Spypoint cellular trail cam - not working

[werner.reiche]

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?

[bdog]

Hey Werner, contact whitetails crossing Collingwood ont. he's usually pretty good with support/spypoint dealer

[Doug]

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.

[bdog]

That would be member "tracer"... helped me when I had issues.

Yep, I've had good dealings with him

[werner.reiche]

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.

[Doug]

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.

[werner.reiche]

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."

- 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.

[Camp Red Maple]

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

[Camp Red Maple]

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

[werner.reiche]

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

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.