trail camera problems
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Hi just bought a new Toguard h80 trail camera to catch some garden wildlife shots especially hedgehogs but can’t get it to work. Wondered if anyone had similar problems.
Its got new batteries and the sd card has been formated.
I have the settings on photo mode. PIR interval set min59 sec01.
Medium sensitivity. led on Auto and turn on live at night but and in the morning I just get one picture of when I pick the camera up to turn it off.
Ive also tried video mode but the same happens
Hope you can help
Many thanks
LynnI have four cameras, none of which are without some issue or other and all with varying quality of output. I guess it goes with the fact that they are all of Chinese manufacture and the quality/reliability is simply not there.
My suggestion would be do carry out a number of simple tests in your house using different settings. Most of the (Chinese) cameras have the same functions/settings but may differ slightly depending on the price range.
1. Three position switch: Off, Test and On.
2. Setting for Mode i.e. Photo/Video or both.
3. Date/Time and format
4. Resolution (Video and Photo)
5. Video length
6. Audio – On/Off
7. Shot lag – Period between PIR activity.
8. PIR sensitivity and whether Side PIR’s are active
9. Target recording time i.e. period camera is on, i.e. 21:00-06:00 or it could be Off, i.e. continuous.
10. Time lapse (for photos)
11. IR sensitivity, the coverage of the IR LED lights.
12. Others such as Time stamp etc.
So in the testing start with straight forward Picture or Video with no Target recording time set and in Continuous mode if it has this function (PIR switched off) and make sure the camera switch set to ON. walk in front of the camera a few times and then either check the results in camera or look on a PC/Laptop. If no results then I guess it might be the camera. If it has pictures/video then do the same but with the PIR switched on. If this does not work try changing the PIR sensitivity. If it works try the Target recording time set to on, and so on until you get to where the camera fails. That’s just my initial suggestion and how I would approach the problem.Hi Lynn
1st of all have you got a 32GB Micro SD Card ?. if not you want one.
Setup: video length 90sec, TV mode PAL, Record Audio ON, Motion detector ON, I have my camera about 1ft above the ground pointing down a little looking at my feeding station & house.
Hope this helps good luck. Regard Keith STAY SAVEHi Lynn. I have exactly the same model Toguard H80. It was a present from my husband back in March. Unfortunately it has been the most disappointing purchase ever. The instructions are totally useless. Impossible to use the WiFi at all. Doesn’t work. The camera has been tried using different settings and bought 30 + batteries (Energizer Lithium Ultimate} so expensive. It won’t accept a micro SD card so have bought a new 32GB SD as recommended in the rubbish tiny leaflet. It has a fault for sure. I managed to get one night of a few little videos and pictures then nothing. Seems to work perfectly when set but after taking a single picture or tiny video it packs up for the rest of the night. We have a large and active hog population who are getting through heaps of food in our 3 feeding stations but no pictures triggered. I have narrowed down the fault to the battery pack. If you can test your individual batteries and map then 1 -8. Every morning one of them is a dead battery. I am going to try to return it as it should not die like this every night. Definitely strange battery use. It demonstrates on the screen that the batteries are ok but always just one or two have no charge remaining, so thrown away. No even steady drain as would be expected. Have a look at your batteries if you can test them. I will post again if I can get through to the customer support but hope they will swap for a previous model. No positive feedback anywhere for this model. Good luck. Regards. Grace
Hi Grace, I have the Toguard H85 which is also a wireless wildlife camera. I researched the wi fi connectivity error problems and difficulties in establishing a connection, and found that this only works on one app that is incorrectly listed in the instruction booklet. My Samsung phone is flat at the moment but tomorrow when it is charged I will send the app details on this and I found it worked absolutely fine on my Samsung S6 edge plus. I am not sure of the range of the wi fi. One thing I couldn’t get the blu tooth to pair with my Samsung phone.
Hi
I had this problem when I 1st tried to photograph heggies. At the time I didn’t appreaciate how fast they are. If the are moving across the camera’s view, by the time the camera has detected and responded, the hedgey is gone.
Try video mode instead or mount the camera where they will approach the camera rather than run across. 10s bursts with a quick restart time works.
e.g. 10s video wait 2s before restarting. So if heggie hangs about you will get all of the action.Toguard H80 How do you format the memory card? No instructions in the useless leaflet? The screen says MONITOR WHAT YOU CONCERN (what on earth does this mean?) and nothing I do changes it.
