Somebody asked about the game cams that I have for the Beta Site. I guess I never went into any detail about them, so lets clear that up.
Most game cams, like the ones you get at , say, CostCo, are of the type that take pictures or video and store it on a card for retrieval later. They have their advantages, certainly, such as being cheaper in the long run since there’s no expense involved for transmitting those images. You just roll up there every so often, pop out the card, down load into your device, and reset. Easy peasy.
Unfortunately, I wanted something a bit more than that and that means increased expense.
A friend of mine won a game camera in a drawing or something and since they had no real use for it, gifted it to me. Specifically, this guiy: Moultrie Edge 2 Cellular Trail Camera. The selling point for me was that, in theory, I could simply get online to the website, or the app on my phone, and request a picture or video on demand. Additionally, I could set it to send me a picture or video on a schedule. For example, it takes a ‘proof of life’ picture everyday around 1216p and sends it to me.
I say ‘in theory’ because cel phone signal out at the Beta Site is exactly ‘zero bars’. Thus, I had significant doubts this thing would work. But I went up there, set it up, and to my surprise I got a proof of life photo the next day, and then every day thereafter. I also was able to request pictures on demand. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Im guessing that pictures use far less data bandwidth than voice, so perhaps there’s just enough signal for simple communications like that but not enough for voice. Or perhaps the gamecam is utilizing a network that is different from the one my phone uses. Either way, I’m getting pictures.
The gamecam requires 16 AA-batts to run it. Since CostCo was selling lithium batts, and lithiums are less likely to puke their guts out and are also good choices for extreme weather conditions, I went with those. The gamecam app shows me a ‘health check’ of the camera and I can check remaining battery life. Since I only have it communicate once a day with its proof of life photo, and then again only when something triggers a picture, the batteries seem to be still going strong after a couple weeks.
Battery management was a big concern for me because a) lithium AA-batts arent exactly cheap, even if I stock up on them at CostCo and b) its never a certainty when I’ll get up there again to change batteries. You can change the settings on the gamecam, remotely, to juggle various features to enhance battery life. So far, at the rate of power consumption so far, I’m guessing there’s another month at least before I need to start thinking about battery changes.
But, being me, I think about them anyway. Since lithium AA-batts aren’t cheap, I investigated and purchased lithium battery packs for the gamecams. Not cheap, but after the fifth battery change of AA-lithiums it will have paid for itself. Not satisfied, I also picked up one solar panel to add into one of the cams as an experiment to see how long a duty life I can get out of one charge.
Since the cameras require a cellphone connection, you have to purchase a subscription for the connection. Once you have that, there’s an additional fee for each camera on the account. At this moment, I have three on the account although only one is set up. I’ll be setting up the other two on my next trip up there. Averaging out the cost, it comes in at about a dollar a day for the subscription. When you say ‘a dollar a day’ that doesn’t sound like much but it means coming up with $365~ up front, which seems like a lot until you break it down to a dollar a day.
To me, it’s worth a buck a day to get three different angles of pictures every day from the Beta Site. Plus the infrequent picture when something stumbles into range of the camera. But here’s the selling point for me – the cameras cover the two most likely approaches into the Beta Site and let me know if someone comes into the property. Additionally, the cameras cover sections of the public road so I can see if the neighbors have been coming or going. To me, this is information that is vital. When I get something built up there, the plan is to have a deeper camera setup that uses StarLink to keep me informed remotely. But I’ll probably also add another trail cam pointed at whatever I build just to keep an eye on that too.
So, thus far, I’ve been pleased with these gamecams. There’s a bit of a hit to your wallet to get things set up but once its set up it seems to be doing exaclty what it promises. To me, and thats the important condition there, its worth the ongoing cost of about a buck a day to keep an eye on my property, see what the weather is like before I go up there, and get temperature data. I find it to be a worthwhile value.
When I get StarLink set up there the security camera situation will be greatly enhanced, but for now I really like these cameras and have been pleasantly surprised with the performance. YMMV, but I’m pleased so far.
