Lets talk homebrews

[buckshot164]

What troubles or repairs do you have to make. I have had a couple wires break, leakage, and bad memory cards. I have had a few beat up by bears and had to do some repairs. Replaced the glass a few times. This doesn`t cost much. I have had all my pix le boards fail on me. Once I have them tuned in I have had very few problems. I have dropped a few cams and had to fix problems with that. Most problems are ones that I cause. So lets here your stories good or bad.

[judger101]

pinched wires in the camera. solid core wires breaking, (i now refuse to use solid core wire) forgetting to plug ribbon cables back in. currently trying to figure out why the slavemaster keeps resetting after i fire a pic (its not because of how close it is to the cap or vivitar board). forgetting to paint a clear case before putting on ln (i did catch it before it dried on there good)

[IroquoisArcher]

Only done S40's but have problems usually soldering the wires at the white block, the servo most of the times as the wires there are so fragile, FORGETTING TO TURN OFF THE SCREEN! and setting where the sun hits it. Right now have one out that is giving the tunnel effect so will have to get it in and figure out if it's the foam in front or something else.

[MGH-PA]

As Buckshot knows with my first cam...a lot of things For me, I THOUGHT scraping the white block was the hardest, and it was the cause of at least one of my major issues.

[egbertdavis]

You'd have to break this down in to pre-field and post-field cameras. I've had over 20 still cam homebrews running for 2 years and have only had problems with 4. Twice was because they were my first couple of builds and did not goop them to the board to keep them solid. I had the wires from the board too loose and they came undone with regular use of taking the cams out and putting them back in. One had a flash go bad. One more got submerged under 4 feet of water. I got all but the submerged one fixed in less than 1 hour. This is over a 2 hunting season period with the cams out from July - January.

I've had a few more issues with the video units out in the field, but alot of that was just a learning curve and on those, I've only had one go bad. The other 4 I had problems with were also submerged in 4 feet of water for 50+ hours and had some leaking, but I got the cameras working again and only replaced the boards, so a fairly inexpensive fix overall. So the biggest issue for me, post build, is the moisture issue.

We all have issues with the cams before we get them finallized. Most of these issues are related to soldering wrong, having the wires mixed up or pinched. However, once they get up an running, by and large, they are worry free as long as you have it properly water-proofed. Most issues from then on are user related like having a battery pop loose in the battery holder, forgetting to turn the camera back to picture mode, etc. Like with anything electrical that are outside 24/7 for many months at a time exposed to extreme highs and lows, there will be problems.

[Charman03]

Originally Posted by egbertdavis

You'd have to break this down in to pre-field and post-field cameras. I've had over 20 still cam homebrews running for 2 years and have only had problems with 4. Twice was because they were my first couple of builds and did not goop them to the board to keep them solid. I had the wires from the board too loose and they came undone with regular use of taking the cams out and putting them back in. One had a flash go bad. One more got submerged under 4 feet of water. I got all but the submerged one fixed in less than 1 hour. This is over a 2 hunting season period with the cams out from July - January.

I've had a few more issues with the video units out in the field, but alot of that was just a learning curve and on those, I've only had one go bad. The other 4 I had problems with were also submerged in 4 feet of water for 50+ hours and had some leaking, but I got the cameras working again and only replaced the boards, so a fairly inexpensive fix overall. So the biggest issue for me, post build, is the moisture issue.

We all have issues with the cams before we get them finallized. Most of these issues are related to soldering wrong, having the wires mixed up or pinched. However, once they get up an running, by and large, they are worry free as long as you have it properly water-proofed. Most issues from then on are user related like having a battery pop loose in the battery holder, forgetting to turn the camera back to picture mode, etc. Like with anything electrical that are outside 24/7 for many months at a time exposed to extreme highs and lows, there will be problems.

Very good post. This is what I'm experiencing right now. Hopefully buckshot can get me squared away and my units will work good after that.

[killdee]

Not 2 bad out of 14 I have 2 in the house for repairs.Bad flash in a p-41, got the flash, to busy to fix.1 older SSS on- off d-380 quit powering up, have a spare camera just need to hack, but will go to always on and externals for the fast 1 second trigger for trails.I had 2 pelicans a year or 2 ago that I cant stop from leaking, even with the new gaskets. Built covers for them like a 3 sided birdhouse, fixed. Plano 1425s for me now. Have a nice IR p-32 ready to go in a case, just need a board. Couple more spare p-32s and 41s just keeping for spares, I have enough cams in this MP range, I would like to find a w-55 or 2 for the excellent quality pics.

Tip.. I have started hot gluing the wires to the male servo, this is where I have had most of my wires break plugging and unplugging the camera. This gives you something to grab and keeps you from bending the wires back and forth. I have also used a bent piece of paper clip on some of my 5 wire servos. Also I always cut the little lock off the servo for easy use.

[buckshot164]

I have been using goop on the servos. Works good to.

[12-Ringer]

most I could handle, with the others, someone has always offered a helping hand

my torubles are typically camera specific

s40's - scrape method soldering, focus issues
p32 - none
p41 - power switch, battery door
s600 - power bar, shutter wiring
L14 - power button, LCD, external wiring

like Ron my main field issue is moisture, animals do a number too, especially the yellow-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers - they love to pop the fresnels, bears can do a number and many of mine have tell-tale coon markings too

Joe