X7Ds are in - Transferred from QDMA Forums

[yoderjac]

Got my X7D's today. Look really nice and software is really cool, being able to check batteries and take pics on the spot all from your PC. I haven't put them in the good ol outdoors yet, didn't have enough late to play around outside but will get them up this weekend and see how they work, or one of them I should say.
I ordered three and only was sent one particular cable needed to attach from the battery pack to the camera so hopefully I can get in touch with Buckeye tomorrow and get two more cables sent to me ASAP.
Will be interesting to see how my system works in my terrain particularly since my home/PC base is at the highest point on my property. Would think it would work well, but I won't know until I try. Will keep everyone posted. Am excited though as they seem like really nice cams.

Great! I'll be watching this thread!

Jack or NY plotter: Having another issue; got the two additional cords on the way.
Since only had one cord to connect battery to cam, I used that one cord to register each cam. Now when I go back to plug in the connection cord to the first camera, it won't power up. All 3 have been registered. Keep in mind I had to disengage the power cord from one cam and then put it in another cam connected to the same battery. The manual says I can press any button on the cam to get it to power up but it won't power up at all even on full battery.
Since I noticed this happening, I didn't unplug the last or 3rd camera and went ahead and set it up. It's setup on a small kill plot about 300 yds from the house. Even without installing an extra antenna on the camera or PC base, I was able to take a picture. The kill plot is in a small depression surrounded by pines so I was surprised I was able to get transmission.

Here's a 5 MP pic (the highest quality pic you can choose from using the buckeye cam). The software is pretty cool. You can remotely operate all of your cameras from your computer, check their battery levels, switch to a particular cam and take a live picture which is immediately uploaded (would work well for security applications/gate entry points). So far I like it, still waiting to hear from Jack or NY plotter regarding powering up. You can choose memory size from fractions of a MP to 5 MP which again can all be controlled from your computer. You can also choose to name your pictures/cam sight, include time, date and moon phase which all can be manipulated from the computer. You can email pictures to yourself or anyone else and adjusted the frequency of pictures taken as well as choose completely black flash or use of red blob light on cam.
Sorry picture doesn't have anything in it other than SG. I'll through some corn out this weekend and get some doe pictures up for everyone.

I bought a few treated 4x4s that are 16 foot tall and sunk them in concrete a couple feet. Will be placing a Yagi antenna on the top. I mounted a solar panel facing south and the cam and battery back to the treated post.
I believe the biggest advantage the cams will provide which is why I purchased them is reduced pressure as last year I checked cams way too much and now I can, assuming cams operate well, check everything remotely without ever having to enter a hunting location. I'm also hoping to be able to pattern bucks as my cams will be set up on any possible funnel on my small property which should give me a pretty good idea where deer will be and not be during hunting.

I am very insterested in this an appreciate all the post and info Scrim, Jack and NYplotter. I want to invest in this system but am worried about my potential cam spots to the house is all elevation changes.
1300 ft cam hardwoods between
1500ft house
1700 ft cam hardwoods and pines between.
Distance from each would be around 1200 to 1600 feet from the furthest.

Western, my cam distances are from central house 1000' about b/t each camera. I have only so far purchased the "basic" package. This includes the standard antenna with the camera and base station. As NY Plotter had rec'd I also would rec'd the upgrade antenna. I am having 0 issues transmitting pictures even from areas that should be an issue (through Pines and transmitting through Earth, but with elevation the cams I am getting pictures). That said, the it can take a minute to upload one picture. I'll be purchasing the upgraded base antenna as well as camera antennas that will be mounted to my house (one antenna) and then one antenna each per camera at the top of my 4x4 post. I think it's a good investment and even with my Reconyx, I feel they paid off as I've caught 3 different trespassers. I think if you're a landowner it's not a bad investment. I would rec'd starting with 1 or 2 cams and just adding as you feel comfortable. I think there is a learning curve and I've already learned a lot. As Jack has mentioned each property is different and you sort of have to take your time and get your property setup properly but once you do then everything else should be pretty self sustainable especially with adding the option of solar panels. I'm the kind of person who can't stand not knowing what's where and this will allow me to check stands from work and not always having to wonder "what's there" without having to check cams on the hoof, but rather in bed or at work(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED) Another thought is, ideally you want to shoot for line of sight but with better antennas and higher towers it's not a must, but what I'm doing and will do is cutting a line of trees connecting the cams, or as NY Plotter has done you can use what's called "repeater cams" which are basically cams set in areas that allow line of sight between cams. The cams repeat signals or pictures off each other (or something like that) that allows one to view pictures in more difficult terrain areas. I might be wrong, but I don't think there's really a location in the US that the cameras wouldn't work in it's just a matter of how many cameras you're willing to get if you need repeaters or how much work your'e willing to do whether it involves taller or upgraded antennas, or removing some vegetation to allow clearance.

Cool. My neighbor ordered two x7ds and they forgot to ship a trap for the cam or battery, can't remember exactly. He just got his for his house and they work great at his close ranges. Gonna wait for some more feedback at longer distances.

I've been speculating on biting the bullet on these X7's. I am really interested in how they work for you guys. I can't find any samples of the photos online other than the few posted on various forums. 5M seems like an excellent quality, any night shots? If I'm not mistaken it is a 'black flash' camera? Please keep us posted on the functionality and battery life. Great thread and good luck!

Pikeman I'll try to get some corn out today and should have some photos for you this week. I'll experiment with the various MP's and show you the differences in MPs with quality of photos.

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Western, my cam distances are from central house 1000' about b/t each camera. I have only so far purchased the "basic" package. This includes the standard antenna with the camera and base station. As NY Plotter had rec'd I also would rec'd the upgrade antenna. I am having 0 issues transmitting pictures even from areas that should be an issue (through Pines and transmitting through Earth, but with elevation the cams I am getting pictures). That said, the it can take a minute to upload one picture. I'll be purchasing the upgraded base antenna as well as camera antennas that will be mounted to my house (one antenna) and then one antenna each per camera at the top of my 4x4 post. I think it's a good investment and even with my Reconyx, I feel they paid off as I've caught 3 different trespassers. I think if you're a landowner it's not a bad investment. I would rec'd starting with 1 or 2 cams and just adding as you feel comfortable. I think there is a learning curve and I've already learned a lot. As Jack has mentioned each property is different and you sort of have to take your time and get your property setup properly but once you do then everything else should be pretty self sustainable especially with adding the option of solar panels. I'm the kind of person who can't stand not knowing what's where and this will allow me to check stands from work and not always having to wonder "what's there" without having to check cams on the hoof, but rather in bed or at work(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED) Another thought is, ideally you want to shoot for line of sight but with better antennas and higher towers it's not a must, but what I'm doing and will do is cutting a line of trees connecting the cams, or as NY Plotter has done you can use what's called "repeater cams" which are basically cams set in areas that allow line of sight between cams. The cams repeat signals or pictures off each other (or something like that) that allows one to view pictures in more difficult terrain areas. I might be wrong, but I don't think there's really a location in the US that the cameras wouldn't work in it's just a matter of how many cameras you're willing to get if you need repeaters or how much work your'e willing to do whether it involves taller or upgraded antennas, or removing some vegetation to allow clearance.
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Thanks... the repeater idea would work because I could easily put a cam in one of hedge rows bewteen the base the main cam area. No time to save for that budget! (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Repeaters can give you coverage in places where there is no alternative. However, keep in mind there are costs associated with repeaters. Before you go down that route, you might want to check this thread: <http://www.qrgc-forums.org/QRGC_Foru...l-Cameras.aspx
This thread has many of my experiences with the Orion. Most of the core principals should hold true with the X7D but the details my be somewhat different.
Thanks,
Jack

Just a heads up for those who might be interested BC is running 15% off including X7D models. I got the email today and it appears to run thru April. Saving money is always good.

The bait is set, now we will wait for some deer:

I kid you not, just as I'm sitting here in bed and playing with my new Buckeye system, I click &quot;take picture&quot; and presto there's deer already at the corn I threw out at lunch time today. Here's to my BEC's first deer pic, smile deer you're on camera:

jj
Now I have 9 pics showing on cam...looks like I've got some deer moving in!

These photos are about as &quot;live&quot; as it gets, check the time.

Scrim,
Is this the original photo with your current resolution setting or did you use a higher resolution and reduce it to 1024x768?
Thanks,
Jack

Jack this is original photo. I just uploaded it to &quot;photobucket&quot; so assuming photobucket doesn't automatically resize it then it's the original. This 5 MP shot without LED/red glow. Interested to hear your comments on quality, I have nothing to compare to. I would be interested to see how (certain program?) you do manipulate photos as you did with NY Plotter's photo and do you do that often (i.e. does it help you decipher photos better)?

Doesn't photobucket resize images so that they can be posted on this site? I thought this site had a size restriction and a very low one.
Scrim, when you say LED/Red Glow isn&#8217;t that red LED just for aiming purposes? Turn it on for setting up cameras by walking in front and when the red light triggers you know exactly what direction the camera is pointed in? This is my understanding.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by nyplotter
Doesn't photobucket resize images so that they can be posted on this site? I thought this site had a size restriction and a very low one.
Scrim, when you say LED/Red Glow isn’t that red LED just for aiming purposes? Turn it on for setting up cameras by walking in front and when the red light triggers you know exactly what direction the camera is pointed in? This is my understanding.
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Yes, this is a low resolution picture. I'm pretty sure it was resized by photobucket. It is only 1024x768.

Quote:
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Scrim, when you say LED/Red Glow isn’t that red LED just for aiming purposes? Turn it on for setting up cameras by walking in front and when the red light triggers you know exactly what direction the camera is pointed in? This is my understanding.
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Makes sense to me, I didn't know that.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack this is original photo. I just uploaded it to &quot;photobucket&quot; so assuming photobucket doesn't automatically resize it then it's the original. This 5 MP shot without LED/red glow. Interested to hear your comments on quality, I have nothing to compare to. I would be interested to see how (certain program?) you do manipulate photos as you did with NY Plotter's photo and do you do that often (i.e. does it help you decipher photos better)?
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I generally use photoshop, but the computer I was using had the consumer version of photoshop (Elements 10) on it. It is sufficient for dealing with game camera photos.
I use the enhancement quite a bit. It can help with daytime photos like the case with NYP's pic, but I use it most often on night pictures where bucks are at a distance. I zoom in on the area of interest (deer or even just the rack), crop the image, and apply the enhancement filters. It can really help distinguishing bucks from does and identifying the rack characteristics better.
Years ago when I was comparing early black flash pictures from Reconyx and BEC, the Reconyx photos seemed to have much better flash range at first. However, when I zoomed in and applied these enhancements to both, the Reconyx improved little but the BEC improved a lot. In the end, I decided the flash range (ability to identify detail at distance) was about the same between the RC60 and the BEC Apollo/Orion.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Jack what's your typical cam setup as far as cam height? I'm looking at getting the X7D cam swivels. Right now I have my cams set up pretty high about 7 feet looking downward but I'm not sure if doing so is hurting my range/distance by looking towards the ground.

<font face="Arial">Scrim, I confirmed with BEC that the Red LED is so we can see when the camera triggers.</font>
<font face="Arial">Also, Slate River </font><<font face="Arial">http://slateriverllc.myshopify.com/products/ezaim</font> font face="Arial"> mounts IMO are great. They screw directly into the back of the BEC. I have my cameras mounted at about 6' and have not seen any issue. If you go with them just make sure you order the ones for a rear mount. I would call direct and ask for John the owner. The BEC ones look bulky to me...just another option.</font>
<font face="Arial">I have been using the Stick-N-Pic for cameras on the move and they have also worked well for this applications.</font>

Hey Jack and NYPlotter:
I had an idea but was wondering if it was bad practice:
My bedroom where I do all of my camera viewing, is located at the front of my house. I'm not thrilled with the idea of putting an antenna on the roof of my new house. Would it be bad practice to place a cam at the front of the house in a tree right outside my window facing my front door for security, and then attaching my omni directional antenna to that cam and running it up above the height of the house/as high as I can go with the antenna, and using the cam as a repeater. Then I could stick with my &quot;over the counter&quot; antenna that was included with the PC base and communicate directly to the cam right outside my window.
Is this bad practice or would it work?
Also, and excuse my if I've already asked this question but will I be gaining much by going with the 13.1 dbi Yagi antenna vs the 9 dbi Yagi antenna for each of my cams in the field that BEC offers on their website?

