After reading a lot of threads and posts on trial cameras I thought I would post the following in the attempt to help someone troubleshoot some common problems with different trail cameras. Although there are a lot of different trail cameras on the market they share many common problems that can be fixed in much the same way.I am not an engineer or technical expert and there are probably people on here much more knowledgable than I and maybe they will post up. I am just a guy who has spent a lot of hours reading about, building and buying home brews, video cameras and just about every brand of trail camera on the market since the old 35mm that could only take 36 pics!!!! I have experienced just about every issue someone could have at some point in time with all cameras . Just to note I am now using the smaller cameras exclusively. Are they the best cameras on the market ? Probably not but to me they are the mid range camera that do what I want them to do without either being very expensive or a very low end camera. Since I started using the following as my guidelines I have eliminated all most all of my problems. If I do encounter a problem it is usually about now and is due to the heat. As soon as the weather cools down my problem percentage drops to almost zero. Just to let you know I run 5 cameras and average about 10,000-12000 pics a week.
First of all, if you have a problem getting the camera to turn on or off right out of the box, its obvious this is probably a faulty camera provided you have checked and double checked the power source(make sure your batteries are new and of good quality preferably lithium and that they are inserted in camera correctly).
Once the camera is turned on and the display becomes functional, the settings can be adjusted. If the settings cannot be seen and set or the display is not readable then this is also a sign of a faulty camera.
Most problems do not occur right out of the box but I have certainly had some that did and it was simply returned or replaced.
I know the above seems obvious to a lot of trail cam users but this thread is also for those new users so bear with me.
Assuming everything seems to be working properly you can either test it at home or head to the woods
Begin by using a high quality SD card. There is a lot of debate on this subject but just like other products you get what you pay for. Sure some cheaper cards may not ever have a problem but I am not willing to risk it just to save a few bucks on what I consider the ultimate point of having that camera and that is my pictures. I have eliminated lots of problems by switching cards.
Here is an important concept: A LOT of problems like the camera taking a few pictures then having dead batteries are due to the camera trying to write a picture to a cheaper SD card. Even then some cameras can still be picky about quality cards. It can occur at any point on the card. It may write to a certain point on the card and at that bad point on the card, the camera will keep trying to write the picture on the card until the batteries go dead.Remember a lot of cameras have no built in memory. I had one camera last year that would take 260 pictures everytime then drain the batteries. New SD card fixed problem. ALL my cards are marked for that
particular camera. Once I get two cards to work in a camera I label them only use those cards in that camera and just switch them out. Another reason for dead batteries is the interval time setting is to short and the camera doesnt have time to reset so the camera remains on all the time and drains the batteries. Try to use at least a minmium of 1 minute intervals.
Next I ALWAYS format the card in the camera and not on my computer. That way you know the format is always correct and the parameters are consistent within that camera. Cameras are often picky so I try to eliminate any intangibles that maybe inconsistent.
Next to the SD card issue the following one to me is probably the most important one and I will begin by saying
HEAT HEAT HEAT is electronics worst enemy.
A runaway camera(one that takes continuous pictures of a lot of nothing) can be caused by a couple of reasons. The first of course is to brush, grass or limbs in the detection zone that continually cause the camera to detect an trigger an event. If the area is cleared well then the run-away issue maybe caused by PIR settings being too sensitive. A common problem is that a lot of times this only occurs in day time hours AND the temps outside are over 90 degrees. If this is the case then the PIR setting should be set to "High". By setting it to High, as stated in some manuals for when temps are hot outside, this reduces the cams sensitivity to heat and does not increase sensitivity as you might think a High setting would do. Most people think that the HIGH setting means more sensitive and the low setting is less sensitive.This is not the case.
Just remember:
High setting in high temperatures (may have to move your camera closer as it is now less sensitive)
Low or normal setting in moderate to low temperatures.
Another way it was explained to me was to relate it to pain tolerance. If a person has a high pain tolerance then it would take more to create the sensation of pain .So the high setting on a camera is similar to high pain tolerance. It takes a lot to trigger it, thereby eliminating a lot of false triggers.
Also please see below. It was written by an engineer who deals with PIR and is a hunter.(the article was long so I tried to condense down to the important points)
PIR sensors see heat patterns in their field of view. If Hotter Items in this field of view, move across this pattern, it triggers the sensor and marks it as an Event in which it sends a signal that an event has occured. Therefore there must be be something hot (hotter than the other areas) in this field of view and it must move or have motion to detect THE CHANGE IN THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE.
All this seems great, until you start adding adjustments or settings for the PIR sensor such as most trail cameras have.
Ask yourself, how is this PIR sensor going to detect an animal when the surrounding area is hotter than a deer as it would be in summer heat? This is when things get tough for most cameras and we have to come to the realization that, "no matter how good the camera is - it is very difficult to to make them work correctly and consistently in hot summer heat".
A trail cameras High Setting actually reduces this heat REQUIREMENT for the PIR Sensor to function or trigger an event. Contrary to the explanation that we think this is a Higher Sensitivity over the Normal setting, it is actually the opposite. By reducing the heat requirement, setting the PIR to High will cause it to be less sensitive to heat and rely on greater changes in the PIR sensor and the target object.
Keep in mind that almost all trail cameras settings do not increase the "motion" detection functionality of the PIR when set to High sensitive. Again, the part we need to pay attention to here, so we understand it will not work as well, is that this high setting reduces the sensitivity to heat!!!
