network. Nothing happens in real time , you are dealing with radio frequency on the remotes so they need multiple connections to change settings and for them to show up.
3. You should not have more than 2 camera on surveillance at one time and i prefer 1 . If you are someone who wants all your pictures in real time from each camera then a network isnt going to do that for you. in that case you would want multiple cell units each with there own modem and cell plan.
4. If you cell camera went offline for 2 days and is not showing, something else likely happened , and unfortunately you will need to go to it to figure it out. It could be battery issue, antenna damage, SD card issue, cell service interruption or something else.

 

[HilltopRambler]

hello! just had to say this......................some of my friends and neighbors whine about battery life in regards to wireless cameras, including Cudde. I just ask them a simple question "can you sit in the woods with your cell phone and send pictures to your buddy for months on end?" of course they say "NO, maybe 1 or 2 days" Well, cuddelink can, and I never have to be there. Then most of them start to understand.....OK my rants over hahah. Thank You for a great product!! John SNAFU Camp

 

[SwampCat]

When I get the batteries replaced in the cell cam - will it go ahead and send the pics it has not sent because of low batteries?

 

[john volkman]

When I get the batteries replaced in the cell cam - will it go ahead and send the pics it has not sent because of low batteries?




View attachment 46309

The cell will send what it has in que and the remotes will send what they have not been able to send, it may take a while to receive them all, if the backlog is too large it may not be able to catch up. the default max allowed in que for remotes is 250 images. Once it reaches 250 per camera it will start overwriting the old but they will still be on the sd card in eacb camera.

 

[bayouboys]

1. you need to give it some time to get established,
2. do not make a large number of changes online all at once. do a couple at a time per day at most and let them work thru, especially when first establishing the network. Nothing happens in real time , you are dealing with radio frequency on the remotes so they need multiple connections to change settings and for them to show up.
3. You should not have more than 2 camera on surveillance at one time and i prefer 1 . If you are someone who wants all your pictures in real time from each camera then a network isnt going to do that for you. in that case you would want multiple cell units each with there own modem and cell plan.
4. If you cell camera went offline for 2 days and is not showing, something else likely happened , and unfortunately you will need to go to it to figure it out. It could be battery issue, antenna damage, SD card issue, cell service interruption or something else.

they are all on external power solar, the batteries in the unit are 5 days old at this point and the cameras are brand new what could be wrong with the antenna short of a tree falling on the one cell camera right after I left.

as far as service goes does the camera continue to try and regain service once it has dropped out? I could see losing it for a few mins I guess but for it to go away altogether and never require it seems unlikely. we have really good service in the area.

 

[john volkman]

they are all on external power solar, the batteries in the unit are 5 days old at this point and the cameras are brand new what could be wrong with the antenna short of a tree falling on the one cell camera right after I left.

as far as service goes does the camera continue to try and regain service once it has dropped out? I could see losing it for a few mins I guess but for it to go away altogether and never require it seems unlikely. we have really good service in the area.

it will continue to try for 48 hours , if it cant gain a connection for any reason over that time then you need to go to it. I havent seen it all when it comes to what can happen,,,,,, but ive seen a lot!
all we can do is guess when we arent there. I've seen cows , bears and deer knock antennas off, theft, lightning strikes, corrupt sd cards,coons chew cables off and knock down cameras etc, etc etc. The cell units are much better than smart phones when it comes to staying connected , especially when the paddle antennas are in place.

 

[bayouboys]

it will continue to try for 48 hours , if it cant gain a connection for any reason over that time then you need to go to it. I havent seen it all when it comes to what can happen,,,,,, but ive seen a lot!
all we can do is guess when we arent there. I've seen cows , bears and deer knock antennas off, theft, lightning strikes, corrupt sd cards,coons chew cables off and knock down cameras etc, etc etc. The cell units are much better than smart phones when it comes to staying connected , especially when the paddle antennas are in place.

Ok thanks for the response I will be heading up there this weekend to take a look.

Do you work/own for Cuddeback

 

[john volkman]

Ok thanks for the response I will be heading up there this weekend to take a look.

Do you work/own for Cuddeback

im the sales rep in WI

 

[bayouboys]

im the sales rep in WI

Roger that, thank you for the help. I am sure I will be back on here this weekend. Also, why doesn't customer service answer the phone? I emailed them to call me and haven't received a call still. I won't have a week for a response from them when I am in the woods this weekend.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Roger that, thank you for the help. I am sure I will be back on here this weekend. Also, why doesn't customer service answer the phone? I emailed them to call me and haven't received a call still. I won't have a week for a response from them when I am in the woods this weekend.

There aren't exactly a whole lot of companies that still have a call-in customer service. I called in a few weeks ago for some help with something and had to wait maybe 15 or 20 minutes but I got great help. I think I called mid-morning Central Time.

 

[HilltopRambler]

Our camps been running 15-20 cuddelinks for 4 seasons now. We love them! Our interactions with customer service (on phone or email) have all been positive. Our camps contact person has 4 rules he stresses when contacting any customer service.....Be polite, Be clear, Be brief and Be patient. Those folks are trying their best given the present situation. Also, this forum is an incredible resource! Wish I discovered it years ago. John SNAFU Camp