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack what's your typical cam setup as far as cam height? I'm looking at getting the X7D cam swivels. Right now I have my cams set up pretty high about 7 feet looking downward but I'm not sure if doing so is hurting my range/distance by looking towards the ground.
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I usually hang mine between 24&quot; and 36&quot; depending on terrain. This gives me the best trigger range. I've have deer trigger some of my Orions at 50 yards on a regular basis. I try to point them so the PIR is centered at deer height parallel to the ground. So, if I'm at the top of a slope, I'll hang it slightly higher and angle it down slightly so the beam parallels the ground.
The Orion PIR has a narrow beam width and fast trigger. This gives you pictures with the target near center frame.
I wouldn't recommend using them like the low end, slow trigger, wide PIR sensor cameras. Unless you have a point source target like a scrape, I would not hang a camera high pointed downward.
Try lowering your cams, pointing them parallel to the ground, and doing a walk test.
Thanks,
Jack

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Hey Jack and NYPlotter:
I had an idea but was wondering if it was bad practice:
My bedroom where I do all of my camera viewing, is located at the front of my house. I'm not thrilled with the idea of putting an antenna on the roof of my new house. Would it be bad practice to place a cam at the front of the house in a tree right outside my window facing my front door for security, and then attaching my omni directional antenna to that cam and running it up above the height of the house/as high as I can go with the antenna, and using the cam as a repeater. Then I could stick with my &quot;over the counter&quot; antenna that was included with the PC base and communicate directly to the cam right outside my window.
Is this bad practice or would it work?
Also, and excuse my if I've already asked this question but will I be gaining much by going with the 13.1 dbi Yagi antenna vs the 9 dbi Yagi antenna for each of my cams in the field that BEC offers on their website?

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Scrim,
Yes it will work and yes, it is a bad practice. You pay a cost going through a repeater. I would only use a repeater in situations where the terminal camera can not see the base or the signal levels are very poor.
You will be gaining 4 db with the larger antenna and pointing it will be more critical. If you have workable signal levels, I would not go to the cost and effort of using larger antennas. Start by trying to get line of sight minimizing blockage. If you still have poor signal levels, then a larger antenna may be in order.
Thanks,
Jack

Quote:
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Scrim,
Yes it will work and yes, it is a bad practice. You pay a cost going through a repeater. I would only use a repeater in situations where the terminal camera can not see the base or the signal levels are very poor.
You will be gaining 4 db with the larger antenna and pointing it will be more critical. If you have workable signal levels, I would not go to the cost and effort of using larger antennas. Start by trying to get line of sight minimizing blockage. If you still have poor signal levels, then a larger antenna may be in order.
Thanks,
Jack
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What about is bad practice or what will I be losing? Just trying to weigh if it would be worth it, as doing so would allow me to avoid hanging an antenna on the roof and also allow me to use a computer directly in my room rather than have a desktop or labtop in another room and having to use it remotely.

Scrim,
There is a communications cost for each hop. That takes the form of delays and battery usage. Since the word &quot;repeater&quot; is not used by BEC in a strict sense (it is actually a packet router), the terminal camera does not have any negative battery effects and it could even have a positive effect on if the signal to the repeater is significantly stronger. The repeater has the load of transmitting its own pictures as well as those for terminal cameras. This will result in more battery consumption. If your repeater goes down for any length of time, pictures will back-up on the terminal cameras. As soon as the repeater comes back on-line, it will have to handle a heavier than normal load from each terminal camera and both the repeater and terminal cameras batteries will drain much more quickly. The more terminal cameras going through the repeater the worse the problem.
Having said that, it is worth considering in some cases. First, if you are only talking one repeater camera and one terminal camera, things are pretty manageable. On top of that, you have another huge advantage in your case, available power at your house. So, in your case, the only real cost would be a delay in receiving pictures from the hop.
We just got a contract signed to thin our pines. So, I've done something similar (but without the repeater). I have a camera mounted on the pavilion that covers my trailer pointed at the gate. This will allow me to monitor every truck load of logs that leaves the property ensuring we get properly paid since we sold it by the ton.
BEC told me what connectors they uses between the solar panel and the camera. I bought a bunch from digi-key. (They may be different on the X7D, you'll have to ask). I then took a charger and snipped off the alligator clips and installed the connector. The charger then plugs directly into the solar charger port of the Orion. Since I have power available at my trailer, that camera stay fully powered 100% of the time.
SIDE NOTE: For convenience, I also modified a number of my chargers. It is always best to keep SLA batteries not in use on a smart charger. The Orion battery leads use a 3 prong style connector to plug into the camera internally (not sure about X7D). I bought some of the male connectors from Digi-Key and replaced the alligator clips with them. I now simply plug the leads of the spare batteries directly into the charger with no clips to worry about. I get a tight secure connection every time and don't have to worry about the clips not getting a good connection through the insulation.
So, in your case, you could do something similar with the camera at the house and you'll never have to worry about power to the repeater camera. If you only have a single terminal camera, and since the repeater camera is so close to the house, you could easily monitor and swap in a spare battery when necessary.
While in general it is not a best practice to use a repeater camera when you can get good signal without one, in your case it may be a viable approach.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks Jack I appreciate all your help. I might give the antenna in a tree idea a try and worst case I can always go the roof route if it doesn't work well. Just figured out the email feature with the software thanks to NY Plotter, which is really cool. Would highly rec'd the BEC X7D. I think so far it's worth every penny just be able to control things from the in the house. I think it too will make an awesome security system that's sort of &quot;live&quot;.

Am getting more and more impressed with the BEC's each day, they're the real deal. Seem really well made and pictures are of good quality. Half the battle is getting your cams setup in the right position. NY Plotter shared with me the 15% discount. I checked with BEC and their discount runs to April 30th. That's a pretty good deal. I'm thinking perhaps it's to compete with the likes of Reconyx.
BEC's X7D is $699, but with the 15% discount, that puts the cam at $595 comparable to Reconyx's HC600 at $550 or thereabouts.
I'd highly rec'd anyone considering any taking the plunge for a higher quality cam like Reconyx or BEC to consider BEC, since even if you don't want to go wireless yet, at least you can with the X7D which can act as wireless or non wireless.
According to last year when I talked with Reconyx they were coming out with a wireless version but it would require a cell plan per camera...ouch!
Here's a pic of a small kill plot nestled in the woods. For those of you not up to speed on the X7D or BECs, you can actually take a live picture of any image in front of your camera anytime with the touch of a click. Otherwise, the camera takes pics as it detects motion.

Quit tempting me! .... OK, I just emailed Sean a bunch of Orion/X7D interoperability questions. Depending on the answers, I may have to pull the trigger on one.

You're funny Jack...I guess if they were compatible though why not since they're cheaper. The Orion's though are longer ranger right? I just finished mounting my antenna on the roof finally will post some pics soon courtesy help from you guys, and NY Plotter helped me a lot. I went for an eave mount and will just run to a secure labtop as a server of sorts to import all the pics. I'm waiting on some mini yagi's to mount to my other cams to get the full effect. I hope it works well (the extra addition of antennas as well as the base antenna, in particular.
If nothing else BEC is such a great no trespassing tool as I've been presented with a few times already this year that if had updated photos to the minute I could have stopped a trespasser or a unwanted dog on the property. Also provides good documentation that is instantly uploaded even if somehow someone were able to steal a camera, which of course could be avoided with some measures.
I imagine this is the direction (wireless transmission) trail cameras are headed for the long term.

Scrim,
I know they are not compatible. There is a different radio in the X7Ds. You are correct, it is shorter range than the Orion.
My questions to Sean are about interoperability, not compatibility. The question is can I run both type networks in the same location without interference. The X7D clearly has some advantages. With the low cost of the X7D pcbase, it could make sense to use X7Ds for my closer in locations and push my Orions to more distant locations.
Even though the Orions have a longer range, that does not mean they are better at communication at shorter ranges. Different protocols had different characteristics. It could turn out that X7Ds are just as effective or more so at shorter ranges.
Thanks,
Jack

Cool I hope it works for you. When comparing to Reconyx, I definitely think it's a no brainer for the price although of course being so new there could be glitch somewhere that might arise but one would hope they'd be fixed.

Hey Jack, now that I have my antenna up, I need to purchase a computer to act as my &quot;server&quot; if that's what you call it (basically where all my pics will be uploaded to and likely my dedicated computer for storing images for research purposes for the farm from year to year.
Any specific recommendations as to what I should be looking for...desktop or laptop? Or does it matter? Memory and anything else that might be pertinent?
Again I'll likely be using this solely for trailcam management purposes. I like the idea of a laptop since it's mobile but it's not a necessity.
I ended up running the antenna above an eave above my loft (2nd floor) and am planning on storing the computer right next to the outlet and PC base and will just access it remotely.

Scrim, I went with an inexpensive laptop because it has a built in monitor. From time to time I do access the software from the computer itself so having the monitor is nice. One power cord, hook it to wifi and done.

It really doesn't take much of a PC to run the application. I'd look for something inexpensive. You can check the BEC web site for minimum requirements, but most anything you buy today exceeds them. If you are buying new, I'd recommend Windows 7. It is much nicer if you are sharing data between PCs.
You might also look at what software you will be using to manage pictures and data. I use MS Access and MS Excel, but I'm a geek. These are highly flexible but you really need some computer skills to tailor them to your needs. There are a number of commercial packages out there as well. I played around a little with Scouting Assistant and WISE for one of my camera classes. They are less flexible but easier to use.

Hey Jack, I PM'd you too...am trying to figure out what to get to connect PC base from LMR400 cable...as I had to cut my original 40' cable as I ended up only needing about 12 feet. The piece I need is a small plug that fits on the end of the copper on the LMR400 and has a skinny end that is a female end and goes into the male end of the other smaller cable.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Hey Jack, I PM'd you too...am trying to figure out what to get to connect PC base from LMR400 cable...as I had to cut my original 40' cable as I ended up only needing about 12 feet. The piece I need is a small plug that fits on the end of the copper on the LMR400 and has a skinny end that is a female end and goes into the male end of the other smaller cable.
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If you can repair the cable, you are a better man than I. I did a field repair of a cable gnawed through by an animal. I have the right connectors and crimpers and such. I re-did it with new connectors several times and still could not get the signal levels of a factory made cable. I gave up and bought a new one.

Well, I had a quick back-and-forth with Sean and I talked with some RF guys at work as well. Here is what I learned:
- The PCbase software for both the Orion and X7D play nicely on the same computer simultaneously.
- Both the Orion PC base modem and the X7D PC base modem can co-exist on the same USB bus and play nicely together.
- Both systems operate in the same general 900 mhz range and use the same kinds of high gain antennas interchangeably.
- While it is technically possible for combine the output from both PCbases and run them into a single external cable and antenna, you will suffer some signal loss (3 db for receive). It is going to me more cost effective to use separate external antennas and cabling.
- You can put both antennas on the same mast but you should have some physical separation. One meter of separation provides about 20db of isolation.
- Both the Orion and X7D are using frequency hopping spread spectrum radios. However, they have independent frequency lists used for hopping. This means both systems should be able to operate simultaneously without interfering with each other at the RF level.
As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I'm in the process of re-doing my antenna mast for my PCbase to extend the height. So, I guess now is the time to buy another big yagi and cable.
It looks like I'll be joining NYPlotter and Scrim as X7D owners in the near future.
My plan will be to use the X7Ds as my near-in cameras and move my Orion cameras to the more distant locations where I can take advantage of the longer range radios as I build out my network.
Thanks,
Jack

Seems like good news. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[yoderjac]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Quote:
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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Am getting more and more impressed with the BEC's each day, they're the real deal. Seem really well made and pictures are of good quality. Half the battle is getting your cams setup in the right position. NY Plotter shared with me the 15% discount. I checked with BEC and their discount runs to April 30th. That's a pretty good deal. I'm thinking perhaps it's to compete with the likes of Reconyx.
BEC's X7D is $699, but with the 15% discount, that puts the cam at $595 comparable to Reconyx's HC600 at $550 or thereabouts.
I'd highly rec'd anyone considering any taking the plunge for a higher quality cam like Reconyx or BEC to consider BEC, since even if you don't want to go wireless yet, at least you can with the X7D which can act as wireless or non wireless.
According to last year when I talked with Reconyx they were coming out with a wireless version but it would require a cell plan per camera...ouch!
Here's a pic of a small kill plot nestled in the woods. For those of you not up to speed on the X7D or BECs, you can actually take a live picture of any image in front of your camera anytime with the touch of a click. Otherwise, the camera takes pics as it detects motion.
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Sign up for the BEC email club on the website it gives you 5% off anytime. So with the current 15% special you can add them together. Ordered about 3k with BEC products and everything 20% off to my knowledge. Can't wait to get them out and start playing around.

