Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Cuddelink

I have 4 J cameras. I ordered the solar panels for all my cameras due to the terrible battery life. This is a joke on cuddeback imo. They should include the solar units or battery packs with these cameras at first purchase. Basically setting people up to break their camera budget. My wife's pissed she seen I spent another 200 on solar panels when I already have 800 into cameras.
 
I am using the newer ones that take AA batteries
Make sure you have the latest firmware installed in the camera - that can make a big difference in battery life
 
Nozzle, thanks for responding. The solar panels for G cameras are not out yet. So my only option is the external battery packs right now. But I agree, they should not be selling the cameras without one of these. What good is a radio signal camera system if I have to go change 4 D batteries every 28 days?! Its like going back in time to the Capture cameras. I cannot imagine how many batteries I'd go thru if I had a camera on a food plot.

gunrunr, I talked to Cuddeback and they confirmed that I have the lastest firmware. I also asked if they have any in the works for longer battery life and they said no.
 
I am using the newer ones that take AA batteries
Make sure you have the latest firmware installed in the camera - that can make a big difference in battery life
 
bs4u00 said:
Nozzle, thanks for responding. The solar panels for G cameras are not out yet. So my only option is the external battery packs right now. But I agree, they should not be selling the cameras without one of these. What good is a radio signal camera system if I have to go change 4 D batteries every 28 days?! Its like going back in time to the Capture cameras. I cannot imagine how many batteries I'd go thru if I had a camera on a food plot.

gunrunr, I talked to Cuddeback and they confirmed that I have the lastest firmware. I also asked if they have any in the works for longer battery life and they said no.
Click to expand...



Bummer, is your signal strength low on camera connections? Might benefit from having one up on higher ground to pickup signal and send on to Home unit.
 
No, signal is good most of the time. One camera is funneling all pics to the home unit and is .3 miles away from home unit on flat land, so I would expect it go thru batteries quicker. But the other cameras are only 110-192 yds apart with little elevation difference, and I would expect their batteries to last much longer.
 
gunrunr said:
Bummer, is your signal strength low on camera connections? Might benefit from having one up on higher ground to pickup signal and send on to Home unit.
Click to expand...

Signal strengths are all 70+. 4 cameras on a 20 acre parcel all flat land half wooded half ag. The big key with extending battery life is image delay set to 15sec, pic quality 5mp, cl delay 1hr. Just changing those settings have made my batteries last longer. Still a joke for how the batteries don't last tho. Once I get these solar panels and rechargeable batteries I'll be set. Just wish they wouldve offered this stuff from the beginning but it's all just to tie you into their product.
 
When I ran just 4 J cams with AA's I got around 45 days for battery life. I figured I could triple that by adding the 6D battery pack. Either way a $50 solar panel eliminates all of this and pays for itself rather quickly. It's my understanding there is a solar upgrade coming soon that will allow the solar panels to work on D battery cams.

I'm currently running 4 J cams with solar panels and 1 Cell cam which is my home running D batteries. Waiting to upgrade this to solar. It is holding strong though for being a home cell cam with 6 D batteries in it.
 
bs4u00 said:
No, signal is good most of the time. One camera is funneling all pics to the home unit and is .3 miles away from home unit on flat land, so I would expect it go thru batteries quicker. But the other cameras are only 110-192 yds apart with little elevation difference, and I would expect their batteries to last much longer.
Click to expand...


Yeah the best option is to go with solar panels and rechargeable batteries. It's sad but that's what you gotta do to run a system like this. Just think how shitty the batteries would be in cold weather.
 
jjohnson said:
When I ran just 4 J cams with AA's I got around 45 days for battery life. I figured I could triple that by adding the 6D battery pack. Either way a $50 solar panel eliminates all of this and pays for itself rather quickly. It's my understanding there is a solar upgrade coming soon that will allow the solar panels to work on D cams.

I'm currently running 4 J cams with solar panels and 1 Cell cam which is my home running D batteries. Waiting to upgrade this to solar. It is holding strong though for being a home cell cam with 6 D batteries in it.
Click to expand...

Is the goal to face those panels to the north with a decent tilt for rain and snow runoff?
 
IMG_20180714_102800.jpg
Great picture quality for 5mp.
 
Thanks for all of the responses. I will change my cameras today to a delay of 15 sec. I left them on the factory settings for resolution and CL Delay, but I will look to see that they are set to 5MP and CL Delay 1 hr.

