Al is correct it sounds like its functioning as normal. Depends on the trail cam for some things but they are not user interactive devices, nothing blinks, nothing clicks, nothing rings a bell. It gives you zero indication of battery level either. Usually trial and error of usage can give you an indication of battery life. If you’re trying to get proof of a tasmanian tiger getting into your chicken coupe or to track the existence of any endangered species the last thing you want is bells and whistles going off just as the animal is approaching and scaring it away, leaving you with photos of nothing. Similarly some have a large IR led array that remains ON or comes on at dark and some critters that see in IR are turned away by the bright IR lights. Not all trail cams let you see photos on them, the aim is to record so when you plug the memory card into your computer you’ll see the photos or videos you’ve recorded. I’ve used a bunch over the years and have several at my urban home. They all operate differently but they all seem to have small menu screen to configure sensitivity and what it records. But its not been easy to access this screen its usually in the innermost sanctum waterproofed insides etc.
have a look at my page :
Visitors
Its various wildlife visitors I’ve caught comin to my birdbath. No Sasquatches though, yet
Try to set up where people wont be trigering it constantly and only record video if its required otherwise you run out of space, not all device support large memory cards, you will have to experiment plus each wasted trigger drains the batteries I generally just have a reminder in my calendar to go get them and replace batteries every six months and adjust settings based on photos I get. Maybe sensitivity adjustments and positioning location too. Plants/branches blown by the wind can trigger the camera. And a windy day can fill your card. You just learn as you go. I find it loses the clock and i have to check or reset every time. If you are setting up for home security try to pick a location that capture the invader/s full front facial if you can (video is probably better for police to identify someone from and remember wildlife cams are wide angle cameras so you wont get good facial portraits unless you can place the camera a foot or two in front of their face but they are getting very good photos these days, more than enough to know which neighbour is crapping on your lawn or whatever and of course for wildlife they are awesome to see whats around the place.But yes silent operation is normal operation for them, you only need to check the memory card to see its running then resetup again and position it and trust its running. After years of using them I still get that doubt about mine after the “start” procedure each time and placing the cameraI keep wondering is it “on” because its not as simple as on or off, off seems to lose setting etc. Reminds me the old Top Gear talking about cars having keyless entry, you close the car doors and walk away with the card in your pocket and the car is supossed to sense you’ve moved away and lock itself, but your unsure and walk back and find the car open because it sensed your approach, then they changed to make sure the car beeped and flashed its lights so youknew it locked itself when you walked away.
I dont think you’ll have much luck mounting one pointing up at the night sky to catch fireballs though, let us know if you do!