Well...I'm rethinking this a bit...
My plan was to buy another 13db yagi and add it to my base antenna mast. I probably won't get that new mast in place until after spring gobbler season. I have two Orions in the middle of my property that act as repeaters for further out cameras. They have high gain omnidirectional antennas mounted on about 30' and 40' masts respectively. I recently upgraded the power system on one of them with a 45 watt solar panel. It can now handle all of my terminal Orion cameras. So, I figured that I would pull the Orion from the second antenna mast and replace it with a new X7D. I could then use it as a repeater and place X7Ds in proximity to this repeater and base, and move the Orions to more distant locations.
I think this is still a sound long-term plan, but here is the part I'm rethinking:
Instead of waiting until I have the base antenna mast upgraded with the new antenna, I think I'm going to order and X7D now. As it turns out, we just got a contract signed with a logging company to thin our pines and clear cut some hardwoods. So, I have one Orion just a few yards from my PC base, monitoring our gate. This will let me monitor all the truck loads that leave the property to make sure nothing gets &quot;lost' on the way to the mill.
I can use the X7D for this without waiting for the mast upgrade freeing that Orion for other use.
I think I'll call tomorrow!

Well, I pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, they have been slammed with orders and they won't have the PC base for a bit.

While the landowner's away, the neighbor's dogs will play.

Jack, good luck with your new cameras and congrats on the purchase.
Scrim, I am sure thats not what you want to see but the cameras are doing their job.

Caught this deer on cam feeding in a small plot; little did I know it was there until I checked my email that the BEC sent me the pic of, while I was only 100 yards away planting some trees. Guess it wasn't bothered by me.

.................................................. .....................

Nice pics!
Do you have any recommendations on whether a guy should purchase X7D solar panels from BEC or are they cheaper and easier to come by at other online/retail centers? As long as the quality is good, and the price is right!
I understand that the ends/connections will need to be adapted to the box and so on...
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

The real key is checking the specifications. The Chinese are making inexpensive panels that are spatially inefficient. If you can afford the space, they will work fine. You can also find panels about the same size that will put out lower amperage. That means you need more hours of sun to get equal charging. I don't have any experience with the new 12-volt BEC panels, but I could not find any 6-volt panels for my Orions with equivalent specs that I could get for much cheaper when I factored in connector costs and such.
If you are new at this, I would suggest buying your first panel from BEC. If you decided to experiment after that, you will have a good basis for comparison. Otherwise, you may blame the camera for some issue with the panel.
Having said that, I've used other panels with success for specific applications. Thread shows how I used a set of low cost Chinese Harbor Freight solar panels to proved power for a very heavily used repeater camera: <http://www.qrgc-forums.org/QRGC_Foru...l-Cameras.aspx This is a 45 watt system that takes a lot of space. (That is about 3x the output of the X7D BEC panels). In my case I had the space. Even with the efficiency loss of going from 12-volts to my 6-volt Orion series (not necessary for the X7D) it provides plenty of power for the job.
Thanks,
jack

Thanks for the comment. I did order one X7D solar unit and will figure out an approach after putting one to use and then comparing. Everything in my order has shipped from BEC, except the solar panel. Evidently, BEC is backordered on the X7d solar panels for the time being.

Surprise, surprise...Not only did my camera arrive today, but the base-station which they said was back-ordered arrived as well!

I plan to pick up a battery tonight!

Wow that is a lot of cash and from my prospective not very good picture quailty.
Loos like you like it and that is the bottom line.

The picture quality is adequate, but not in the same class with a homebrew. From a cost perspective they are much less expensive in the long run than most commercial units. I'm paying for the reliability and the advantages of wireless.
I'm pretty confident after running 11 BEC Orions for years 24/7/365 without a single camera failure, however, I this is my first X7D. Hopefully the reliability will be just as good.

Well folks, I ran into my first glitch with my X7D plan. I had hoped to start out by placing the camera at my camp, close to the base to monitor logger traffic. My plan was to simply take the charger, snip off the alligator clips, and replace it with the connector BEC uses to power the camera.
As it turns out, these are unusual Chinese connectors. I'm presuming the externals were farmed out, but who knows. These connectors are produced by a company in Hong Kong called Chogori. I was able to find the part numbers, but I can't seem to find any distributor in the US. The manufacturer of course only sells them in lots of 500.
Quite frustrating.

 

[yoderjac]

Very interesting yoderj...and happy for you w/ the nice package from BEC
Since BEC announced today the X7D cell base is now available for shipping, I may be going this direction and eliminating the need for a computer base and internet connection at my farm.
Anybody else going with the X7D cell base with Verizon? I'm wondering if I can only pay the $50.00 (estimate) monthly data fee for unlimited pics/cams July through December and suspend service the remainder of the year. I'll have to check with Verizon and/or BEC.
I'm also considering the LiveCam registration so I can view the pics anytime, anywhere as well as check battery levels, change settings etc. regardless of where I am. And of course, place one cam to monitor traffic at my lodge. Spendy yes, but priceless ...

If you can get DSL or better at your farm and have power available, the pc base is a better bet. This will be less expensive than the cellphone bill. Even if they are the same cost, you will be able to use the computer and Internet service for other things besides controlling the cameras and getting pictures. There are free tools available that give you all the control necessary to do everything the cell base can do.
Also keep in mind most Verizon data packages have data limits and generally broadband Internet does not. This wont' be an issue for the first few cameras, but as you build out a camera network it may depending on how you setup and program your cameras.
The cell base works best for folks who have no power or shelter for a PC on their property.
Having said all that, if you get one, be sure to let us know how it works out!
Thanks,
Jack

What batteries are you guys using? I bought my X7D without a battery so they didn't have to ship that heavy thing. I stopped at Batteries Plus tonight. The largest 12-volt battery I could find that fits the battery box provided is 9 ah. Is that what everyone else is using?

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
What batteries are you guys using? I bought my X7D without a battery so they didn't have to ship that heavy thing. I stopped at Batteries Plus tonight. The largest 12-volt battery I could find that fits the battery box provided is 9 ah. Is that what everyone else is using?
==================================
UB1270 / P is what shipped from BEC with my first few cams. Since then, i have bought 3 additional batteries with same specs by Genesis... 12v 7.0Ah 84Whr, 6 cell
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190628699672...ht_4152wt_1217
For about 25 bucks shipped via eBay, not bad imo...

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
If you can get DSL or better at your farm and have power available, the pc base is a better bet. This will be less expensive than the cellphone bill. Even if they are the same cost, you will be able to use the computer and Internet service for other things besides controlling the cameras and getting pictures. There are free tools available that give you all the control necessary to do everything the cell base can do.
Also keep in mind most Verizon data packages have data limits and generally broadband Internet does not. This wont' be an issue for the first few cameras, but as you build out a camera network it may depending on how you setup and program your cameras.
The cell base works best for folks who have no power or shelter for a PC on their property.
Having said all that, if you get one, be sure to let us know how it works out!
Thanks,
Jack
==================================
Thanks Jack, I keep going back and forth on this but your probably right. In the end, I will have more control and do not have to complicate things by involving Verizon!

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I got the X7D up an running from my laptop. It is not my target computer, but it is fine for testing here at home. I think I may have acted a bit early. I've already found some glitches and a number of shortcomings compared to the Orion.
1) The first thing I noticed is that the quick start instructions don't match the software. The quick start says to start the software then click the Start PC Base button. There is no such button and my PC base started automatically. Not an issue for me, but confusing to a new user.
2) The next thing I noticed is that the Camera Settings display is hosed. It is in a fixed sized dialog box and half of it is cut off. It won't let me re-size the dialog box (using Windows 7). The text is large and wrapping to the point it overwrites itself. It does have a vertical scroll bar but when I scroll to the lowest part of the window I can only see the top of the OK box. This really needs work. I'm guessing they did not test a wide range of display sizes and I have not idea why they won't allow resizing of dialog boxes. It seems a bit foolish.
3) It could be that the camera settings dialog is just so screwed up I can't see all the controls that are supposed to be there, but I can't find the advanced settings. Perhaps this is a downgrade from the Orion which supports burst mode, scheduling, and some other controls on that advanced page.
4) There is no signal meter. Maybe they have not gotten to it yet, or perhaps the radio does not support it, but it is a HUGE oversight in my opinion. That is a hugely important feature that vital when orienting high gain antennas. I use it regularly with the Orion system. I have not played with the camera menus yet, but I sure hope there is a signal meter there at least.
5) Another feature absent that is included in the Orion is the interference analyzer. In my case this has not been important because I'm in a benign environment.
Well, that's all for now...

Jack, thanks for the updates, keep us informed. I'm sure you testimony will make the product better hopefully.
I absolutely love mine so far. Just the fact of not having to check cams every day is huge. I need to take a pic to show everyone my control center. I purchased a metal work station that I mounted to the wall to run all cables and laptop too, which I can access from any internet connection and take control over through join.me site (free).

Scrim,
Yes, we are coming from different perspectives. You've used regular trail cameras and the wonderful world of wireless is new. It is challenging but very cool.
I'm coming from an established Orion network. The Orion is a much more mature product that has been upgraded through firmware and software updates many times.
So, it is a lot easier for me to see the deficiencies compared to the Orion, but the X7D has advantages as well including size and resolution. I have not had an opportunity to take pictures yet but hope to do so soon.
Also keep in mind these are just initial observations. I have not had time to fully explore everything. It could be that there are features and controls that are moved around a bit that I have missed.
Once I've more fully tested things, I will send a list of issues and concerns to BEC. In the past, they were very good at including fixes for many issues I identified in future software and firmware updates.
One quick question? Do you have the same issue with the camera settings display that I described? If not, what OS and display resolution are you using on your PC?
Thanks,
Jack

Jack, I'm not having the display issue. I'll have to look at the resolution. I have a Lenova laptop that I've had and initially used, now I have an HP I bought for specifically for the BECs as my control computer. Neither of them I had to adjust the resolution or computer settings other than turning off the hibernation, sleep modes, and power off settings so that it will run 24/7, and I'm not having the text wrap or large letters you're referring to.
Oh, I completely agree we're coming from different perspectives. Even when I first contacted BEC about their new wireless I asked if Orion was a &quot;better&quot; camera. They said it was no doubt a longer range camera (Orion) and better definitely in some situations. I'm sure BEC had to skimp some places to reduce the price so much too, just part of making things more affordable for the consumer, but as that happens there are sacrifices that typically have to be made.
Some comment on picture quality. I've had no issues with picture quality. I'm not taking pics to frame, I'm taking pics to determine deer patterns of movement and get buck census as well as catch trespassers or predators on cam. I can do all that with BEC. I have Reconyx HC600 and really notice not much difference. I'd say the night time pics on the Reconyx are slightly better and the Reconyx pics are slightly worse during daytime.

Here is what the camera settings dialog box looks like on my HP-DV7T laptop running Windows 7. The display resolution is 1290x1080. I've downloaded the latest version of the PC base software from the site.

As you can see, I can only view a portion of the dialog box. I do get a scroll bar on the right, but when I scroll down to the bottom I can only see the very top of the OK button. I get no horizontal scroll bar. Also, I cannot resize the dialog box. The advanced controls button may be available but if so I can't get to it.
NYPlotter, are you having this issue? I plan to install it on my target computer that is still running Vista this weekend. I'll see how it does there.
In the meantime, can one of you guys post a screen shot of the camera settings dialog from your computer so I can see all the controls?
Thanks,
Jack

Jack, you mentioned Vista, which I am running not sure if that matters; let me know any specifics you need to compare. I'm sure you can also email one of their techs if you need to they've helped me some. I just added my mini yaggi antennas and now am receiving pics at twice the speed. My screen resolution is 1600 x 900 (high) which is my default and recommended setting for my computer.
Here's my screen shot:

Here's a pic of my work station, it's pretty cool, b/c I can lock it up and still let it run w/o my kid getting to it. It's got a digital lock on it. Ran my antenna on the gable of roof and into house which connects to computer along with help from nyplotter:

Nice Scrim, very nice.
Jack, no issues with display on my end with windows 7.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack, you mentioned Vista, which I am running not sure if that matters; let me know any specifics you need to compare. I'm sure you can also email one of their techs if you need to they've helped me some. I just added my mini yaggi antennas and now am receiving pics at twice the speed. My screen resolution is 1600 x 900 (high) which is my default and recommended setting for my computer.
Here's my screen shot:
==================================
Scrim,
That is what my main screen looks like. Can you click the &quot;camera settings&quot; button and post a screen shot of that dialog box? That is the one I'm having trouble with.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Sure thing Jack but I'll have to do this evening unless NY plotter has sooner access.

