SpyPoint Link Micro

[timoub007]

Received my Link Micro in the mail this week.
The good, it powered up and seemed to catch a cell signal rather quickly.
The not so good, 8 rechargeable Tenergy batteries would not fit in the battery compartment. They are slightly larger diameter and pushing the last one in on each side just pops another one out. Also, the 12 volt inlet on the backside is not marked with polarity.
How are folks running these on rechargeables and/or an external battery and solar setup?

I won't put it out in the field until next weekend so if I cannot figure out the 12 volt/rechargeable situation I may just throw a set of lithium batteries in it for the first trial set.

T

[texan4ut]

Received my Link Micro in the mail this week.
The good, it powered up and seemed to catch a cell signal rather quickly.
The not so good, 8 rechargeable Tenergy batteries would not fit in the battery compartment. They are slightly larger diameter and pushing the last one in on each side just pops another one out. Also, the 12 volt inlet on the backside is not marked with polarity.
How are folks running these on rechargeables and/or an external battery and solar setup?

I won't put it out in the field until next weekend so if I cannot figure out the 12 volt/rechargeable situation I may just throw a set of lithium batteries in it for the first trial set.

T

That's the problem I have. I finally got the batteries in but really have to hold the one on one end then force to one in on the other. I am using EBL 2800mah I buy off of Amazon. I put non rechargeable batteries in and they fit. My 12 volt box is coming today. The one that is posted on this thread from Walmart. So far it is working fine. For 120.00 bucks I wasn't expecting perfection. I will add I have three Coverts 2 Blackhawks 1 Code Black they are nothing special and cost way more money.

[timoub007]

That's the problem I have. I finally got the batteries in but really have to hold the one on one end then force to one in on the other. I am using EBL 2800mah I buy off of Amazon. I put non rechargeable batteries in and they fit. My 12 volt box is coming today. The one that is posted on this thread from Walmart. So far it is working fine. For 120.00 bucks I wasn't expecting perfection. I will add I have three Coverts 2 Blackhawks 1 Code Black they are nothing special and cost way more money.

I dug around the house through all of the old chargers and adapters that I have saved from old cell phones and gadgets (I know that I'm not the only packrat around here). Well I found a plug on a 110 volt adapter for some old kid's toy that seemed to fit in the socket on the back well. I hooked it up to a 12 volt battery and determined which wire would put the positive on the center and negative on the outside of the plug. Not knowing if this was correct I decided to give it a try and risk my $100. Well I guessed correctly, the center is positive.

I also determined that it will fire up while plugged in to the external 12 volt battery with the internal battery tray removed. Another win! So I will build out a small project box from a $4 plastic ammo can I got from Harbour Freight to contain the battery and charge controller I bought off Amazon. I ordered three large solar panels that included a charge controller with each and was surprised by how much larger than a typical "feeder" solar panel is. These are rated at 20 watts where it seems most of the "feeder" panels are only 5 watts. These were $40 each, so a much better value than the smaller ones in my mind.

I have not activated the app and actually started my free 30 days of unlimited pictures so I won't know if I have a winner or a flop until late next week. I'll be able to monitor the performance for 3 days though so if its subpar I can bring it back home with me next Sunday.

I'll report back to add my experience to this thread next weekend.

T

[bswift355]

After to many hours to count on the phone with spypoint customer service I just sent both my cameras in. From conversations I have had with them and my own experience, there are just too many bugs in their platform at the moment. I have had issues with too many false trigger photos, cameras not taking firmware updates, and my photo count not starting over at the beginning of the month. With all the time I wasted on these it would have been cheaper to get a covert. Hopefully when the cameras come back they are sorted out, but I'm not holding my breath.

[marshman]

After to many hours to count on the phone with spypoint customer service I just sent both my cameras in. From conversations I have had with them and my own experience, there are just too many bugs in their platform at the moment. I have had issues with too many false trigger photos, cameras not taking firmware updates, and my photo count not starting over at the beginning of the month. With all the time I wasted on these it would have been cheaper to get a covert. Hopefully when the cameras come back they are sorted out, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sorry to hear they haven’t worked out.
Just curious though what kind of signal did you have where you put them?

[timoub007]

I will be returning mine next week.

