discussion / Camera Traps  / 22 July 2020

Tech Tutors: How do I repair my camera traps?

Hi Wildlabbers, 

It's almost time for our fifth Tech Tutors session tomorrow with Laure Joanny, Rob Appleby, and Alistair Stewart, who will be tackling the question: How do I repair my camera traps? There's still time to register, so make sure you reserve your space here on Eventbrite!

If you've registered for this session, you should have instructions from Eventbrite about how to join. You'll also receive reminder emails tomorrow when the event starts.

After the session, we'll update this thread with the video recording and session notes so they're easily accessible (it'll also go up on Youtube + main episode page). If you have questions that don't get answered in the sessions or want to continue discussions that pop up in the chat, please use this thread to continue the conversation. We'll pass any follow-up questions posted in here along to Laure, Rob, and Al.

You can also find resources from all three tutors to prep for this episode here on the main epsiode page.

See you all soon!

Ellie

EDIT: You can find all the collaborative notes and resources from this episode here.




During today's talk, there was  a discussion regarding swapping out the Bushnell's old LEDs for newer ones.  Can you tell me which LEDs or what wavelength  are recommended?  I am interested in reducing the surprise and distraction of the camera while filming animals at night.  Here's an example of behavior of a coyote and fox while using my Bushnell # 119777 Trophy Cam Aggressor game cam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1o0R-FA05I  

Thanks in advance. 

Hi earthtravel.

Standard IR LEDs are rated at 20 mA or around 65 mW each for the ones you normally see (5mm through hole). For illuminating LEDs for cameras, they are normally rated at 850 nm or 940 nm. The 850 nm typically emit the red glow when turned on while the 940 nm are completely invisible to the human eye. As for  brightness, its mainly additive so the more LEDs you pile on, the brighter it will be. You'll have to think about the configuration you'll be replacing through to check the voltage and LED configuration (ie: LEDs in parallel, series, or series-parallel). There's more info here on LED types and let me know if you have other questions.

Akiba

Hi all,

I know we mentioned this in the episode and collaborative doc for this episode, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knows about the camera trap troubleshooting spreadsheet our presenters created! The goal is to build up a bank of common problems so we can help each other and have an ongoing resource to use.

Please consider adding your problems into the spreadsheet as well as here in the forum!

-Ellie

Hi all,

This camera trap repair video about sulfated batteries was shared with us on Twitter and I thought it might be interesting and helpful for this Tech Tutors group! Check it out here and let us know if you find this useful!

-Ellie