The bottom line is that if your camera is having a run-way issue in daytime heat only, try the High setting first and see if the problem goes away
Again, we cant expect these cams to work perfectly in summer heat because of the temps outside. Don't expect it to pick up that well with the PIR setting on High either. Due to the inherent nature of how these PIR sensors work, I see this problem being across the board on all game cameras not just certain brands but even from camera to camera from the same manufacturer.
To be continued……….
First of all, if you have a problem getting the camera to turn on or off right out of the box, its obvious this is probably a faulty camera provided you have checked and double checked the power source(make sure your batteries are new and of good quality preferably lithium and that they are inserted in camera correctly).
Once the camera is turned on and the display becomes functional, the settings can be adjusted. If the settings cannot be seen and set or the display is not readable then this is also a sign of a faulty camera.
Most problems do not occur right out of the box but I have certainly had some that did and it was simply returned or replaced.
I know the above seems obvious to a lot of trail cam users but this thread is also for those new users so bear with me.
Assuming everything seems to be working properly you can either test it at home or head to the woods
Begin by using a high quality SD card. There is a lot of debate on this subject but just like other products you get what you pay for. Sure some cheaper cards may not ever have a problem but I am not willing to risk it just to save a few bucks on what I consider the ultimate point of having that camera and that is my pictures. I have eliminated lots of problems by switching cards.
Here is an important concept: A LOT of problems like the camera taking a few pictures then having dead batteries are due to the camera trying to write a picture to a cheaper SD card. Even then some cameras can still be picky about quality cards. It can occur at any point on the card. It may write to a certain point on the card and at that bad point on the card, the camera will keep trying to write the picture on the card until the batteries go dead.Remember a lot of cameras have no built in memory. I had one camera last year that would take 260 pictures everytime then drain the batteries. New SD card fixed problem. ALL my cards are marked for that
particular camera. Once I get two cards to work in a camera I label them only use those cards in that camera and just switch them out. Another reason for dead batteries is the interval time setting is to short and the camera doesnt have time to reset so the camera remains on all the time and drains the batteries. Try to use at least a minmium of 1 minute intervals.
Next I ALWAYS format the card in the camera and not on my computer. That way you know the format is always correct and the parameters are consistent within that camera. Cameras are often picky so I try to eliminate any intangibles that maybe inconsistent.
Next to the SD card issue the following one to me is probably the most important one and I will begin by saying
HEAT HEAT HEAT is electronics worst enemy.
A runaway camera(one that takes continuous pictures of a lot of nothing) can be caused by a couple of reasons. The first of course is to brush, grass or limbs in the detection zone that continually cause the camera to detect an trigger an event. If the area is cleared well then the run-away issue maybe caused by PIR settings being too sensitive. A common problem is that a lot of times this only occurs in day time hours AND the temps outside are over 90 degrees. If this is the case then the PIR setting should be set to "High". By setting it to High, as stated in some manuals for when temps are hot outside, this reduces the cams sensitivity to heat and does not increase sensitivity as you might think a High setting would do. Most people think that the HIGH setting means more sensitive and the low setting is less sensitive.This is not the case.
Just remember:
High setting in high temperatures (may have to move your camera closer as it is now less sensitive)
Low or normal setting in moderate to low temperatures.
Another way it was explained to me was to relate it to pain tolerance. If a person has a high pain tolerance then it would take more to create the sensation of pain .So the high setting on a camera is similar to high pain tolerance. It takes a lot to trigger it, thereby eliminating a lot of false triggers.
Also please see below. It was written by an engineer who deals with PIR and is a hunter.(the article was long so I tried to condense down to the important points)
PIR sensors see heat patterns in their field of view. If Hotter Items in this field of view, move across this pattern, it triggers the sensor and marks it as an Event in which it sends a signal that an event has occured. Therefore there must be be something hot (hotter than the other areas) in this field of view and it must move or have motion to detect THE CHANGE IN THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE.
All this seems great, until you start adding adjustments or settings for the PIR sensor such as most trail cameras have.
Ask yourself, how is this PIR sensor going to detect an animal when the surrounding area is hotter than a deer as it would be in summer heat? This is when things get tough for most cameras and we have to come to the realization that, "no matter how good the camera is - it is very difficult to to make them work correctly and consistently in hot summer heat".
A trail cameras High Setting actually reduces this heat REQUIREMENT for the PIR Sensor to function or trigger an event. Contrary to the explanation that we think this is a Higher Sensitivity over the Normal setting, it is actually the opposite. By reducing the heat requirement, setting the PIR to High will cause it to be less sensitive to heat and rely on greater changes in the PIR sensor and the target object.
Keep in mind that almost all trail cameras settings do not increase the "motion" detection functionality of the PIR when set to High sensitive. Again, the part we need to pay attention to here, so we understand it will not work as well, is that this high setting reduces the sensitivity to heat!!!
The bottom line is that if your camera is having a run-way issue in daytime heat only, try the High setting first and see if the problem goes away
Again, we cant expect these cams to work perfectly in summer heat because of the temps outside. Don't expect it to pick up that well with the PIR setting on High either. Due to the inherent nature of how these PIR sensors work, I see this problem being across the board on all game cameras not just certain brands but even from camera to camera from the same manufacturer.
To be continued……….
Comment