How long will camera live

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Marc Hilt
GC-ATTb camera from 2016 which is with in 100 yards of 3 GC-ATTxb's of which all 3 behave correctly. Daily status reports, images 3 times a day at scheduled time and of course when critters are there. But for months the GC-ATTb has been quite spotty. I have gotten it back in line several times by things like new sd card, re starting and use Hello test but for 2 weeks now nothing. No status, scheduled images nor in the case if yesterday 63 elk in front of it and nothing. I know the elk where there because the other cameras sent dozens of images. The camera is taking images but doesn't send. So the question is age of unit? I have 10 units from a different manufacturer near and they send images which verify the camera is still there. Hoping someone else has been able to solve this type of issue since I am going there in a couple days and have the time to make changes to get it up and hopefully alive until 3g sunsets in a couple year's. Thanks, Marc
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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    The ATTxb are later models than the ATTb. Is the firmware current an the ATTb? I’m running one ATTb and one ATTi. I’ve retired several others because I wanted to run cameras that send video instead.

    I’d make sure the firmware is current on the ATTb and also make sure the SD card is class 10, 80 MB/s speed minimum.

    Also, check the SIM. You may want to clean the contacts (rub them with a pencil eraser or against your jeans). 

    Check the APN.

    With the camera in setup mode, on the camera, press the Menu button, fourth menu tab, Diagnostic, APN Setting, password is 123456, OK.

    Spartan SIM should be APNSP. AT&T should be either APNBR or APNBL (choose whichever one it isn't already)

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    AT&T cameras sunset about the end of 2021. It may be a little earlier in some areas or as late as February 2022.

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  • Marc Hilt

    Firmware is current, no updates since 2018. All sd cards meet the requirements.
    I will use your suggestions when I get on site. Thanks for the tips, Marc

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Correction (thanks to Johnny Lockburner). The password for the ATTb/i is 1234. It’s the longer number for later models.

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Also, if one of the xb is close, you can try swapping SIMs and see if the problem travels with the SIM.

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  • Marc Hilt

    Thanks all good information! But what if APN number is not accepted is there a fix? Never tried it.

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  • Marc Hilt

    A experimental query to camera today makes me more confused.
    There has been a request camera status command since 7/31/20 of which has never been fulfilled. But on a whim yesterday I requested the camera to take photo now.
    The apo says command is complete but the next command line down has the unfulfilled status request.
    More importantly the image which in theory has been taken doesn't exist on the server nor my phone.
    Thoughts?
    Thanks, Marc

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  • John Lockburner

    Do you have real time on on the camera?

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  • Marc Hilt

    I re set it to real-time last time I was there. Normally I don't.

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  • John Lockburner

    That complete message on the photo request just means that it was sent. I would cancel that older pending request

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  • Marc Hilt

    Already done. But thanks for confirming the action.

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  • Marc Hilt

    Forgot to update.
    Went to camera, cleaned simm card and installed new formatted sd card. Camera works perfectly for the 5 days I am there. Just left it on while I worked there. Lots of images. Happy to have a new tool to use in the field. I do believe it was cleaning sim card.
    The the last image sent is me driving away which was 1 week ago. So go back next week and try again. Since the card is a att buyasession card I doubt I can swap it to a different one I have and keep the remaining balance of data.
    But thanks for your help.

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    You should be able to. On your BAS account, edit the device and enter the new ICCID in place of the old one. If it's a valid SIM (I've had some expire), it should work just fine. I've done it many times.

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Can you please post a screen shot of the last status report from the app?

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  • Marc Hilt

    Sure if I could see a way to post a image.

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    https://support.spartancamera.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041970993-How-to-post-pictures-screen-shots-from-your-phone-to-the-Support-Forum

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  • Marc Hilt

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Thanks for posting that. No doubt about it, that camera is down. It tried to send a photo at 2:04 PM 8/18, and maybe it did. Then it hasn’t contacted the server since. It could be the SIM. I have a cranky SIM that I put some clear tape on Saturday (on the back of the SIM to make it a little thicker and hopefully contact better). If it goes down again, I’ll be replacing that SIM with another from my “stash”.

    It could be a busted antenna or someone turned camera off (theoretically), but those are far less likely than SIM or SD card problems, so I’m going with SIM for now. 

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  • Marc Hilt

    So a new SIM card is installed and everything is the same. I tried swapping antennas, cleaned new SIM card, new SD card. I guess it's just a game camera now.

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  • John Lockburner

    You can try manually updating the firmware even though it's current.

     

    https://my.spartancamera.com/download

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