Hi
New to this group.
I have a ToGuard H85
Been working great since getting it about a year ago.
Now problem, will not work in the dark.I put it out a few nights ago, since will not work at night.
Sensor recorded temperature -3C
Otherwise nothing of note.
That night, no night pics. Semi-light dawn and dusk, pictures blurry and appear over exposed.Since then,
Daylight camera works normally. But nothing in the dark.
I thought maybe batteries so changed to
Energiser. Camera power 100%. No change.
So put in new
Duracell batteries. Camera power 100%. No change.Put camera back to default settings. Then reset my settings. No change.
The odd thing is that the sensor works fine in setup, showing images on the onboard screen.
It just will not work in the dark when the camera is switched to ON.Grateful for any suggestions.
Moth1818
There may be other issues but the original poster LIC64 has written that the PIR interval is min59 sec01 which I assume means that it will stay idle for nearly an hour before being able to be triggered again.
Try putting a much shorter PIR interval in, min05 sec01 then it will be available to catch new images much more regularly through the night.
Assuming the model bought accepts them I would always recommend that people getting into these types of cameras buy 2 sets of rechargeable batteries and enough chargers to recharge a full set while the other set is in use.
I have 2 chargers each taking 4 batteries each so I can charge a full camera’s worth of 8 batteries at a time. I now have 4 sets of 8 rechargeable batteries as I have 2 cameras though I’m doing less recordings with 2 at the same time now.
Hi
I have a fantastic H20 Toguard Camera which I use for capturing my dogs, hedgehogs at night and any other wildlife that come.
I have just replaced the batteries as they ran out, I’ve replaced them with re-chargeable. However, when I have been leaving my camera to film there is no sound. i have been into settings and checked but with no joy!
Can anyone help me?
SharonI bought a Victure Trail Cam from Amazon c/w SD card. Apart from needing to feed it batteries every few days I’m happy with it. I now have switched to rechargeable batteries, which last a couple of days.
It takes 10,20 or 30s videos, with a still too.
At the moment I seem to capture some hog action, then a couple of foxes around 2am then squirrels and birds after dawn.
I’m trying to put surveillance on my hog houses to see whether anyone is in residence, but so far no success. I don’t know if I’ve blown my cover and the Hogs know I’m watching them, but it’s an ongoing project!To LJC64 regarding PIR settings. 59 minutes is far to long an interval. The PIR detects movement , the interval setting determines how long the camera waits after taking a photo or video before it starts to watch for movement again.
In your case it won’t detect movement and take another photo for almost an hour.
To MikeBo simply remove the memory card and format it in your computer.Hi – I have a Vanbar 600 Digital Trail Camera and cannot get the PIR to work. When in “set up” the indicators Led flash when triggered showing PIR 11/20 or 10/21. However when switched to “on” the PIR lights do not flash/ are not triggered.
As such cannot use camera to cover night life in garden where we do have hedgehog activity.
Can someone help me or should I return camera to supplier which may difficult as it was a present!!Hi Alloter
You might find that you can get your answer from this: https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/hog-cam-recommendations/
Unfortunately this Section isn’t in an ideal place – Carers/rescuing a hedgehog is really intended to be re. sick or injured hogs – so not everyone tends to read things here. Not your fault as it’s already been running for a while! But, I noticed you hadn’t had a reply – you might even find if you add your question to the strand linked above you may get a reply sooner.
Sorry don’t know much about the technicalities of cameras myself. But good luck – hopefully someone else will be able to help.
I used to have a trail camera that took lots of videos but the trouble with them is that you can’t see the results until the following morning. A couple of years ago I was given a set of wi-fi cameras (Amazon Blink) and although they are quite expensive they have been great when it comes to rescuing injured hogs due to the fact that you can see “live” videos and act immediately. I saw a hog with an injured leg but didn’t know where it was nesting so moved the cameras around the garden until I could pin down where it was and was able to catch it and take it to hog rescue. Another hog with another injured leg sparked an alert from the camera app and I was able to go down the garden and pick it up before it moved away. Both had to have their back legs amputated and were eventually released back into the garden, one going on to have four babies. The cameras take two batteries each and depending on how many times they trigger the batteries can last two or three months or longer. I have them set for ten second videos with a re-trigger time of ten seconds so usually end up with many videos. Although expensive these cameras are well worth it for wildlife watching.
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