I’m sure you’re aware but you won’t be the only one who can see the photos if they are stored online. Just recently in the Guthrie case, even though she had no active subscription, “investigators recovered the video from residual data stored in back-end systems.” It’s prudent to ensure the cams only see what you don’t mind “someone else” seeing too.
once you get star link, you won’t need SIM cards if you get the wifi only cams…
One Important thing about Camera Positioning is to have more than one located where a Vehicle License Plate can clearly be seen. Also, all Buildings should have one or more Inside, hidden and facing Doors. Exterior Cameras around Buildings should cover all potential Entrances, Doors and Windows. The more Evidence of any Trespass or Break-In makes it more likely to Identify a Culprit.
This was my solution to limited battery life. Since this is a led acid battery, it doesn’t have the cold weather limitations of Lithium batteries.
https://www.amazon.com/HME-Camera-Waterproof-Auxiliary-Battery/dp/B07HNHJ59T
I’ve had good luck with the Moultrie. Like you, I got the rechargeable battery pack, but no solar panel, so I’ll be interested to see how yours works.
I only put mine out during hunting season, 4 months down here in WTX, but I’ve gotten three years out of it so far. If anything, their pricing and plans have gotten better over the years.
CZ-my experience with cellular game cams is very good so far although occasionally one will stop transmitting pics for reasons unknown. Then I have to physically go there and turn it off/on and it functions. My 3 cams use only 8-AA each so much less than yours. So far my Amazon basics batts give me very good like 3-4 month life but that’s only taking 100-200 pics per cam. But they are handy I’ll say that. My plans allow 100 pics free and then you can step up to 250 pics for 5.00/month per cam. Seems reasonable.
I have the same camera, I believe. Mine has been up since Dec. 1st and it shows 35% batter life as of this morning. Mine is on a Coyote bait pile and I average about 60 pictures per day/night. Coyotes, crows, hawks, etc. We have had a rather cold winter for this part of the Mdwest, Lots of zero degree weather. So your batteries, with one pic per day, should last quite a long time. I enjoy your post, Good luck with the new Beta Sight endeavor.
I think you’ll like your rechargeable Lithium battery packs I installed them in my cellular cameras last fall. During bow hunting season in October my son asked me to reset the transmit frequency to “immediate” so he could get notifications of deer movement while hunting. The app specifically warns you that such setting depletes the battery quicker. I left them that way until I pulled them out last month. THOUSANDS of pictures were sent from each camera with the one that sent over 6000 pictures the only one that gave a low battery warning one night in January when it got down to -27°.
I use the Moultrie Edge cams during hunting season in my locale. Reliable 98% of the time, occasional but still infrequent issues with camera going inactive, usually when batteries get low and cold at the same time. I use the lithium battery packs, they last for months at a time between charges, sometimes up to 3 months depending on temps and activity levels. The Moultrie app is easy enough to use. Play around with them a little bit, I think you’ll be happy with them.
The cellular is auto connect LTE across all carriers. Most likely your carrier signal isn’t as strong there as the carrier the camera is picking.
NiMH (Nickle-Metal Hydride) have better cold weather performance, and are at a slightly better price point.
Re Camera positioning – keep angles that capture your private property and maybe minimize adjacent private property ;
Public property angle as needed.
As I understand it if needing to use photo ‘evidence’ in any legal matter post property that cameras are in use … but maybe you just want to know and not plan to involve’legal’… hth
Switch to Spypoint brand cameras. They are very popular and highly rated. You can also buy them locally at Tractor Supply or on Amazon. I have a few cameras running for 7 months on a single charge or a lithium battery pack. They are still around 40% charged. Plus, their data plan is WAY cheaper than what you’re paying. They will give you 100 pictures a month for free. If you buy their $100 per year club subscription, you get 250 pictures per month for as many cameras as you want! I have 6 cameras on my land, get 250 pictures per month each. And, I only pay $100 per year. I’ve never had problems with their cameras or service.
I also use the Spypoint, I had a problem with cell reception, but purchased their vertical antennae which I put up the tree the camera was mounted on, solved that problem. The batteries last a long time, no other issues. I have mine looking down my driveway, so I get notifications of anyone/anything traveling there. Mainly pictures of game and my wife and me. Nice to have.
Where are those photos stored is the question and does Spypoint have access to them?
It’s stored both on your local memory card within your camera and on their cloud for access from a smart device. You can turn off cellular communication if you’d like. But cellular/cloud connection is going to be required for any kind of “real time” alerts with these types of cameras. You won’t find a way around it.