Ghost GC-W4Gb battery "P0" problem
Today I put a new set of lithium batteries into one of my Ghost cameras. Now, when a picture is taken, the strip at the photo bottom shows "P0" for the battery status. I have double checked that the batteries are put in correctly and also tried another set of batteries -- same P0 reading. The status report shows an external voltage of 10.90 volts and an internal voltage of 3.83 volts -- very similar to my other Ghost camera and very similar to what this camera showed (with a "P5") before the battery change. Any ideas as to what is going on?
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Hopefully this will help.
https://support.spartancamera.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043534053-Ghost-battery-information -
Getting a little frustrated here. I have a solar panel, an external 12v battery source, new AAA lithium batteries with 10.82v, internal battery 3.83. I'm also having the P0 problem - no matter what I do. The articles above are NOT helpful. So what you are saying is that the camera doesn't work if the batteries are fresh? I'm leaving my camera set up for the winter and it's already "dead" with all fresh batteries.
So it wont send photos till the battery drains a little? Is that the deal? Is there a workaround?
Why is the battery thing so convoluted? why don't your guys fix your software?
Hopefully my camera will start working again soon because I'm not going to be able to access it till May of 2021. Thanks guys! -
but I'm not getting images...so how is it working fine. is battery saver mode preventing the sending of photos?
I even tested the voltage of the AA batteries before putting them in. 1.8v each. good batteries.
This is the second set of AA batteries i've put in in a very short amount of time.
Fresh batteries, recharged external bank, solar panel and no images.
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Lisa,
There is probably a problem other than batteries. Please start your own post and post a screen shot (or screen shots) of the status report from the battery/signal indicator down through the SD card info. It may take two screen shots. You will need to use the desktop version o& th3 site in order to post photos. When battery is fine (and 3.8 something on the internal is fine), we start looking at other things. SD card is usually first.
Earlier, you mentioned fixing the software. The problem is that the camera recognizes internal and external power sources. It cannot tell whether external is solar, 12V, or AA (lithium, alkaline, or rechargeable, all of which have different initial voltages). It uses the highest voltage source. Now it can guess that 14V or above is solar. The problem is that there is overlap between depleted 12V and fresh lithium.
Now what’s worse? Being told your power is great with a 10.5V 12V battery (no, it’s not fine at all) or being told that you have low power with what you know to be fresh lithiums. With the Ghost, you have to know what kind of batteries you are using and what the appropriate voltages for those batteries are.
Ignore the P number and the battery symbol. As long as the internal battery is staying above 3.7 or so, you should be good. When it’s dropping to that and lower, time to change batteries.
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I sent in a trouble ticket. I think i may have run out of data - So I cancelled my 50gb data plan and signed up for a new bigger plan - and now i just have to wait for the camera to detect motion - OR my scheduled event photo to come in. Apologies for the frustration - I just want all my cameras to be fully charged for the winter and it's frustrating when I can't be there to fix all the little touchy issues. I'm pretty sure my battery always says P0 - now looking at all my shots from all summer.
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Lisa,
I think you mean that you had a 50 MB (not GB) plan. If so, it should have autorenewed, but that's a tiny plan for a handful of pics a day, not a camera like the Ghost where you will probably get lots of pics and possibly request some videos.
I have a Ghost with a solar panel and some depleted rechargeable batteries. It's 3.99V on the internal but showing P0 on the info strip and a completely empty battery symbol. I know that the battery is fine, though, because 3.99V is very close to the highest value (4.03 or 4.04V). Got another with almost the same situation only it's showing 4.01V internal battery.
On the Ghosts, you need to pay attention to the voltages, especially the internal voltage, and pretty much ignore the P number on the info strip and the battery indicator.
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