This what you need Jack?

Thanks! I loaded the software on to my vista system is it works fine and looks just like yours. Now that I see the entire Camera Settings screen, I notice there is no advanced settings button. On my Orion, the advanced settings button brings up another screen with advanced parameters including the camera schedule. The specs say there are custom time based schedules and time lapse. Do you guys know where these controls are?
I will let BEC know about the issue with my HP laptop, but it doesn't really affect me since everything runs fine on the vista computer. I was just using the laptop to do some testing at home.
I have not yet put the camera in full service, but I did put it up in front of my trailer for some testing. I am favorably impressed with the quality of the X7D pictures compared to the Orion.

This is downsized by photobucket, but the original is quite good!
Oh yes! I took an 11 year-old boy out for his first turkey hunt this morning on Virginia's youth day!

Jack,nice bird. The X7D are still being updated. Advanced features and stuff like time-lapse is coming soon. They put some of these items on hold when they launched and had RF and repeater issues.

That makes sense. Better to get the basic functionality out first. I had a little more time to play with the X7D today. I replaced the Orion XIR I was using for front gate security with the X7D. One thing I noticed was that pointing seems to be a bit more critical than the Orion. However, the visible LED mode is outstanding! The LED is very bright and can be seen from quite far away even in full sun.
The story on the youth turkey hunt is here: <http://www.qrgc-forums.org/QRGC_Foru...g.aspx#post821

Very cool Jack, nice Turkey!
I too haven't noticed any advanced settings. I'm still really enjoying the cams. I placed one at my gate and the pic quality is great for arriving vehicles.
I had one interesting thing happen. Haven't had time to look at into more detail but I thought you'd find it interesting. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but basically here's what happened:
Have had two cams up for about a month and four more cams to put up but have been waiting to put up until I got my Yagi's in which I did this weekend. Put the other four cams up and now one of my original two cams that I put up first called NWSG Stand is picking up photos from one of the new cams. I never set the cams as a repeater or anything but is this what's happening? Basically the photos are coming up under the NWSG stand cam when they should be showing under a different cam.

Scrim,
I have not seen that with any of my Orions. If I understand what you are saying, you have a picture folder under X7D with sub-folders called Camera 1, Camera 2, and so on. Pictures are showing up in the wrong folder. Is that what you are saying?
Or are you saying they have the wrong label on the picture. If it is the second, check you camera settings for each camera and make sure you didn't accidentally update the text on the wrong camera.
If pics are showing up in the wrong folder, the next thing I would check is the camera log. Take a picture from each camera and look at the log to see if it is coming in properly.
I don't have multiple X7Ds yet. Maybe NYP can help.

I'll have to check when I get home. It's weird, basically I'm getting pictures by email from Cam &quot;2&quot; from two sites. The pics are emailed to me and labeled as such. The text for both are the same &quot;NWSG stand&quot;, which I get what you're saying (as they are able to be edited--the text), but I don't think one can edit the &quot;number&quot; of the cam. Anyway, I'll check when I get home. Worst case I'm sure I could unregister and reregister each cam and probably fix it. Just thought it was an interesting event.

When you registered them did you do them one at a time with the others (non-registered) off? My guess is something happened when registering them. I would re-register the ones with issues. Make sure you do them one at a time and the other one is not even connected to the battery. Un-register the cameras at the base &amp; on camera as well by press change &amp; next at the same time...I think.

NYP,
I presume you mean all unregistered cameras off (disconnected from the battery). It would not make sense to have to power down previously registered cameras to register a new camera. I just wanted to be clear for others reading this thread.
Thanks,
jack

Oh yes, one more thing Scrim. I don't know if this applies to the X7D, but the Orion registers a camera with the next free camera number. Years ago, I wanted to replace a repeater camera (red blob) with a new XIR. (I ordered the wrong one). BEC sent me the new XIR and trusted me to return the original camera. In order to swap cameras, I edited a BEC start-up file and removed the information from the camera I was returning. When I registered the new camera, it took that camera number. This let me swap cameras without having to go to every terminal camera and change the routing.
So, as NYP suggests if some of the files were corrupted by simultaneous registration of cameras, I can see how you could get crazy results. I would still check the Camera Settings. If the user text is stamped on the picture, it is in the camera itself. I have accidentally updated the settings of the wrong camera in the past. Like you, I use location to name cameras.

 

[yoderjac]

I didn't register any simultaneously so I'm not sure what's up. Went home for lunch to register two more cams. One of them I got registered, the other camera won't even power on. Not sure what's going on with that one.
The one that's putting out pics from two spots has been registered for a month and the other one was just registered yesterday, separately from any other camera. Weird. I didn't unregister those two cams yet and reregister but will mess with tonight.
So right now dealing with three issues (one I've had for a month and am working on), out of 7 total cams:
1. Solar panel isn't charging battery on one. BEC tech said to install new firmware. I did that on Thursday. Battery in a month has gone from 100 percent to 40%. Today it is up to 50% but hasn't gone higher than 50% yet.
2. Can't power on one of the cams even using same cable and battery from a another cam's setup which works (indicating the battery and cable connection are working). Have tried holding down power button for up to a minute but still won't power up.
3. My twilight issue of pics from two places on one cam.
I feel confident that once my cams are setup and all working it will be the bomb, but it does take time to set them up, get antennas right, etc. Maybe when I'm sipping on a cold one watching a big buck cross my stand on my computer in my house it will all be worth it.
Lessons learned so far:
--central antenna on computer server very much worth it
--Yagi antennas are worth it, definitely increase speed for me
--line of sight is of utmost importance when setting up antennas/cams
Cons:
--takes some time to set up with some possible glitches here and there
Pros:
--Ease of taking pics and sifting through pics from your home

Jack, you are correct.
Scrim, same experience on my end. Takes a little time to work things out but IMO once properly set up the benefits are great. 24/7 365 days a year coverage, viewable pictures the second they are taken, no monthly fees, 365 days a year power with solar panel, zero scent after initial installation, deer become accustomed to camera locations and don't even look, good picture quality and BEC is always upgrading software with new features and glitch fixes...the list goes on. IMO wireless takes game cameras to a whole new level.
Line of sight is big so it might take a couple extra cameras to have full property coverage...oh well more cameras (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
I have been thinking about having a small Rohn antenna installed on the highest point of my property and mounting a cell base with a solar panel on it. My house sits on the second highest point and the antenna is mounted on the eve but it's still 50' below the highest point and that's without an antenna tower. I would gain over 100'. I am thinking the tower could provide full property line of sight. Just not sure I want to install it myself and I am not familiar with any companies in my area...need to do some digging.
BEC has been great to deal with and has swapped a few items out for me without question. I am sure if you have any items with issues they will do the same.

I agree NY Plotter....once everything's set up, which there is some learning curve, but not terribly complicated, it's an awesome program to work with. I know it will be the wave of the future and possibly so good that it might continue to be outlawed in some states as it's really going to help me, I feel, in my hunting almost unfairly. But what I'm really after is something that's going to help me learn more about the travel patterns of the deer on my property and deer in general which I think will be quite fascinating.
I'm happy to report that I was able to unregister and re-register my problem cams and now have all 7 running smoothly. So the 3 problems I was having earlier, 2 are solved and the only issue I'm dealing with now is whether I can get my one solar panel to charge my camera.
I would like to bring up something however, to NY Plotter and Jack although I'm not sure what sort of battery back the Orion's have for Jack, but since he now has an X7D he can hopefully comment.
Today when I opened the battery back to the camera that's not charging (battery's not being recharged by solar panel), noticed heavy condensation in the plastic enclosure for the battery. All of the condensation was on the top of the battery enclosure on the inside and was about 1/2 teaspoon...quite a bit. Am wondering if the battery back should have some sort of ventilation? I went through something similar with my Reconyx and had a condensation issue which ultimately killed the cam and had to have 4 of them returned to add a ventilation system installed (which I think was a small mesh piece of plastic that allowed just a little air to circulate). Have you guys seen this? If not something you might want to look out for. Not sure if it has caused the failure of the charging capability of the solar wire as if any condensation dropped on wires going to solar panel it possibly could have shorted wires?

Scrim,
The only issue I have seen with unprotected SLA batteries (with other brands of camera) is corrosion on the terminals over time. The more important thing to protect with the X7D is the small circuit card at the bottom of the battery box. My battery box has the rubber gasket stretched out a bit. If I'm not careful when I close it, it does not seal properly. The quality control on the cases may have slipped a bit. I've never had a moisture issue with the Pelican cases on the Orion series. Having said that, it is always a good practice to put a desiccant packet in the box to absorb any moisture. It is much better to prevent moisture from entering than to vent it.
You might want to check the little fuse in the battery box as well.
Thanks,
jack

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
Scrim,
The only issue I have seen with unprotected SLA batteries (with other brands of camera) is corrosion on the terminals over time. The more important thing to protect with the X7D is the small circuit card at the bottom of the battery box. My battery box has the rubber gasket stretched out a bit. If I'm not careful when I close it, it does not seal properly. The quality control on the cases may have slipped a bit. I've never had a moisture issue with the Pelican cases on the Orion series. Having said that, it is always a good practice to put a desiccant packet in the box to absorb any moisture. It is much better to prevent moisture from entering than to vent it.
You might want to check the little fuse in the battery box as well.
Thanks,
jack
==================================
@scrim
Agree w/ Jack
Checking the fuse on the bottom of battery case. Good place to start.
Also, did you get the BEC solar panel/charger for the X7D or aftermarket?

Quote:
==================================
@scrim
Agree w/ Jack
Checking the fuse on the bottom of battery case. Good place to start.
Also, did you get the BEC solar panel/charger for the X7D or aftermarket?
==================================
I got the panel through BEC specifically for the X7D, plus I have 6 other cams with no issues recharging, something about that one cam or panel or cabeling, etc.

 

[yoderjac]

I found another small issue that turns out to be a big deal for me personally. I'm sure I can get them to correct it in a firmware update. The EXIF data in the picture no longer includes the User_Text values. Those are important to me because I extract them and use them in my database.

After hearing from BEC, it turns out my battery box might not have had a regulator installed since it was one of the first ones shipped out before they realized it needed one. Not sure what a regulator is but I guess it allows the battery to charge effectively by using a solar panel. Haven't heard anything back regarding condensation issue.
BEC offered to ship me a new one with a free return label at no charge to me to ship the other one back. Good deal.
I got all my cams set up last night with panels and mini Yagis. For North Carolina they perform great. I have hilly country but nothing too significant in form of topography. We do have a lot of pines but I was able to have good line of site in the absence of pines in certain locations. What will be interesting is maintaining that line of site as trees, particularly fast growing pines, grow taller and possibly block transmission signals.
Pretty cool I was able to get pics of 6 yotes accurately sent to me through a funnel I made. I think the cams should not only help me in hunting but also trapping.
BTW Jack, I think I've asked before but what sort of picture management are you doing? Are you just using pics of bucks and from what times of the year? I'm just getting mostly does and other than saving &quot;cool&quot; pics of random shots like yotes or turkeys, I don't see much good in saving doe pics. Are you developing pics/storing for patterns or what?

Scrim,
Disk space is cheap these days, so I keep most of my pictures. I track all kinds of things in the database. This will let me go back and answer questions I have not yet thought to ask. The same database has all of my harvest and hunter observation data.
Here is what I do:
1) Starting with the pictures from one camera location, I look at all the pictures. If the picture is a mature buck, I keep it no matter what. If the picture is of a young buck or doe, I look at the time stamp. If I have multiple pictures of the same deer within a 5 minute period, I delete all but one pic. Otherwise I keep it.
2) Next, I move all the pictures into a folder for that location and run my program that reads all of the EXIF data including the date and time stamp, renames the file with date, time, and location code, and creates an excel file with the extracted data for import into the database.
3) I import all of the data from the excel file (includes a pointer to the picture) into my Microsoft access database. I have a database form that pulls up each of these new pictures along with all of the stored data. I then add things like how many deer of what sex, shooter bucks, and other species information to that database record. I then move to the next picture until they are all done.
4) I go back and repeat this process for each camera location.
I extract all kinds of information from the database. You can search some of my old posts which show the plots and graphs I produce. They include both hunter observation data as well as camera data and harvest data.
Thanks,
Jack

Spoke to BEC today about a couple of things.
One, there is a bug being fixed with the next upgrade for the repeater function. When selecting a battery check or manual picture the system is not calling out properly and sometimes takes several attempts to connect. This is being fixed.
Two, time-lapse will be in the next release within the next 30 days.
Three, video should be in the release after that so 60 days.
Four, email settings rest after logging out/in to software. For example: my e-mails are turned off but if I log out/in they are all set to e-mail so I have to change and save them again.
Expect a release about every thirty days with feature additions (until full function) and bug fixes.

