Camera stopped sending pics

Comments

30 comments

  • John Lockburner

    Check your premium credits, are your still receiving status reports once a day? Also double check your data plan.

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  • Mark Bennett

    Thanks for the quick response.  Data plan expires in 12 days.  I added another 12 month plan that will start on 3/2.  Premium credits showed I had one remaining.  I added 12 credits today.  Bottom line, it looks like that wasn't the issue but I added to be sure.  Any other ideas?

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  • Mark Bennett

    And I'm not sure I have ever received status reports.  Just a bunch of pics in app everyday up until 12/13.

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  • Mark Bennett

    Went to delivery options in the portal and it shows zero email recipients.  Not sure how to add one though, other than in the following section for "other delivery options"

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  • Will Reich

    I personally tried to fix this unit. Replaced batteries, new antena, new SD card. Previously we had installed the most recent update on firmware but it seems to have reverted back to an older date. Won’t let me do another update.

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  • John Lockburner

    Maybe the previous firmware update didn't take, it may have failed if you did it over the air. Since the camera doesn't seem to be communicating with the portal the firmware update will stay pending until it does. Do you have any other commands showing as pending? When you turn the camera to set up does it find signal and show signal strength bars in the top of the screen? If it does show signal what happens when you press the OK button to take a picture and then press it again to send the picture? One other thing to check is your plan expires time wise soon but how is the data usage, do you have data remaining on the plan? You can also try defaulting the camera in it's menu, find the default option in the menu and press OK and then when it's complete turn the camera off and back on and try again to send a photo.

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    MBennett,

    To check the status report, either tap the little signal/battery icon or tap the menu button and select Staus Report to get to the status report screen. One piece of information will be the date/time of the last status report.

    If you want status reports via email or test, on the portal, enter the info under DELIVERY OPTIONS > OTHER DELIVERY OPTIONS.

    The latest firmware for your camera is 11/28/2018. You Will probably have to install the firmware manually. Here’s a link to the firmware page where you can download the file. Instructions are there, too.

    https://my.spartancamera.com/download

    What brand, class (4 or 10), size (standard or micro in an adapter), and capacity is the SD card. Bad SD cards can cause a camera to quit sending. (I see Chefwill80 says the SD card was replaced but we still need to check that.)

    Does the camera pass the hello test? In setup mode, connected to the network, fourth tab, Diagnostics, Hello test. If it passes, your cell connection is good. If it doesn’t then you may have a bad SD card. Try cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser.

    Have you tried taking/sending a photo manually? With the camera in setup and connected, aim it at something, press OK to take a photo, OK again to send photo. It should say setting, sending, sent. If it doesn’T, what does it say?

    Chwfwill80,

    The FW update must not have worked. I’ve never known a camera to revert to an earlier version.

     

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  • Mark Bennett

    I’ll have access to the camera today and will go through these steps

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    MBennet,

    Sorry I didn’t make it clear to look at the app for the status report.

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  • Mark Bennett

    I just looked at app. Status report received at 1:00 am last night. Two pending requests in que; firmware update and HD photo.

    On another note, report shows SD card information as:
    0 bytes used
    62.50MB Free

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  • John Lockburner

    What size card is in the camera? I've seen that before when a card larger then 32gb is used. Could also be a bad/incompatible card as well. Make sure it's a class 10

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  • Mark Bennett

    I’m going to put a new card in it today and manually upgrade to the software.

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  • John Lockburner

    Since you are getting the status report the camera is communicating, my guess is it's a memory card issue. I would cancel those pending commands for now.

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  • Mark Bennett

    To answer the question, it was a 32GB when it stopped working. We had another Spartan stop sending pics and it seemed to be a corrupt SD card. I believe he replaced it this time with a 64GB.

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  • John Lockburner

    That's most likely the problem, the cameras are set up for 32gb max. I like to run 16gb in mine.

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  • Mark Bennett

    So likely corrupt card the first time, then we replaced with too big a card?

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  • John Lockburner

    I think so

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Was that 62.5 MB (what you posted) or GB? If it really did say MB, it’s definitely a damaged card because no SD card is that small. If it’s really GB, then it’s what Johnny said, it’s too large.

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  • John Lockburner

    The 64gb cards sometimes show up as the small cards in the status reports.

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  • Mark Bennett

    It is a 64GB card. Status report said 62.5MB

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    99.99% sure it’s a card problem, then, because the camera isn’t even recognizing it as the proper size.

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  • Mark Bennett

    New 16GB card worked.  Then did firmware update and still worked.  Although when I checked the card that was in it, it was a 32GB card, as was the original.  Working now, so we will see. Thanks, Mark

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  • John Lockburner

    Not all 32gb cards are the same. There are tolerances and some really push the limits. Glad you're up and running again.

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  • Mark Bennett

    Ok, camera worked perfectly for three days. Last pic was this morning. However, I was filling the feeder there this afternoon and when I got back to my phone, no pics. I have been getting daily status reports. Brand new 16GB card out in it Saturday. Thoughts?

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    You mentioned earlier buying a new data plan and adding credits so it shouldn’t be either of those things, but I’d double-check. I see batteries were changed recently, too, but what type of batteries, what is the P number on the last few night pics, and what power level is status report showing?

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  • Mark Bennett

    Effsgg

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  • Mark Bennett

    Sorry. Looks like a pocket post

    - Batteries are lithium
    - All pictures since Saturday were P5
    - power on latest status report was full battery

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    The problem with lithiums is that they typically show full until they die. If the camera is close, I’d try some alkaline batteries in it just to see if it might be batteries. Since the lithiums have only recently been put in, they shouldn’t be the problem, but it’s best to test with other batteries just to be sure. 

    You might also try taking/sending photos manually with the lithiums in the camera and see if the camera will send manually.

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  • Mark Bennett

    A little more info. I received a status report over night. This morning, three pictures were sent, taken between midnight and two am. No pictures from yesterday when I was working in front of it.

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  • John Lockburner

    Maybe ATT was having problems in your area yesterday. You aren't using start/stop times by any chance are you? You can also check the portal and see if the pics are getting there but not to your app.

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