Cuddelink L series Q & A

[Westwind]

Another piece of the puzzle! I’m getting closer and closer to ordering a starter system!

Over the years I have ordered a lot of stuff from Battery Junction, they have the Rayovacs and run some good sales….

 

[Snow Hunter]

What is everybody's opinion on the sun shade panels? Are you truly getting months usage out of them? Are you using them as a stand alone power source or do you recommend having internet batteries installed with it?



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I have 3 sun/shade solar panels out right now that have been out for 55 days so far and no issues. I use Rayovac High Energy batteries in the cameras as well (these are the only batteries I use and I buy them in bulk).

 

[Turkey Creek]

Who has the best price for 3-4 cameras and a home base with no camera? If I am reading things correctly the cameras can transmit to each other through the system no matter the cover type for at least 200 -300 yards? Farthest camera from the home base would be 400 - 500 yards. Home base will be at the top of the hill and the closest camera would be 200 yards away over basically open terrain. I have no need for the camera on the home base as it will be located in a spot to get cell service where I have no need for pictures. All of my older cameras seem to be giving me fits this year and if I am going to buy new I would rather go the cell route where I dont need to physically go to multiple cameras.

 

[T-Max]

CuddeBack Trail Cameras Archives

farmsteadoutdoors.com

I just ordered through here. Prices seemed great and shipping was very fast.


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[squerril]

John,

What is your opinion on the sun shade panels? Are you truly getting 3-4 months usage out of them without internal batteries in cameras? Do you recommend having internet batteries installed with solar panel and what is averagerun time you are seeing with both?

Thank

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[MadMadHoosier]

What is everybody's opinion on the sun shade panels? Are you truly getting months usage out of them? Are you using them as a stand alone power source or do you recommend having internet batteries installed with it?



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The new panels have been awesome so far. I bought a slug of them in Sept 2022 and had most deployed by the end of 2022. Except for a few cameras that were eating batteries before being put on solar, the rest have operated without being touched. Many are deep in the woods, and I’m curious if the success will continue with a full summer canopy of tree leaves - but will know for sure in a few months.

Edited to add: I also use the armor cables, because the others get chewed by animals or deteriorate over time. And I’ve only left the internal batteries in a few cameras, but am worried they might leak and hurt the camera if they are not called upon for years. I do have a few of the old solars out in full sun that have been running for 3-4 years.

 

[john volkman]

And if you are using internal batteries, which ones?

Different batteries do different things well, as an example I switched to lithium batteries for smoke detectors in my homes “wired in” system. It was much better than the Duracells I was using. (Lithium batteries are heat/cold sensitive so I AM NOT saying they would be better for cameras. Just using it as an example.)

use rayovac high energy alkaline, you cant get lithium D cells anyways, its good idea to have the rayovacs in the camera as back up in case the panel would get disconnected, wire chewed thru, panel knocked down etc, that way you have a month or more to get to it to fix it, you will likely not use the d cells but if you need them they will be there. Solar panels work great, i have several going on 2 years without touching them and the shade panel i have had out for almost a year in tree canopy and it is still going.

 

[T-Max]

Gotta say I’ve had my Cuddelink out for a few weeks now and how in the world did I go this long without them? Going to one convenient camera to check them all?! Game changer for sure


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[T-Max]

4 more with dual power banks on the way…


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[Tamarack]

My dual power bank was flooded out. Water actually poured out of it a bit when I opened it. That explains why it shut down so soon and the batts in the cam itself went dead.

I doubt it's under warranty and wouldn't be worth it if I have to send it in. I'm going to get another solar panel but this is for the K( I think...the one or one of the ones that first came out- white flash) Home so would the sun/shade one work for it? I do have one of the regular solar panels on another link/cam.

 

[john volkman]

My dual power bank was flooded out. Water actually poured out of it a bit when I opened it. That explains why it shut down so soon and the batts in the cam itself went dead.

I doubt it's under warranty and wouldn't be worth it if I have to send it in. I'm going to get another solar panel but this is for the K( I think...the one or one of the ones that first came out- white flash) Home so would the sun/shade one work for it? I do have one of the regular solar panels on another link/cam.

if its a K it would take 6 d batteries, if so you need to run rechargeable D 's in it with a panel, not worth it in my opinion..... in that case sell the K and buy a new L home and use that with a solar panel - you will be money ahead and it will run forever, you can run alkaline Ds in the new L as back up and the sun shade panel will work with it in any situation .

 

[Tamarack]

if its a K it would take 6 d batteries, if so you need to run rechargeable D 's in it with a panel, not worth it in my opinion..... in that case sell the K and buy a new L home and use that with a solar panel - you will be money ahead and it will run forever, you can run alkaline Ds in the new L as back up and the sun shade panel will work with it in any situation .

Thanks..I thought there was something different when using it with a K so that's why I asked.
I'll probably have to wait awhile since I much prefer the white flash. I think you said that won't be available until late this year. The Home is the only one w/out a solar panel so I should be good for awhile.

The battery bank did it's job for quite awhile. I don't know if it had a hairline crack or what. I ended up whacking it against my tailgate to get the batteries out because they were all slimy..and probably no good now- battery acid maybe. So if it's got a crack in it now who knows when it occurred.

 

[john volkman]

Thanks..I thought there was something different when using it with a K so that's why I asked.
I'll probably have to wait awhile since I much prefer the white flash. I think you said that won't be available until late this year. The Home is the only one w/out a solar panel so I should be good for awhile.