Sounds great, they seem on top of things, top class business to work with so far.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by nyplotter
Spoke to BEC today about a couple of things.
One, there is a bug being fixed with the next upgrade for the repeater function. When selecting a battery check or manual picture the system is not calling out properly and sometimes takes several attempts to connect. This is being fixed.
Two, time-lapse will be in the next release within the next 30 days.
Three, video should be in the release after that so 60 days.
Four, email settings rest after logging out/in to software. For example: my e-mails are turned off but if I log out/in they are all set to e-mail so I have to change and save them again.
Expect a release about every thirty days with feature additions (until full function) and bug fixes.
==================================
I had a quick email interchange. Looks like upgrades are on the way for the battery pack gasket. They have noted all the sw/firmware issues I pointed out. I'm sure we will see these fixed in some future update.
Thanks,
Jack

Good to hear guys and appreciate all the good info here...
I have had two questions posed to BEC over the last 8 days. They have acknowledged receiving my questions but have not replied with answers yet and I have replied 3 times to beg for an answer.
They are:
1) How large of a SDHD card can I use in a X7D cam? Yes, I have 4 32Gb Class 10 SDHD (45mb/s) cards and sure hope they are compatible for a few different reasons.
2) When will software update come out for the X7D cams to allow cameras to function as a base?
I have decided to order a few more cams and computer base setup this week. However, I find it a bit misleading that their (BEC) website and advertising indicates the cams will function as a base when in fact, I can't even get my cams to work as a camera or a base currently until I have the computer base, software, and antenna.

I understand your frustration. They really had two options available. One, they could have held back the cameras until all the functionality was available and tested, or two, they could release the camera with limited functionality and then provide upgrades.
I'm guessing the web site was put together for the final version of the product.
The camera base option is really a niche option. While there are applications for it (not willing to pay for a cell base and plan and not infrastructure for a PCbase). It means you need to go to one camera to retrieve pictures from that and the other cameras via SD card. It is kind of a last ditch option.
If you have the infrastructure to support the PC base, that is a much better option. I very rarely use SD cards with my Orions. I use them to install new firmware. On occasion when a repeater camera battery dies, I'll use them to retrieve pictures on the terminal cameras, but this is pretty rare.
I emailed my questions and had answers in a couple hours, but they were very short and to the point. I'm sure they are balls to the wall trying to get the next couple updates out. I'm sure they'll get answers to you soon.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

I think the SD card is only for software updates and saving pictures if your battery drops below 35% and stops sending via wireless. You pop the card in, transfer pictures and then change the battery...think that's the process. For updates you download from the web to the card and when the card is put into the camera it updates. Usually you need to update the base as well. So a small card should work.
I agree with you regarding marketing. They put the cart before the horse on that one.

Very interesting stuff here, guys.
nyplotter, you have a PM.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by nyplotter
I think the SD card is only for software updates and saving pictures if your battery drops below 35% and stops sending via wireless. You pop the card in, transfer pictures and then change the battery...think that's the process. For updates you download from the web to the card and when the card is put into the camera it updates. Usually you need to update the base as well. So a small card should work.
I agree with you regarding marketing. They put the cart before the horse on that one.
==================================
If this is the case, it is another difference with the Orion series. The Orions could be used as a stand-alone camera without the base and pictures would go to the SD card. In fact, if you removed the radio card from the Orion, it became and Apollo that worked only with SD cards.
I would guess this functionality will eventually appear in the X7D if it is not already there. If the reliability turns out to be anywhere close to the Orion, the X7D will be well worth the price as a stand alone camera. No hardware would be required for this, it would be a firmware update to the camera only.

OK - got my answers from BEC today.
Is there a limit to the SDHD card size for the X7D?
BEC: As big as you want
When is the &quot;camera as base&quot; software/firmware update going to be offered for the X7D?
BEC: possibly mid-summer
Oh well.....I ordered the X7D computer base a few minutes ago from BEC. Because of the simplicity of using one camera as a base, I was tempted to go that route. Now I need to rig up a computer back at my farm I guess.

Thanks for posting the answers! You'll be much happier with the PC base in the long run!

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
If this is the case, it is another difference with the Orion series. The Orions could be used as a stand-alone camera without the base and pictures would go to the SD card. In fact, if you removed the radio card from the Orion, it became and Apollo that worked only with SD cards.
I would guess this functionality will eventually appear in the X7D if it is not already there. If the reliability turns out to be anywhere close to the Orion, the X7D will be well worth the price as a stand alone camera. No hardware would be required for this, it would be a firmware update to the camera only.
==================================
It is also my understanding the cameras can be used as a normal camera with SD card. And of course, you also use the sd card for updates and such.
The X7D can be utilized in 4 different ways (once all software/firmware is developed and issued):
1) Camera as a normal camera saving images to the onboard sd card (not transmitting images anywhere)
2) Camera as a base where other cameras send/leapfrog images to the designated camera base (and each camera stores the images to their sd card)
3) Computer base where all cameras send the images to the base or leap frog the images to the computer base (and each camera store their images on their sd card)
4) Phone base where all cameras send the images to the cell base or leap frog the images to the cell base (and store the images on their sd card)
The only reason I wanted to have a large card, is that if I'm on the road for a month or more due to work, and can't make it back to the farm late summer fall, all images are stored on the sdhd card... regardless if the connection to the computer base has been severed or not.
I like backups/redundancy - its in my nature.

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
It is also my understanding the cameras can be used as a normal camera with SD card. And of course, you also use the sd card for updates and such.
The X7D can be utilized in 4 different ways (once all software/firmware is developed and issued):
1) Camera as a normal camera saving images to the onboard sd card (not transmitting images anywhere)
2) Camera as a base where other cameras send/leapfrog images to the designated camera base (and each camera stores the images to their sd card)
3) Computer base where all cameras send the images to the base or leap frog the images to the computer base (and each camera store their images on their sd card)
4) Phone base where all cameras send the images to the cell base or leap frog the images to the cell base (and store the images on their sd card)
The only reason I wanted to have a large card, is that if I'm on the road for a month or more due to work, and can't make it back to the farm late summer fall, all images are stored on the sdhd card... regardless if the connection to the computer base has been severed or not.
I like backups/redundancy - its in my nature.
==================================
That is different than how the Orion cameras work. The don't automatically save the pictures to the SD card when operating in wireless mode (to the best of my knowledge). They do save them in internal memory and transmit them when the connection is restored. I think they can hold about 200 in internal memory. If you want to use the SD card, you have to go to the camera and push a button. Sounds like a useful feature to have!

Well...I should have put a disclaimer on the above! Right now it's anyones guess - it's hard to know when all the software updates will come and if it matches what I've been told (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
As a reminder, if anyone's putting in an order w/ BEC, the 15% + 5% off special runs through the end of the month (April).

I have yet to have BEC break their word. If they tell me something is coming, I've learned that I can count on it.

Update on the computer base station from BEC...
I ordered the computer base station about 12 days ago. I called BEC this morning and asked what the hold up was and more importantly, why I haven't heard anything about my order after placing nearly two weeks ago? I was told that BEC has been waiting on the computer modems to arrive but expect them any day now.
So...later today, I receive UPS tracking number that mine shipped today!
So if all goes well, by the weekend back at my farm, I'll start the BEC install with a few cams and solar panel units.
Pics to come.

Let us know how it goes...you'll probably have some questions like I did. At least there's four of us that are in this together(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED) You, me, NYPlotter and of course the expert YoderJack.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Let us know how it goes...you'll probably have some questions like I did. At least there's four of us that are in this together(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED) You, me, NYPlotter and of course the expert YoderJack.
==================================
Excellent that sounds great. I appreciate all that I've learned from you guys so far!
It will be interesting since I did not order the &quot;extra&quot; antenna for the computer base. I want to see the signal strength first before I spend extra $300 on top of the $300 PC modem and plain jane base antenna. Worst case, I'll make another order for the extra length antenna, make one on my own, or order more cameras to improve the line of sight. (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
Another area I'm unsure about is that I do not plan to consistently have a computer connected to the BEC computer modem/antenna 24/7. Since I usually go back to my farm between 2-3 days a week most weekends (Spring/summer/Fall), I am hoping I can plug in my laptop (mac) and BEC computer modem/antenna once I get back to the farm.
So....am I optimistic in that the system, once connected to the computer, will re-establish the connection to the cams and start/complete downloading all the images from the previous week??
Yes, I know computers are inexpensive these days but I haven't made up my mind which direction I want to go quite yet, Windows/MAC or Laptop/Desktop for the PC base station at my farm. Since the software and antenna will work with a Windows or Mac, I plan on initially using my Mac Book Pro as mentioned above for the time being. My living quarters at the farm is not climate controlled when I am not there so humidity/temperatures are not maintained for optimal 24/7 computer use in my opinion.
**** SOFTWARE UPDATE: I believe a newer version of the base station software has been issued by BEC. I'm pretty sure version 1.6 for windows is new since I checked the other day. The Mac version indicates version 1.6 is new as of 4/16/12. However, the X7D camera software is still 1.3 though...
http://www.buckeyecam.com/index.php/...indows-updates

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
Excellent that sounds great. I appreciate all that I've learned from you guys so far!
It will be interesting since I did not order the &quot;extra&quot; antenna for the computer base. I want to see the signal strength first before I spend extra $300 on top of the $300 PC modem and plain jane base antenna. Worst case, I'll make another order for the extra length antenna, make one on my own, or order more cameras to improve the line of sight. (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
Another area I'm unsure about is that I do not plan to consistently have a computer connected to the BEC computer modem/antenna 24/7. Since I usually go back to my farm between 2-3 days a week most weekends (Spring/summer/Fall), I am hoping I can plug in my laptop (mac) and BEC computer modem/antenna once I get back to the farm.
So....am I optimistic in that the system, once connected to the computer, will re-establish the connection to the cams and start/complete downloading all the images from the previous week??
==================================
I doubt you will have an issue with a return frequency of 2-3 days unless you put the camera over a bait pile with a short delay between pictures. There is no issue with the base re-establishing connection with the cameras and the cameras transmitting stored pictures.
Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
Yes, I know computers are inexpensive these days but I haven't made up my mind which direction I want to go quite yet, Windows/MAC or Laptop/Desktop for the PC base station at my farm. Since the software and antenna will work with a Windows or Mac, I plan on initially using my Mac Book Pro as mentioned above for the time being. My living quarters at the farm is not climate controlled when I am not there so humidity/temperatures are not maintained for optimal 24/7 computer use in my opinion.
==================================
Most any modern PC will handle the X7D fine. You are wise to take your time deciding what computer configuration you want at your farm for other purposes. Simply verify it meets the BEC requirements before you buy. I have an HP desktop at my farm in a trailer. I'm not there during the week and I crank the heat down to just above freezing (more for the pipes than the computer). In the summer, when I leave, I crank the AC up to about 85 degrees. Everything has been running fine for several years. I will soon be moving my PCbases outside the trailer where this is protection from the rain, but no temperature/humidity control.
Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
**** SOFTWARE UPDATE: I believe a newer version of the base station software has been issued by BEC. I'm pretty sure version 1.6 for windows is new since I checked the other day. The Mac version indicates version 1.6 is new as of 4/16/12. However, the X7D camera software is still 1.3 though...
http://www.buckeyecam.com/index.php/...indows-updates
==================================
Thanks for the heads up!

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks YoderJ! Much appreciated!
So,
Got the X7D PC base antenna/modem today as expected. I installed the software on my MacBook Pro last night in preparation. Tonight, I plugged in the modem/antenna base to my computer and it was super easy to configure. I was thinking something must be wrong since it seemed way too easy!
I did a quick setup of two cameras to the base. I let the cameras take a few pics and the pics would transmit immediately. Transmit time was very quick (4-8 seconds) at 1mp resolution while 3mp was noticeably longer (about 3x as long which makes sense). I believe the base/computer said about 6kb a second. I assume this would be max speed since the cam and computer were nearly on top of each other.
Next, I shut my computer off during my testing and the camera kept trying to transmit but it continued to take pics as it detected heat/movement as expected. If this would have been a longer dis-connect, I am unsure if it would have resulted in an unnecessary battery drain at the cam continuously trying to transmit?? So I am wondering at what point does the cam 1) give up trying to transmit and 2) fill up the internal memory... before it then resorts to saving the images to the SD card instead? Anyways, a few minutes later, I turned my computer back on and the cams immediately re-established connection and finished transmitting all the pics in no time. I pulled the sd card and no images were saved during the test. Hmmm....
Overall, the pics were of good quality and I could set the delay between each pic. However, I didn't find a way for the cam to go to &quot;sleep&quot; (say for 60 seconds) after a group of pics are taken. This is a feature I appreciated on my Reconyx Hyperfires in the past. I just couldn't figure it out on the Buckeye Cams in the first hour while messing around.
At no point did I find a way to have the camera's images saved to the SD card. Even when I shut off the base station, at least for a few minutes, it did not resort to saving the images on the card. Hopefully, a feature yet to come via software updates/programming.
That's all for now.

That sounds similar to how the Orion works. It does not try to transmit continuously. If it has a picture to transmit, it tries. If it can not contact the base, it waits and then tried again later. There is very little data transmitted when it tries to establish contact and it does not pose a significant battery drain. The only time it stops trying to transmit is if it goes into low-battery status. If the internal memory fills up, it stops taking pictures. The limit for the Orion internal memory is about 200 3 mp pictures.
The Orion operates in either standalone mode or wireless mode. In standalone mode the pics go to the SD card, but not in wireless mode. The only way to get pics to the SD card in wireless mode is to physically go to the camera, insert an SD card, and tell it to save the pictures in memory to it.
You suggested the X7D is supposed to work differently. I have not seen your description written anywhere, so I can't verify that is supposed to work the way you think. If it does, that would be different than the Orion series.
Thanks,
Jack

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
**** SOFTWARE UPDATE: I believe a newer version of the base station software has been issued by BEC. I'm pretty sure version 1.6 for windows is new since I checked the other day. The Mac version indicates version 1.6 is new as of 4/16/12. However, the X7D camera software is still 1.3 though...
http://www.buckeyecam.com/index.php/...indows-updates
==================================
Do you guys know what has changed? They have an update history on the web site for the Orion, but I don't see on for the X7D. Nothing was obvious in terms of additional functionality.

Spoke to BEC the other day and 1.6 just adds cell base stuff. Next camera/software upgrade which should be out soon will have some bug fixes and additional features like time-lapse...so they tell me.

I've been thinking about these for a while and just read through this whole post. You're all twisting my arm..
I have a question on how you update your cameras when BEC has updates. Do you have to take an SD card to each camera? Or can you do it from the base computer or even from anywhere in the world?
I'm off sight sometimes for weeks so I know I'll need a UPC and other gadgets to keep it going.
To bad I didn't read this in April, just missed the discount...
I read somewhere early in the thread that a DSL is acceptable? I've been holding off because I did not want to go the cell route. I'm pretty sure I can get a DSL line.
Are you guys all making mounting systems like Jack does? That's pretty sweet.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by Billb66
I've been thinking about these for a while and just read through this whole post. You're all twisting my arm..
I have a question on how you update your cameras when BEC has updates. Do you have to take an SD card to each camera? Or can you do it from the base computer or even from anywhere in the world?
I'm off sight sometimes for weeks so I know I'll need a UPC and other gadgets to keep it going.
To bad I didn't read this in April, just missed the discount...
I read somewhere early in the thread that a DSL is acceptable? I've been holding off because I did not want to go the cell route. I'm pretty sure I can get a DSL line.
Are you guys all making mounting systems like Jack does? That's pretty sweet.
==================================
There are two places that can be upgraded, the PCbase software (or cellbase) or the camera firmware. In both cases you download it from the internet. For the PC Base, it is a simple windows install. For cameras, you copy the image that you download to an SD card. You then take the card to each camera to do the firmware update. I have asked about doing some more functions from the base for the Orions like routing, but I have not seen that. They are concerned about user simplicity with a complex system. If something screws up during a firmware update, you can end up with a dead camera, so I understand why they require you to go to the camera for a firmware update. These don't happen too often. I would expect to see more updates of the PC base software.
DSL should be plenty of bandwidth. I wish I could get it at my farm.
Thanks,
Jack

Finally got one of my X7D cams out in the woods at my farm.
My goal,
Was to test one camera and the PC base unit (modem and antenna) connected to my MacBook Pro. I ended up receiving pics of deer within an hour of setting up and about 40 pics overnight. The camera was set-up to shoot one pic then a 30 second delay before rearming.
Details,
The PC base standard antenna was approximately 1100 yards away on level ground to the camera with some trees in the way (yardage estimate based on laser rangefinder). The images transmitted around 2kb/second to the PC base. From my previous testing my camera and PC base, located side by side, transmits at 6kb/s.
So,
A standard 1mp pic was about 150 kb once downloaded to my computer.
A standard 5mp HD pic was between 700 to 800kb.
Therefore,
This means that a high res pic (5mp HD) transmitting 1100 yards away @ 2kb/s, took approx. 6 minutes to download at the base with the standard short PC base antenna/modem.
Thoughts so far,
The X7D and PCBase are very impressive to say the least!!
I more than likely will leave camera setting at 1mp early season and switch to 3mp or 5mp by July.
Possibly, change cam settings to 5mp HD by Halloween to obtain the best possible images.
Also, I should purchase a larger antenna for the PCbase once I set up my 3 other cams to increase overall speed.
I do however, wish the camera could be programmed to take three pics at 1 second delay,
then a 30 second (or 1 minute) sleep similar to other cameras before arming again.
One pic w/ camera setting at 3mp (230kb jpeg once downloaded to PC) below...

 

[yoderjac]

BP,
I wouldn't count that feature out. The Orion had a burst mode which would take multiple pictures on a single trigger. This is nothing but software &amp; firmware, so as features emerge for the X7D, it would not surprise me if burst mode is one.
Thanks,
Jack

Great to hear Jack!
Thanks,
Luke

Anyone get any updates from BEC on when we can expect another update? I am currently running 1.3 for cameras and 1.6 for base. When I spoke with them about 10 days ago I thought we would see something really soon but nothing. I am somewhat surprised that some of the core/advertized features are still not available. I am sure they are just trying to make sure they are 100% but it would be nice to see something soon.

I would like to run the PC based but I live to far. So how well does the Cell Base work? Also with the Cell Base do you just need a sims card like some of the other wireless trail cams.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by Hoosier
I would like to run the PC based but I live to far. So how well does the Cell Base work? Also with the Cell Base do you just need a sims card like some of the other wireless trail cams.
==================================
The new X7D cellbase is pretty new and I have not heard anyone on here using it yet.
The other part of your question...
In short no. From the research I did: pairing the X7D cellbase, with a company like Verizon, would be just like adding an extra cell phone to an existing plan (add a line for 9.99). Then add the data plan for more $$.
FWIW: Verizon and Sprint do not use sim cards. I believe AT&amp;T and T-Mobile use sim cards.
BEC advertise the X7D cellbase plan will typically cost around 50.00 monthly - give or take a few bucks depending on cell phone provider.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
The new X7D cellbase is pretty new and I have not heard anyone on here using it yet.
The other part of your question...
In short no. From the research I did, the cell base, and utilizing a company like Verizon would be just like adding an extra cell phone (add a line for 9.99). Then add the data plan for more $$. FWIW: Verizon does not use sim cards.
BEC advertise the cell plan will typically cost around 50.00 monthly - give or take a few bucks depending on cell phone provider.
==================================
Thanks for the reply Blazin
It would nice to see BEC add a spot for a SIMS card. I'm being cheap. I can buy a Sims card for $10 and have unlimited pics and text for $20 a month for as many months as I want.

 

[yoderjac]

No prob Hoosier-
<u>Another update</u>
Left one X7D cam running at my farm last week but disconnected the PC base before leaving.
Software was the most current X7D version (1.3)
Results:
cam took 30 pictures the first night and flat out stopped (battery level was 100% with solar panel functioning)
Meaning,
No images were stored on the SanDisk card! I think I formatted it but not entirely sure. Didn't really think it mattered like in most my past cams (non BEC).
So,
I swapped sd cards to one I know has been formatted from a previous camera and I know should work. I left the cam running again...
Next weekend when I return, I will check to see if that helps any.
Again, I believe this indicates that many features are not yet included in the current X7D cam software/firmware of 1.3

Thought I'd post a pic of a new buckeye cam I've had but have been looking for a spot to put it...my typical set up is to choose a funnel or feed site and then dig a hole and sink a 16 foot 4x4 treated wood post in an 80 lb. bag of concrete. I put my mini-Yagi antenna directed at my main antenna lodged on top of my house as high as possible and face the solar panel to the South, and camera to the North. Haven't had any theft issues so far on my property and any funnel that leads into the property has a cam so even if I did have theft they'd be on cam and on my smart phone as they're stealing it! I use a metal t-post (6 feet) to sink in the hole after it's dug and then tie the wood post to the metal t-post using a piece of wire just to hold the post as it sets since I never have any help(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Thats a nice rig up

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Thought I'd post a pic of a new buckeye cam I've had but have been looking for a spot to put it...my typical set up is to choose a funnel or feed site and then dig a hole and sink a 16 foot 4x4 treated wood post in an 80 lb. bag of concrete. I put my mini-Yagi antenna directed at my main antenna lodged on top of my house as high as possible and face the solar panel to the South, and camera to the North. Haven't had any theft issues so far on my property and any funnel that leads into the property has a cam so even if I did have theft they'd be on cam and on my smart phone as they're stealing it! I use a metal t-post (6 feet) to sink in the hole after it's dug and then tie the wood post to the metal t-post using a piece of wire just to hold the post as it sets since I never have any help(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
==================================
Scrim,
That is very similar to what I have done on small fields. When I first purchased the property we had lots of trespass and poaching so I had to go heavy duty on security. I used footer forms with the post in the middle and rebar around it. I used a heavy duty hex motorcycle chain and lock to secure a titan box and put my cams in it.
Also, because of my terrain, I needed more height at most fields. So, I put a radio-shack antenna mast on the top of the post and put my antenna on it. For some, I used a single 10' mast and for others I used a 10' plus a 5' mast.
Conceptually, the setup is very similar to what you did.
Thanks,
Jack

Of course it's similar Jack, I got the idea from you...haha. Thanks for all the help...so far so good.

Me2. Now I am working on a 40' Rohn 25G antenna. Going to mount a cell base, solar panel and run off a marine battery. Installing it on my property high point which luckily has easy access. Hopefully this will provide complete (or close) property coverage...trying to get away from repeating. Just getting started but I will keep you guys updated.

......................................
Got this pretty picture today while sitting at the office...

Scrim, maybe a useful tip..maybe not. I put my antennas on a mast mainly because I can twist the mast easily adjusting the antenna direction..then lock down. I have noticed with the Yagi that a little twist this way or that way makes a difference.

good point. even for cameras near repeaters that are attached to trees, I use a small section of mast mounted horizontally. That at least lets me rotate the antenna a bit in one dimension.

Good tip especially for my Northern friends who have more topography. I've been pleasantly surprised that I can get away with quite a bit and get great signal due to my topography (lack of) and trees not in the way. I just point at direction of my house and bingo signal is good.

Master Jack:
Help me figure this one out. I know for a fact that I have two deer out feeding on a corn pile right now as I saw them while driving my truck and doing some work on the farm this evening.
Time says 8:50 which according to military time should be 8:50 am, but the deer are there as I'm writing this and it's evening (8:50 pm); all of my other cameras read 8:50 pm as 20:50 (instead of 8:50 like this one cam is reading). How do I fix it and what the heck happened.
PS: Is there anyway to switch from military to non military time? I don't think there is but I wish there was.

Scrim, I had a time issue with one of my cameras and it had to be swapped. Hopefully not the case for you. Did you try to sync camers...under tools?

LOL...never saw that button! I'm trying it now, they're syncing, I'll let you know the result. Thanks!

.............WORKED! THANKS!!!
Now any way to change to non military time(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Nice to know in case it happens to mine...

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
.............WORKED! THANKS!!!
Now any way to change to non military time(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
==================================
Actually, military time is easier to manipulate. I've never considered changing it.