Nozzle, yes, I agree. I cannot imagine what battery life will be when the temps dip in winter. Here in WI, they are cold and I run cameras until antlers drop.

I will give some consideration to the $70 per solar panel/camera when they come out, supposedly coming out in October. But why face them to the North? The sun is to the South.

As Nozzle pointed out, picture quality is great, even at night. Little to no blurriness. Another great improvement, at least with the G-series camera, is they don't repeatedly take pics when grass is blowing in front of them. I really like this improvement. But I also want people to know that, if they get this system, they'll go thru dozens, even hundreds, of batteries or many $ in solar panels.
 
So guys- all the info. Fantastic!!!

To boil this down.... to get their newest technology that’s the “best” model they offer (say price irrelevant) & if guy wanted cell cam option....

1) 1 home base per farm like pictured here that has Verizon plan

2) which cams again are “best” that work with this?

3) solar panels and what else???? (Don’t need sticks or camera safes- just functional cams). What else needed???


Was at buckhollow today and boyd is a great help & wanted to make sure I had this right from all u guys around Midwest who may have experience so far.

Verizon home base, xyz model cams???, solar stuff???


Any help appreciated to speed up and do this correctly with best stuff & least amount of issues and headaches. Thx!!!!

040c4375228cb7acb78b17183e7bc2b4.jpg
 
Sligh1 said:
So guys- all the info. Fantastic!!!

To boil this down.... to get their newest technology that’s the “best” model they offer (say price irrelevant) & if guy wanted cell cam option....

1) 1 home base per farm like pictured here that has Verizon plan
Correct. You sign up for the cell plan with Cuddeback. Cuddeback takes care of all the interactions with Verizon. At least this is how I understand it.

2) which cams again are “best” that work with this?
If you are thinking you want to get solar panels, then go with the J cameras. For the G cameras, they are only getting 250 solar panels and they are pretty much spoken for already. J cameras are also best for battery life if you do not get the solar panels.

3) solar panels and what else???? (Don’t need sticks or camera safes- just functional cams). What else needed???
The only other thing you need are SD cards.

Was at buckhollow today and boyd is a great help & wanted to make sure I had this right from all u guys around Midwest who may have experience so far.

Verizon home base, xyz model cams???, solar stuff???


Any help appreciated to speed up and do this correctly with best stuff & least amount of issues and headaches. Thx!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Sligh1 said:
So guys- all the info. Fantastic!!!

To boil this down.... to get their newest technology that’s the “best” model they offer (say price irrelevant) & if guy wanted cell cam option....

1) 1 home base per farm like pictured here that has Verizon plan

2) which cams again are “best” that work with this?

3) solar panels and what else???? (Don’t need sticks or camera safes- just functional cams). What else needed???


Was at buckhollow today and boyd is a great help & wanted to make sure I had this right from all u guys around Midwest who may have experience so far.

Verizon home base, xyz model cams???, solar stuff???


Any help appreciated to speed up and do this correctly with best stuff & least amount of issues and headaches. Thx!!!!

040c4375228cb7acb78b17183e7bc2b4.jpg
Click to expand...

I would buy 4pks of the J series IR cams. Best flash and reasonable priced. $750ish/4pk.

Put a solar panel on each of those cams. It will include batteries etc. $60ish/panel. Those cams will be ready to go.

Then you need a cell base. I went with a G No-Flash cam but see they will be offering an IR version that has cell capability. Model G-5109... I figured because it's cellular I may as well add another camera rather than just a cell base that doesnt take pics. Cell cam roughly $400. Cell base roughly $150 I believe.

Here's where it gets tricky. The cell cam and cell base take D batteries so the solar panel won't work until you get the conversion. Shop on their website will show model #s and pics of all of this.

Also everything cellular is currently out of stock. I think mid Oct was when 2nd shipment would arrive. Have not talked to rep for awhile so this may have changed.

I pay $40/month unlimited pics. This is 1 cell cam that is linked. I believe you would pay another $40/month to setup another cell cam. Say like 2 farms. Still reasonable considering you could like 16 cams on each plan.

Hope this helps Skip.
 
So.... if u get the J cams- “no cell cap”. “Can’t use for cellular”. My ? Is this..... could u run, say, 8 of the J cams and get ONE G cam that has the cellular? All 8 of the J’s going to that one G cam. Would this work?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom