Cameras not sending pics

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Craig Hawley
I have 2 cameras. Both have current software, new LI batteries and 32GB cards. I have credits and my cellular accounts are active. Cameras were sending pics for about a week then quit. What gives?
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  • John Lockburner

    What are the camera models? Are you still getting status reports and if so what is the time and date of the last reports? If you can it might be easier to post a screenshot of the two latest reports from the cameras.

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  • Craig Hawley

    How do I upload screenshot?

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  • John Lockburner

    If you are on your phone hit the browser settings tab and change to desktop and then the insert photo icon should appear.

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  • Craig Hawley

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  • John Lockburner

    The one camera has very low batteries, especially if they are lithium. The other I'm not sure. I know you said that the SD cards are 32gb but are they also class10, 80mb/s or faster and full sized cards, not micros in adapters? Did you format them in the camera when you installed them?

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  • Craig Hawley

    They are all new batteries with class 10 SD cards and not micros with adaptors. Format the cards every time I change them.
    Like I said they worked great for a few days after I changed batteries and cards. Then just stopped.

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  • John Lockburner

    Craig, something is definitely up, especially with that one camera showing 4.8 volts, that's extremely extremely low. What kind of batteries and do you have a pic or link of the SD cards that you are using? How far away are the cameras and when was the last time you changed the batteries?

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  • Craig Hawley

    I use energizer LI batteries. It’s a scan disk SD card. I just changed batteries and SD cards on Sept 15th. I’m in FL. Cameras are in Illinois.

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  • John Lockburner

    Craig based on what you've told me everything should be fine. It's that low battery so quickly that has me concerned. If a cell tower went down for a little while it could cause the camera to keep trying to resend which would use a lot of battery and maybe drained them. Other than that it's hard to tell without having the cameras in hand. Do you have anyone that could go to the cameras to check them out?

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  • Craig Hawley

    I will be up there this weekend.

    The one camera showing low battery is one thing but why both cameras?

    Is there an upgrade or exchange program?

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  • John Lockburner

    Those are 4g I believe so there's no upgrade. There is a two year warranty on the cameras if you do have an issue. I would take two new SD cards with you just in case. They do go bad but it would be odd to have them both go bad in the same week.

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  • Craig Hawley

    I bought the cameras last year. The SD cards were purchased in December.

    How do I get replacement cameras? Since I am only there a few times a year I really need to take the replacements with me.

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  • John Lockburner

    Craig without going to the cameras and doing some diagnostics and then sending them back to Spartan they aren't going to send you free replacements if that's what you're looking for. Like I said something must be up for both of them to go down at the same time.

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  • Craig Hawley

    The one showing good batteries stoped 2 days before the other one.

    That’s kind of a bad return policy. Especially since the whole idea is for the cameras to be in remote places because it’s hard to find the time to get to them in the first place.

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  • John Lockburner

    I really don't know of any company with any product that will just ship you new merchandise free or without having a backup payment if the original isn't returned. You'd be surprised how many cameras people think aren't working and it's an SD card problem, battery issue, broken antenna or just not knowing how to use the settings correctly. Spartan just can't send brand new cameras out like that.

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  • Craig Hawley

    Had the cameras for a year. Pretty sure I know how to use them by now. If you look at my comments I’ve already gone through all the things you thought it might have been before you even said it.

    I didn’t ask for a free camera either. Did I?

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  • John Lockburner

    I wasn't specifically talking about you with the issues, I'm sure you know what you're doing and I didn't know exactly what you were asking for as far as replacement cameras that's why I phrased my first reply with "if that's what you're looking for" I'm just trying to help and explain.

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  • Craig Hawley

    I had the exact same issue happen last year. Not been very impressed with spartan cameras.

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  • John Lockburner

    How did you get them going again last year?

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  • Craig Hawley

    Bought new SD cards again.

    I don’t feel that you should have to buy new SD cards every time you want to change them.

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  • John Lockburner

    You should not have to, just format it in the camera and if it's a to spec card it should be fine. A few things to consider is that there's plenty of fake cards online especially on Amazon and eBay. Also I have seen other trail camera brands that create a folder and put it on the SD card and a normal format does not remove it. So if the cards were ever in a different camera that's something to consider.

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  • John Cox

    Craig,
    I’ve been running Spartans for 7-8 years.
    I have found that if you can get some golf cart 6 volt batteries, ( I use the ones that come out of cart when I change batteries) that sometimes I get a month to a month and half from one charged battery. I use the 6 volt battery cable from spartan and make sure the battery is charged to 6.2 volts or higher.

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  • John Cox

    The 6 volt golf cart battery is very heavy but it’s worth it if you don’t have to change batteries often.

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  • Craig Hawley

    I always use cards that I buy at Walgreens or CVS. I format the cards every time I pull them out of the camera. I even mark the cards so I put them back in the same camera if I didn’t get a chance to buy another new one.

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  • John Lockburner

    Marking them is a good idea. You format them in the camera when you reinstall them correct?

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  • Craig Hawley

    That is correct

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  • Elizabeth Swoope

    Craig,

    What brand, class (4 or 10), speed (e.g., 80 MB/s), and size (standard or microSD/adapter) are you using?

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  • Craig Hawley

    Class 10 scan disk 32 GB on a standard card.

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  • Craig Hawley

    One of the cameras just came back online but it shows a date of 01/19/2018. I didn’t even own the camera then.

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  • John Lockburner

    It must have defaulted, was it the one with the low batteries? You can request a status report  and I would update your settings as well. Did you get a picture or just a status report?

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