1.7 is on BEC for base download. Not sure what it does but it's there.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by nyplotter
1.7 is on BEC for base download. Not sure what it does but it's there.
==================================
Thanks for sharing plotter!
I look forward to hearing about what it actually changes/upgrades! I won't be back at my farm for another week or so to try for myself.
Regardless, very happy they are continually upgrading and improving the software as we were all hoping!

Well folks I think I just had my first hardware failure since I bought my first Orion system. When I got to the farm on Friday and checked the network, the software said that the modem was disconnected from the USB. I checked it and all lights were off. I unplugged the USB and power and plugged them back in. Still no lights on the modem and it was not recognized by the software. I tried swapping USB cables and ports to no avail. The power supply for the PC base modem showed 12.9 volts.
I'll be sending it in for repair or replacement on Monday. I'll report back and let you know how BEC service does now that I'll have a chance to use it.
Thanks,
Jack

Sorry to hear that Jack
Any chance of lightning related power surge from passing weather system? Or is it likely to be age related?
Regardless, look forward to hearing the customer support and speed at which your modem is fixed by BEC.

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by BlazinPond
Sorry to hear that Jack
Any chance of lightning related power surge from passing weather system? Or is it likely to be age related?
Regardless, look forward to hearing the customer support and speed at which your modem is fixed by BEC.
==================================
I don't know the cause. We did have a storm come through earlier in the week, but the modem power supply was plugged into the same UPS as the computer which was still up and running and had not rebooted. I guess it is possible that a lightening strike hit the antenna. However, the antenna mast is grounded and it is not as high as surrounding trees. There is no physical indication of a strike.
I'll let BEC determine why the failure occurred.
Thanks,
Jack

My wife shipped the unit to BEC and it was scheduled to arrive today. By 13:30 I had an email saying the unit was fried. By 14:30 I had the receipt for the new one hit my inbox.
The bad new is it was fried...BEC didn't find anything that was definitive as to why. Their thought was lightening as well or power surge, but given it was plugged into a UPS, the antenna mast is well grounded, no other electronic equipment hooked to other antennas on that mast failed, my X7D pc base modem hooked to another USB port on the same PC never skipped a beat, lightening and power surge don't seem to be highly likely causes but they are possible.
The good news....The price has gone down on the new one!
Thanks,
Jack

Gotta love a timely response! (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

FYI: A new X7D base software - beta version is available (1.7.1) on the BEC webpage - specific to Windows.

I really wish BEC would email users when updates are posted. I also wish they would post the additions and bug fixes within each update. I have requested this several times but so far nothing...maybe some day.
I installed 1.7.1 Last Wednesday and noticed nothing new so must be some backend stuff. No issues with it either. It's been a while sense a camera update so hopefully something soon with some good stuff. It's kind of crazy how long these cameras have been out without core/advertised features.

Quote:
==================================
Originally Posted by nyplotter
I really wish BEC would email users when updates are posted. I also wish they would post the additions and bug fixes within each update. I have requested this several times but so far nothing...maybe some day.
I installed 1.7.1 Last Wednesday and noticed nothing new so must be some backend stuff. No issues with it either. It's been a while sense a camera update so hopefully something soon with some good stuff. It's kind of crazy how long these cameras have been out without core/advertised features.
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Agreed plotter!

Quote:
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Originally Posted by nyplotter
I really wish BEC would email users when updates are posted. I also wish they would post the additions and bug fixes within each update. I have requested this several times but so far nothing...maybe some day.
I installed 1.7.1 Last Wednesday and noticed nothing new so must be some backend stuff. No issues with it either. It's been a while sense a camera update so hopefully something soon with some good stuff. It's kind of crazy how long these cameras have been out without core/advertised features.
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If you look at the updates for the Orion series, you will see an update history log. I just emailed Becky last week suggesting they put the same kind of update history on the web for the X7D.
I think developers think that users should always upgrade to the latest version. That makes their jobs easier. Users aren't bothering them with problems already fixed. In reality, smart users read the change log and decide if the fixes in a particular release are worth the risk you take when you upgrade something that is working well.
It is a good general practice, but it may also help sales. For example, I was waiting on two things before buying another X7D. 1) I'm upgrading my base camp antenna mast, and 2) BEC to fix the metadata in the X7D. As it happens, I was just poking around and found that they did fix the metadata in the last release of the PC base software. I wouldn't have know that otherwise and I may have been waiting for a fix that had already been done before buying another camera.
My new Orion PC base is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Once that is done, I'll start focusing on my base camp mast upgrade. I'll then get another X7D to deploy in the field.

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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
My wife shipped the unit to BEC and it was scheduled to arrive today. By 13:30 I had an email saying the unit was fried. By 14:30 I had the receipt for the new one hit my inbox.
The bad new is it was fried...BEC didn't find anything that was definitive as to why. Their thought was lightening as well or power surge, but given it was plugged into a UPS, the antenna mast is well grounded, no other electronic equipment hooked to other antennas on that mast failed, my X7D pc base modem hooked to another USB port on the same PC never skipped a beat, lightening and power surge don't seem to be highly likely causes but they are possible.
The good news....The price has gone down on the new one!
Thanks,
Jack
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I received the new PC Modem today and headed to the farm with it. I was afraid I would have to re-register all my cameras, but BEC said no. They told me it was plug-n-play and I'd just have to type in the new authorization code.
I powered it up and it lit up as it was supposed to, but when I plugged in the USB...nothing! I started scratching my head. Becky had mentioned that when they tried to test my unit, it would take down their USB hub. I tried swapping USB ports on the computer between my X7D base and Orion base and the X7D work on either port but the new Orion base would work on neither. Scratch head again....
I'm planning a base antenna mast upgrade soon, and I have been running both modems using 16' active USB cables for a test. Both have been running without issue for months. I swapped active USB cables and presto, the Orion base was up and running. Sure enough, the active USB cable was bad.
So, either the old PC modem hosed the active USB cable when it got fried, or the active USB cable went bad and fried the PC modem, or something external happened and fried them both.
Either way, everything is up and running now. All I had to do was type in the auth code and the base software did everything else.
It was about 18:15 when I got the system running again. There are lots of pictures stacked up on my cameras. I plan to let it run until about 21:00 and then shut it down and re-start it in the morning.
One lesson I learned is that when you transmit a back-log of pictures all night long, even if you start with a full battery, by morning cameras are often in low battery state. It is hard for the solar panel to catch back up and then before you know it, it is night again and you are in low battery status missing pictures.
If you get into a situation where terminal cameras are storing pictures in internal memory for a enough time to get a significant backup, it is better to restore the system in the morning when the solar panels will have a full day of sun to work off the backlog.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
One lesson I learned is that when you transmit a back-log of pictures all night long, even if you start with a full battery, by morning cameras are often in low battery state. It is hard for the solar panel to catch back up and then before you know it, it is night again and you are in low battery status missing pictures.
If you get into a situation where terminal cameras are storing pictures in internal memory for a enough time to get a significant backup, it is better to restore the system in the morning when the solar panels will have a full day of sun to work off the backlog.
Thanks,
Jack
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Great point Jack. Thanks for sharing. (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Jack, what's the best way to restore battery levels while still taking pictures? Or is it what you mentioned above? And do you just exit your BEC software in order to prevent any downloads during the night or is there another way you do it? I've got some batteries that after a couple months are getting in the 40% range.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
My wife shipped the unit to BEC and it was scheduled to arrive today. By 13:30 I had an email saying the unit was fried. By 14:30 I had the receipt for the new one hit my inbox.
The bad new is it was fried...BEC didn't find anything that was definitive as to why. Their thought was lightening as well or power surge, but given it was plugged into a UPS, the antenna mast is well grounded, no other electronic equipment hooked to other antennas on that mast failed, my X7D pc base modem hooked to another USB port on the same PC never skipped a beat, lightening and power surge don't seem to be highly likely causes but they are possible.
The good news....The price has gone down on the new one!
Thanks,
Jack
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We have had ground surge hit our old satellite dish. Meaning lightning hits miles away and there is a ground surge which hits the satellite. I'm no electrical expert but I've heard of it before on other equipment as well. Glad to see it is up and running again!

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Originally Posted by fiveyear
We have had ground surge hit our old satellite dish. Meaning lightning hits miles away and there is a ground surge which hits the satellite. I'm no electrical expert but I've heard of it before on other equipment as well. Glad to see it is up and running again!
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Yes, that is possible. The case against it is that other electronic equipment connected to antennas on the same mast was not impacted. That doesn't mean it could not have been the cause.
I'm back at the property today. I checked the system and most of the pictures backlog has been sent back. There were a couple cameras where the solar panel doesn't get great light. I did have to replace batteries on those units. I got part way done when thunderstorms started rolling through and I quit.
I have 4 heavy use cameras that go through a single routing camera. I have an unusual power setup for that camera. It actually gets charged at night rather than during the day. Kind of backward from what you would expect with solar panels, but it was the only way I could get sufficient power to it to handle the load.
This router cam's internal battery was down to 70% and the backup battery was at 100%. Since most of the pics are back, I plan to let this one alone and see if my system will recover it to 100%.
Thanks,
Jack

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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack, what's the best way to restore battery levels while still taking pictures? Or is it what you mentioned above? And do you just exit your BEC software in order to prevent any downloads during the night or is there another way you do it? I've got some batteries that after a couple months are getting in the 40% range.
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With the Orion, I track battery levels during night time (honest reading) and will hot swap a battery before it gets that low. Letting SLAs sit at low charge for long periods will shorten the lifespan.
The starting place is finding the right balance so batteries don't get to that state. (Again, I can't speak to the X7D specifically, mine is plugged into a charger). The key is finding the right combination of picture delay, resolution, and charging capacity. My Orions will run for over a year in some cases. I start be making sure I have a good solar panel setup with maximum sun exposure. I also try to maximize my signal levels the best I can. Next, I watch my battery trending. You can do this manually by checking the event log. Every time my Orions send a picture, the battery level is recorded in the event log. I ignore daytime values because if the solar panel has full sun, the reading will be artificially high. You have seen some of the battery trend plots I've posted. The levels will bounce around, but I want them to keep returning to 100% or close to it every few days. If the trend starts to go south, I change the programming.
When bucks are fully racked, I like to use 3 pic burst mode. This maximizes the chances of a good look at the rack. I found that some cameras can't keep up with that. So, I put them i single pic mode with a 1 second delay. My cameras are on small fields and trails, not bait, so I don't have deer linger overly long. I really want my full resolution, so I reduce my picture count rather than resolution when I need to reduce data to conserve power. For a heavy use router camera, I had to go to a 45 watt panel.
Right now there is now way other than disconnecting the base or exiting the software to stop cameras from transmitting while still taking pictures. I have sent an email to Sean suggesting they consider implementing a &quot;Daytime Transmit Only&quot; option that you can command individual cameras to from the base. This allows you to trade near real-time pictures for better power management.
Here is the theory. Say you start with a charged battery. Any solar panel energy collected is lost because your battery can not absorb it. Suddenly the base becomes available in the evening and your camera starts transmitting backlog. By morning your battery is low. The sun comes out and your panel starts charging the battery. Finally it gets enough charge to come out of low-battery status. Immediately it starts sending pictures from the backlog. It sends one or two and goes back into low battery status. It is this back and forth going in and out of low battery status that causes the problem. By nigh fall, you've only transmitted a few pics and you are collecting more pics. The only way out is a battery change and dumping pictures to the card.
On the other hand, if you start in the morning with full sun, the camera works off a lot of the backlog during the day and because most of the energy was coming from the panel it only drops a little. It then has all night starting with a full battery to work off the rest of the back log. So, I transmitted pictures for near 24-hours continuous rather than 12-hours the first night and just a few pics the next day.
Now keep in mind, this is a buffering issue. Your power comes from the sun and solar panel. If you picture load is greater than the amount of power coming in you will never catch up no matter what. Given you have more power coming in over time than energy consumed, you can catch up, but not if you overrun the capacity of your buffer (your battery). Because of the way the camera tries to stay-alive when a battery get low, once you get below a certain point with the battery it is almost impossible to recover give you have a picture backlog.
By the way, when I first started using my Orions, the batteries needed changed every few months. It was only after I improved the signal levels, solar panel light, and adjusted programming so that more energy was going in than going out that I started getting very long battery durations. It will likely take time for you to get things where you want them.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

OK I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a couple of these. I did get the ADSL line up and going.
So far I'm looking at the PC base with the added 40'' antenna.
2 XD7's with solar panels and security enclosures to start with.
I'm looking at keeping these first 2 cameras pretty close to the base. One a few hundred yards and one about a 1/2 mile over flat ground with few obstacles in the way.
Any thoughts on whether the 6dbi mini yagi antenna would be beneficial for this set up?
Thanks

Bill, I would without a doubt get the mini yaggis, price is right an they make a huge difference for me. Sink a treated 4x4 post or cedar tree post in ground (I use 16 foot) and put antenna as high as you can and screw it into post, and mount cam and solar panel on post as well with panel facing south or south west. If you have direct line of sight you should have 0 issues. You'd probably be fine with no yaggi but my reception was better with it and speed was a lot faster.

