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I just picked up a spypoint cellular trail cam. It's the link-S solar powered camera.
It powered up long enough for me to get it activated and take three test pictures. Now its powered off.
I've tried putting in conventional batteries - still dead.
When I try the USB charger, it is supposed to show the charging level on the screen - but it doesn't.
Anyone have any experience with these?
Hey Werner, contact whitetails crossing Collingwood ont. he's usually pretty good with support/spypoint dealer
That would be member "tracer"... helped me when I had issues.Quote:
Originally Posted by bdog
Yep, I've had good dealings with himQuote:
Originally Posted by Doug
PM'd tracer. Spypoint tech support got back to me - they said:
It is recommended to recharge the battery via USB on a computer, since phone chargers or wall chargers sometimes push too much or too little output. The computer should be active and not in screensaver / sleep mode. You will know it’s fully charged because you’ll see the “INT” indicator turn green when you power on the camera. Doing so should allow the camera to reboot and power on normally.
So I need to leave his hooked up to my laptop for 24-48 hours?
Still no answer on why the AA batteries won't work.
Not really an explanation; but some advice on batteries. https://www.trailcampro.com/pages/ga...ry-information
Co-incidentally a buddy at work was telling me of a Spypoint he has never gotten to work... he is going to bring it in so we can try to figure out the issue.
Interesting note on alkalines there - "To summarize, alkaline batteries are cheap and available everywhere, but provide inconsistent power and don’t work well in the cold, not to mention they are extremely unreliable. To be more blunt,, we hate alkaline batteries. They are the source of many "trail camera problems."Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug
- skypoint recommends Alkalines - and they recommend NOT using rechargables of any kind.
I exchanged the unit and the new one seems to work - except for the feature where you disconnect/reconnect the charging cord - it is supposed to show that it is charging and the percentage charged. This feature sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. For an expensive camera ($550 including tax) - this has all the quality of something built in someone's basement from scrap parts.
Had a problem with mine when it went dead because I had it sending pics each detection..which requires a separate power source. Would not recharge..was told that I needed to release residual energy by leaving over night in total darkness..took charge next day work good ever since. I was told it stops working at 75 - 80% battery..I have the solar model
Just an update so I had the camera sending me pictures just once a day and it still went dead and wouldn't take a charge tried the residual energy thing still no charge they sent me a new one so let's see how this works
That's strange it would stop at 75%. I have mine set to send every 4 hours and it stays at 92%. But I am getting a disappointingly low number of pictures. I set up a second camera at the same place - the low number of pictures is because there are not a lot of deer. The spypoint and the second camera (bushnell) got the same animals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Camp Red Maple
Werner,
So now that the season is coming to a close, any review of the spypoint cellular trail cam?
It seems that you had to exchange a camera (not good manufacturing wise), can you give some pros and cons?
What network does it use? 4g?LTE?
How is the performance?
W.
I can give you my 2 cents. I have 2 cameras both with external antennas and power source (fish finder batteries and a 25 watt solar panel).
Transmitted pics are low resolution to save data use.. you need to be close for night pics and good light for long day pics. SD will have the good pics. You can download a app to check cell signal..2 bars minimum. There is challenges as cell service is not good in my area. I am happy with what they do give me and with more fine tuning it is going to help me be in the right place at the right time to feed my freezer.
Camp RM,
Thank you, that is what sort of review I was looking for. Considering getting 2 for the future.
W.
Put the camera out again this fall - worked great for four weeks, then quit transmitting.
Can't get in touch with spypoint.
Still takes photos, shows it's connected to the 4G network but no photos are being transmitted.
Much of my time at work is spent troubleshooting comms equipment.
This is not my idea of something fun to do in my spare time.
I guess I'll be going back to using my 12 year old Bushnell which never had a problem in its life.
Thanks, was looking at them, this pretty much makes up my mind.
I thought I heard there was a software change to go to a new platform or service provider.
I havent updated or hooked mine up this year to confirm
Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk
Daughters BF had issue with his 1 year old Spypoint we emailed following address ([email protected]) they walked us few a few things such as battery, signal and card, in end they asked us to send camera back and send them tracking number. 2 hours after supplying tracking number they emailed to say they had sent out a replacement along with a know working SD card they said they would supply. Good Service all round.Quote:
Originally Posted by werner.reiche
Bought a link evo last October that work flawlessly. I spent the money and put good lithium batteries in. It sent pictures till the end of May before it went dead. Put it back out 3 weeks ago and its worked perfectly. Cant say enough about these cameras. Definitely getting at least 2 more this year.
The fact that it works for a month before dying indicates to me that it would be related to batteries not providing enough power for the transmission but still enough to take pictures. The easy way to test is to put brand new batteries in after it fails again. No matter what brand of camera it is, they will all work better with lithium batteries, much longer lasting and far better function in the cold. Plus their power curve is much better, straight across right till the end and then a sudden drop in power.
Cheers
everybody out there using cameras should be educating themselves on using 18650 lithium rechargeable batteries. There is a learning curve but the batteries can be gotten for FREE. I get all mine from discarded lap top batteries. rip apart the plastic case and inside you will find the 18650's.Quote:
Originally Posted by smitty55
These batteries can be installed in a 3 pack battery holder and 3 batteries will give 12.6 volts. Most are 2000mAh or more .. up to 3000 if you get the right ones. These can be used as an auxiliary battery pack to keep your cameras running for a very long time. I run everything on these batteries now. flashlights, headlamps, game cameras, my bear scent dispensers, moose decoys, etc etc. I have almost totally cut the umbilical cord from the battery manufacturers. Now when I go to Costco I have more food in the cart then batteries!
here's the modifications to my cameras. I have 12 of these cameras. I run 30 sec videos at all bear baits. The 2 internal batteries and the 2 batt external auxiliary pack got me 5 weeks before I needed a batteries change. 30 sec night videos can eat up a lot of batteries. The money I saved on AA's was huge. Absolutely huge!
Attachment 39030 Attachment 39031
Apparently I need a firmware update. They have my email address. Why would you not email out a notice rather than have all your existing client base have to call your help desk wondering what was wrong. SPYPOINT doesn't have their own help desk. They use Zendesk and the people there don't know anything about the cameras or even basic electronics other than what is in the documentation provided by spypoint. The first guy I contacted (email) said I had to take it back to the retailer (its over a year old). The second guy (email again) insisted that it was out of warranty - its a 2 year warranty - and that I need to ship it back to spypoint to get it repaired. No attempt at troubleshooting. The third guy I spoke with over the phone. He said there was a bulletin about a firmware update. To do that they need to configure something online so that the camera will update the firmware. First attempt at this, the download failed and it won't retry again until I have them set it up again to retry.Quote:
Originally Posted by chesapeake
Link-S has solar rechargeable battery. Right now they are at 91%. Backup alkalines are at 100%.Quote:
Originally Posted by smitty55
I'll replace the alkalines.
New batteries and firmware upgraded. You can do it by downloading the firmware to the sd card, putting the SD card in the camera and holding the menu button while turning the camera on. None of that is included in the latest version of the operator's guide - the word "firmware" isn't even mentioned. Anyway - will try setting it out on Friday. Still more than a little bummed that a $500 camera will have been offline for the first three weeks of deer season.