The battery bank did it's job for quite awhile. I don't know if it had a hairline crack or what. I ended up whacking it against my tailgate to get the batteries out because they were all slimy..and probably no good now- battery acid maybe. So if it's got a crack in it now who knows when it occurred.

there wont be any cell home units made with strobe white flash going forward,(there never was actually) in fact, at some point likely next year - the only home unit that will be available is the home L unit that doesnt have a camera in it all. There will be white flash L series remotes at some point but the modules arent removable.
If you want a home cell unit with white flash here is what you would need to do- Purchase a G -5109 G series home cell which is IR, then find a White flash module, if your K has one in it already, you can remove it and put it in the G series. The white flash modules are sold out and discontinued for the G and the K. There are some white flash G series remotes available yet and you could also purchase one of those and then swamp that out with a home cell IR module as well.

 

[Tamarack]

Btw...I was supposed to take the batteries out and turn on the cam for some minutes or something wasn't I... It did have enough juice to be flashing- battery dead.
It's sending pictures but just from one camera at a time(have it set for hourly) and not at all from one that that has to be taking pictures. I'm also not getting a report via text any longer....which is fine since I am getting it via email. The report online & via the app is showing updates ...the latest early this morning. All cameras are showing battery ok, no que'd photos etc.

And a Happy 4th to everyone

Edit: And some on my list aren't receiving pictures. No rush..I won't get to the cams again until the weekend.

 

[john volkman]

Btw...I was supposed to take the batteries out and turn on the cam for some minutes or something wasn't I... It did have enough juice to be flashing- battery dead.
It's sending pictures but just from one camera at a time(have it set for hourly) and not at all from one that that has to be taking pictures. I'm also not getting a report via text any longer....which is fine since I am getting it via email. The report online & via the app is showing updates ...the latest early this morning. All cameras are showing battery ok, no que'd photos etc.

And a Happy 4th to everyone

Edit: And some on my list aren't receiving pictures. No rush..I won't get to the cams again until the weekend.

im not following any of this , not sure what your question is- if you arent getting info via text yoru provider is likely blocking it as spam, check the app or online as they cant block those. You can also use email delivery.

 

[T-Max]

John, this might be monumental, but I would love to see Cuddeback make a camera report similar to the cell version for sd pull cameras. The reports are cumbersome and not nearly as friendly as the cell reports others post. Is there any talk of that?


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[john volkman]

John, this might be monumental, but I would love to see Cuddeback make a camera report similar to the cell version for sd pull cameras. The reports are cumbersome and not nearly as friendly as the cell reports others post. Is there any talk of that?


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at this time there eisnt , there is a ton of projects currently being worked on and since all the engineering is done in the US by a small handful of people i think that is way down the list, 1% or less of the users are using cuddelink without cell so its not high on the priority list.

 

[Tamarack]

im not following any of this , not sure what your question is- if you arent getting info via text yoru provider is likely blocking it as spam, check the app or online as they cant block those. You can also use email delivery.

The only thing I'm not getting via text any longer is the Report. It's no big deal.
My main issue is the system doesn't seem to be working properly currently. What I mentioned first has to do with something you or maybe Cuddeback support told me to do. It's been a couple of years but it had something to do with it not working correctly back then as well. It may have been a similar issue or it may have been after a firmware update. I was told to take the batteries out and push the buttons or ? to get it to completely drain the power out.

Haven't gotten a single picture all day which is not normal...plus what I mentioned previously. Maybe it'll sort itself out but I guess I'll just try the batteries out/power drain/reset thing if not.....?

 

[john volkman]

The only thing I'm not getting via text any longer is the Report. It's no big deal.
My main issue is the system doesn't seem to be working properly currently. What I mentioned first has to do with something you or maybe Cuddeback support told me to do. It's been a couple of years but it had something to do with it not working correctly back then as well. It may have been a similar issue or it may have been after a firmware update. I was told to take the batteries out and push the buttons or ? to get it to completely drain the power out.

Haven't gotten a single picture all day which is not normal...plus what I mentioned previously. Maybe it'll sort itself out but I guess I'll just try the batteries out/power drain/reset thing if not.....?

when you get to the cell unit , see if there is an error code on the screen- Take the camera , pull the batteries out of it and dont re insert until the screen goes completely blank - Then put batteries back in and run a cell test under cell menu- you will either get " success" or a fail code.... this will tell you if something is wrong with the camera or its not in a good cell service area. The other thing to check is that you arent using a channel that could be interfering with another network - if those dont work you will need to on the phone with someone to make sure you have your settings correct and all your cameras are connected. 99% of the time- issues are caused by Poor non existent cell service , dead batteries, or a setting not set correctly.

 

[Tamarack]

when you get to the cell unit , see if there is an error code on the screen- Take the camera , pull the batteries out of it and dont re insert until the screen goes completely blank - Then put batteries back in and run a cell test under cell menu- you will either get " success" or a fail code.... this will tell you if something is wrong with the camera or its not in a good cell service area. The other thing to check is that you arent using a channel that could be interfering with another network - if those dont work you will need to on the phone with someone to make sure you have your settings correct and all your cameras are connected. 99% of the time- issues are caused by Poor non existent cell service , dead batteries, or a setting not set correctly.

I did do the cell test like I always do after putting in new batteries etc, and the cams have been there for a few years now with the same settings, but will try what you said above and check and change things if needed. Thanks