Jack, thanks so much for the detailed response, that reply belongs in my QDM folder! Very good information, I hadn't even thought about better signal ultimately effecting battery strength or that a bigger panel would charge fast (duh! but just never thought of that). At what point do you not let the batter % go less than? 30% or less or what? And, then, what do you do with the battery, do you charge it with an electric charger and then can it be used again? I wasn't quite sure. Also how do you program your Orion re. battery strength, I assume you can't do that with the X7D?

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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack, thanks so much for the detailed response, that reply belongs in my QDM folder! Very good information, I hadn't even thought about better signal ultimately effecting battery strength or that a bigger panel would charge fast (duh! but just never thought of that). At what point do you not let the batter % go less than? 30% or less or what? And, then, what do you do with the battery, do you charge it with an electric charger and then can it be used again? I wasn't quite sure. Also how do you program your Orion re. battery strength, I assume you can't do that with the X7D?
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Scrim,
The issue is not a specific point below which you don't want the battery to go. The key for long battery lifespan is not to let them sit at a low charge level for a long period. So, I look more a trend than at a hard level. If my batteries are below 60% for any length of time, I know I have an issue. For cameras that don't get good light on the solar panel, once I see the level dropping much below 50%, I'll swap batteries. The Orions allow you to hot-swap batteries. I'm not sure that is possible with the X7D. It is a huge advantage. The Orion will go into &quot;low-battery-status&quot; when the battery level gets too low. It stops taking pictures and transmitting and simply uses the remaining power to retain the picture memory. You can go to the camera, hot-swap a battery, and then save your pictures to an SD card or allow them to transmit. I have not played with my X7D enough to see if that is possible.
I keep a bank of extra batteries on smart chargers. They come with the Orion, but you have to buy them extra with the X7D. BEC actually has a pretty good price on these. When not in use, always keep your SLA batteries plugged into a smart charger.
SLA batteries can be recharged many times. You can either drain them deeply and recharge them fewer times or put a shallow drain on them and recharge them more times. If I don't get into a situation where a battery sits for a week or two at a low level, most SLAs are lasting me a little over 2 years with my Orions.
I'm not sure what you mean by programming the Orion relative to battery strength. You may have misunderstood my previous post. The idea is to program the picture taking capability (resolution, delay between pictures, etc) so that less energy is used to take and transmit pictures than can be provided by the solar panel in a good day of sun. This is trial and error and changes over time as the sun moves through the season. Once you find the sweet spot, the camera can run unattended for over a year.
Thanks,
Jack

Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billb66
OK I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a couple of these. I did get the ADSL line up and going.
So far I'm looking at the PC base with the added 40'' antenna.
2 XD7's with solar panels and security enclosures to start with.
I'm looking at keeping these first 2 cameras pretty close to the base. One a few hundred yards and one about a 1/2 mile over flat ground with few obstacles in the way.
Any thoughts on whether the 6dbi mini yagi antenna would be beneficial for this set up?
Thanks
==================================
What kind of antenna are you talking about putting on the base?

Quote:
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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
What kind of antenna are you talking about putting on the base?
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The only upgrade I saw listed for the base was the
40&quot; High Gain Omni Directional Base Antenna
Total gain with this antenna is 8dbi.
We have a 30 foot antenna tower that used to hold an old TV antenna before lightning got it. I thought I'd figure out how to get it up there.

Is your antenna tower located in the middle of the property you plan to monitor or on a corner?

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billb66
The only upgrade I saw listed for the base was the
40&quot; High Gain Omni Directional Base Antenna
Total gain with this antenna is 8dbi.
We have a 30 foot antenna tower that used to hold an old TV antenna before lightning got it. I thought I'd figure out how to get it up there.
==================================
When I purchased the X7D base, I did not get the 40&quot; High gain Omni that was listed as an accessory for an additional 299.00. Unless I find a better antenna option, I will likely purchase the upgrade base antenna you listed above to improve my overall speed.
FYI: My base is in the corner as opposed to in the middle of my property.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
Is your antenna tower located in the middle of the property you plan to monitor or on a corner?
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Both (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
The layout is very similar to an &quot;L&quot; shape and the antenna is in the corner of the L. Initially the layout is just 2 cams inside of 1/2 mile.
Down the line I would like to get more cameras and up to 1 mile on one of the legs and about 1 3/4 miles on the other. I'm sure I'll need a repeater for that leg.
Thanks Blazin,
Sorry if it's been covered but another question. Is the antenna cable just standard RG cable? Thier cables seem a bit pricey

Quote:
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Originally Posted by BlazinPond
When I purchased the X7D base, I did not get the 40&quot; High gain Omni that was listed as an accessory for an additional 299.00. Unless I find a better antenna option, I will likely purchase the upgrade base antenna you listed above to improve my overall speed.
FYI: My base is in the corner as opposed to in the middle of my property.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billb66
Both (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
The layout is very similar to an &quot;L&quot; shape and the antenna is in the corner of the L. Initially the layout is just 2 cams inside of 1/2 mile.
Down the line I would like to get more cameras and up to 1 mile on one of the legs and about 1 3/4 miles on the other. I'm sure I'll need a repeater for that leg.
Thanks Blazin,
Sorry if it's been covered but another question. Is the antenna cable just standard RG cable? Thier cables seem a bit pricey
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Blazin,
The omni antenna is not the best choice if your base is on the corner of your property. A yagi may be a better bet.
This is not RG6 like you use for TV. Yes BEC prices are high for antennas and cable and I buy mine from L-COM. The only trick is making sure you get the right connectors and cable series for the length of your cable run. You don't have to worry about this if you buy from BEC as they will make sure you get the right stuff.
Bill,
If you mean the outer corner of the L, you might consider a low gain yagi as well. If you are talking about the inner corner, then the omni may be a better fit.
---
In general, a high gain yagi gets it gain by moving it from behind the antenna to in front of it. You point these antennas. Here is an example of the antenna pattern for a 9db yagi:

You can see, that if your cameras are all located within about 54 degrees of the base, this 9db antenna will work pretty well. It will run you a little over $30.
A high gain Omni-directional antenna gets its gain by moving it from above and below the antenna. The antenna pattern for this looks like a donut. You can get an 8db omni for about $125.
So, if your cameras are located in that 54 degree angle, you can get roughly the same gain (1 db more) for less than 30% of the cost of the omni.
When working with yagi antennas, there is a trade off between gain and beam width. Here is an example of a 14 db yagi antenna pattern:

Notice that your cameras need to be within about a 30 degree angle but you get significantly more gain.
My philosophy with the Orions (Have not played with the X7D enough to say), is to start with what comes with the unit and try it. If I can get away with spending less, I will. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to test the Orion series before I bought mine. I used the standard base antenna and the standard antennas that came with the camera. I drove a round my property with an ATV and a 5' antenna mast and a camera. I would point the antenna and test the signal level. Once I had that information and saw what kinds of vegetation were an issue and what was not, I started buying bigger antennas where I need them.
So, you may or may not want to use an omni directional antenna on your base depending on the situation. If the basic antenna that comes with each camera gets some but not full signal to the base, you will always benefit from a high gain yagi. The higher gain the larger the physical antenna will be and the more critical it will be to point it accurately at the base, but beam width is not an issue since you are pointing it at one place (the base).
Hope this helps,
Jack

Extremely helpful Jack - thanks so much! (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
I will start looking at Yagi antenna for sure.

A pic of my first X7D cam setup w/ solar panel and lock box - not an optimal position of the solar panel but works nonetheless. Hope to put out the other three X7D cams next weekend.

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Originally Posted by yoderj@cox.net
Hope this helps,
Jack
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Yes it did. Thank you.
I sold connectors and cable assemblies for 25 years. Once I get a look at them I'm sure I can figure out just what I need. Don't have a lot of experience in RF and coax but enough to build a signal cable.(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Jack, got a new question for you although I know you're not as quite familiar with the 7D's yet...I have one camera that takes day time pics great but now all night time pics are complete black out pictures (all black). Any thoughts or just send it back?

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Originally Posted by Billb66
Yes it did. Thank you.
I sold connectors and cable assemblies for 25 years. Once I get a look at them I'm sure I can figure out just what I need. Don't have a lot of experience in RF and coax but enough to build a signal cable.(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
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I just bought a yagi and 400-series cable for future use with my X7D. Here are the part numbers:
HG913Y-NF
CA4NMRSF075
If you look them up on the L-Com site, you can see what conectors are used.
I've done lot of ad hoc cable work, but I have found it is best not to do it yourself with the 400 series cable. I had an animal chew through a cable in the field. I mentioned this to Scrim previously. I got all the proper tools and connectors and repaired the cable. I tried several times but could never get the same signal levels as with a factory cable. I eventually gave up repairing and bought a new cable.
Just a thought on DYI when it comes to 400 series cables.
Thanks,
Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
Jack, got a new question for you although I know you're not as quite familiar with the 7D's yet...I have one camera that takes day time pics great but now all night time pics are complete black out pictures (all black). Any thoughts or just send it back?
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There are a lot of possibilities. I'd send it back and let BEC look at it, but here are some thoughts.
1) Day night sensor - If this goes bad and is reporting daylight when it is dark, the camera would use the wrong lens trying to take color pictures at night. (You can check the log to see if what light levels are being reported.
2) The IR flash is not working. You can check this using a video camera. Simply walk test your camera at night and video tape it. You video camera will pick-up the black flash.
3) There is a problem with the image sensor. The logo and time stamp are applied after the picture is taken. If you don't get these on the picture the problem is not with the flash.
Thanks,
Jack

Thanks Jack, I'm sending it back, BEC has exceptional customer service, they're sending me a replacement cam and I'll just ship mine back.

Yes, they are very good that way. Do follow through with them on the issue and report back to us. There are not enough of these X7Ds out there yet for me to assess if the reliability is as high as with the Orion series.
Thanks,
Jack

Most definitely...you called it when they first came out and you see it everywhere in every product...sometimes the kinks just have to be worked out. I'm sure getting cams like this more than anything allows them to figure out what the problems are so they don't happen again so they can sell product and test them in the real world at the same time. Win win as long as they don't mess up too much...but as I told them, I love mine and although I've had a couple issues, the others were working flawlessly so far.

Ouch..
I just joined the club.
Buckeye said about a week or two to ship so I should be question free till then(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Congrats! The nice thing about BEC is that the wallet-Ouch at purchase time is followed by years of ahhhhhh....(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billb66
Ouch..
I just joined the club.
Buckeye said about a week or two to ship so I should be question free till then(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
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which one you go with the orion or the x7d??
bryan

Quote:
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Originally Posted by bbarrett
which one you go with the orion or the x7d?
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Starting with 2 X7D's. If I can get them running through the ADSL line so I can check them from home there will be more on order(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)

5% discount if you sign up with BEC through their website (free registration) anytime...add 15% discount through June 16th for Father's Day special their having...if you're going to get a cam now's the time although it seems they do run specials occasionally, 20% is a pretty hefty discount. BEC needs to hire me as their QDMA spokesperson(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED) But I guess good products sell themselves.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by scrimshaw33
add 15% discount through June 16th for Father's Day special their having...if you're going to get a cam now's the time
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Hew Scrim,
Where did you find this info? I can't find anything on the net about it. I am signed up with BEC. Give me the info and I'll call and ask for the discount since they haven't shipped yet.
Thanks

Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billb66
Hew Scrim,
Where did you find this info? I can't find anything on the net about it. I am signed up with BEC. Give me the info and I'll call and ask for the discount since they haven't shipped yet.
Thanks
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buydadbec
...is the code.
I got it via email and Facebook.
Coupled w/ the 5% BEC website club discount, 20% is the only time i place my orders (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/B...id=QL7052Un4B8

Quote:
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Originally Posted by BlazinPond
buydadbec
...is the code.
I got it via email and Facebook.
Coupled w/ the 5% BEC website club discount, 20% is the only time i place my orders (INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/B...id=QL7052Un4B8
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how do you combine the codes?
I got the 15%.. havent found the extra 5% one..