I tried many times Thursday and Friday to get the camera to connect with the cellular network but the little lights kept flashing and flashing until it timed out each attempt. I believe only one time that it connected, but when I set the picture transmit time in the app to a time in the near future it never sent me any. I set it for an hour or so different thinking that maybe it was a time zone issue and still nadda. This was at the camp where we have good cell signal and both of my AT&T phones were not having any issues.

So I don't have time to deal with this and will bring it back home to return it next week. Maybe I should have tried it at home first to see if it needed some updates from the web or something like that.

Tim

[drop dead fred]

Got mine on the Academy sale, ($107) and just set it up yesterday. I got the Verizon specific model and found you can't add them to Verizon like my Spartan cam and you HAVE to use Spypoint SIM card and plans. I was pretty disappointed in that but I did find that clearly stated after I went back and looked at the specs again, so that is on me. I got the firmware updated (took several times) and found that you can't use a MICRO SD card that is bigger than 32GB as stated either. I got the online profile set up and the app installed on my phone. Very limited settings but very easy to set up. I did notice after I changed the password they provided, the app would not connect to the camera until I did forgot pw and reset it. I set it on the table and left it on and started getting pictures soon. There is a delay, even if you have it set to send on every pic. I left it on the counter overnight and got up this morning to 1500+ pictures. The only thing I can think is that the ceiling fan triggered the camera all night as there is NOTHING in the picture. I turned down the sensitivity to low and left on the counter in the same spot and it has only sent 8 pictures since 6am this morning but don't see anything that triggered it. Will turn off fan and test again. I purchased a NON Spypoint wireless antenna that I tried to connect in place of the regular antenna to see if signal is better when out in the woods, but the connection is wrong even after I asked SP customer service. The customer service is bad. They are really not very helpful and very short and rude. I will let this go for a while and will put out at lease this weekend. I don't anticipate any reception issues as I am pretty close to towers on both of my leases but will have to see when I get it out there. I will update later.

Post #28

[timoub007]

I made $20 returning the camera today. I guess the girl at customer service either did not see or did not care about the $20 coupon code that was applied to the order. So whoever is having trouble like I did, Academy may pay you $20 for your waisted time like they did me.

[Roscoe]

I made $20 returning the camera today. I guess the girl at customer service either did not see or did not care about the $20 coupon code that was applied to the order. So whoever is having trouble like I did, Academy may pay you $20 for your waisted time like they did me.

You’d got paid a little for time wasted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[KLAPPER]

I've been using 2 of them for a couple weeks without a single issue, I have them wired to 12v and it sends me pics everytime something comes in and I love it. I did set my sensitivity to low because I was getting a bunch of nothing pics.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Sackett]

I've had mine set up at the house for 2 weeks and they've worked flawlessly. One of the guys in our Elk hunting group headed up this weekend to scout and I gave him the camera to put at a water hole that has a signal. We'll see if it works as well there.

[KNP16]

I've had mine set up at the house for 2 weeks and they've worked flawlessly. One of the guys in our Elk hunting group headed up this weekend to scout and I gave him the camera to put at a water hole that has a signal. We'll see if it works as well there.

Mine have been working fine as well. I went ahead and bought a higher strength antenna from Amazon to help boost the signal at the deer lease (13 bucks compared to theirs at 70). But currently it shows 0/5 signal and still transmits pictures. I'm hoping if I can get better signal it will transmit more throughout the day. We'll see if it works when it comes in.

[texan4ut]

Mine are working too. I did the update per their instructions. I will be trying them at the lease next week. KNP16 which antenna did you buy?

[KNP16]

Mine are working too. I did the update per their instructions. I will be trying them at the lease next week. KNP16 which antenna did you buy?

Here it is.

https://www.amazon.com/TECHTOO-Antenna-Connector-Wireless-Extender/dp/B00NV807XS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=36OUI395LD0VS&keywords=techtoo+9dbi+omni+wifi+antenna+with+rp-sma+connector+for+wireless&qid=1565113484&s=gateway&sprefix=techtoo%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-3

[drbonner]

What is the least amount of service that will transmit pics? I’m testing mine at work and trying to figure this out. 2 bars? 3? What are y’all seeing?