Before you begin
Plan your deployments
We highly recommend downloading and using Google Earth Pro and its viewshed analysis functionality to plan your deployment locations before you go out into the field. Because the nodes need line-of-site to communicate with one another, the viewshed from a particular node is a good proxy for all of the potential areas you would have decent connectivity to that node. Some rules of thumb when planning new deployments:
Range: They can transmit images quite far. We have successfully transmitted images up to 7 miles using only the small, 8” stock dipole antennas. The range depends on a lot of conditions, however, including ambient RF interference and humidity.
Line of sight: Transmitting images between nodes requires near perfect line-of-sight. They have some tolerance/ability to transmit through tree canopy/foliage, but they can not transmit through hills, buildings, or other large land masses. That’s why making sure where you want to place a camera falls within its parent camera/repeater’s viewshed ahead of time is so important. Repeater nodes are incredibly effective tools for expanding signal to hard-to-reach locations, but they come at an extra cost, and in general it’s good practice to try to keep the number of “hops” an image has to make between nodes to a minimum.
Positioning repeaters: If you’re trying to place a camera in a difficult-to-connect-to location (e.g., a deep drainage), a good strategy is to position repeaters on elevated ridges/hills across from drainages, rather than above them. For example we failed to connect directly from Valley Peak to the following drainages off of the South Ridge of Santa Cruz Island because the drainages were too deep and too far west, relative to VP:
However, by positioning a repeater further west along the North Ridge, directly across from the drainages, we were able to connect to them:
Download Buckeyes “X80 Remote” iPhone app
The newer Buckeye cameras do not have an LCD screen and physical buttons to interact with it; you instead interact with it via bluetooth and a phone app. That means you need to have the app loaded on your phone in order to perform basic setup tasks. If you have an iPhone, you can find the app by searching “X80 Remote” in the App Store. I believe it’s called the same thing in the Android/Google Play Store.
Charge batteries
Make sure the 12v AGM batteries are charged before leaving. A 12v battery charger & tender like this one works well.
Assemble solar panels
This can also be done in the field, but they require a little finesse to put together and require working with small nuts and bolts in tight, awkward areas so it's easier to do before departing. It also might require drilling larger holes in the angled bracket - newer solar panel brackets appear to have impossibly small and oddly-shaped holes for the machine screws it comes with it.
We also recommend using thread-locker on all nuts as vibrations from wind can work these screws loose, which can result in the entire node being knocked offline.
Register new cameras/repeaters to the network
Before you head out into the field to deploy a camera/repeater, be sure to register it with the network (and first UNREGISTER it from any previous networks, if it is currently paired with a different one). This is critical as it’s not possible to deploy a node that is not either already registered to the network, or who’s parent node has not been set to “Search and Registration” mode, and both approaches require access to internet. Full instructions can be found in the Adding new cameras to the network section of this documentation.
if you forget to do this and you are out in the field, at the very least make sure you have the serial number of the camera/repeater written down, because you can perform a targeted registration after the fact once you’re back to internet and can access Buckeye Multibase SE (instructions for targeted registration are also in the “Adding new cameras to the network” section)
Disable the motion trigger on the cameras
It’s also not a bad idea to temporarily disable the motion trigger on the cameras while you’re setting them up and/or working on them. You will trigger the camera dozens of times, which bogs down the network, drains battery, and pollutes our data. To disable the cameras, log into Buckeye MultiBase SE, click the camera you wish to disable, and click Disable Sensor.
If you forget to do this before you leave, you can set the camera to “Walk test” mode while configuring it out in the field, which will prevent the camera from taking and sending pictures for a period of time of your choosing.
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