Hunting trail camera HC-300/HC-300M repair / schematic - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: jtu
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 26, 2018, 09:43:54 am
content: Hi,I've got my hands on Hunting trail camera HC-300/HC-300M. It was stated that camera might have gotten wet.Yes, there were signs of water inside, but minor. I have fixed the rest, working condition now, except camera does not recognise SIM card.First, I can't google schematic... Aparently this is a cheap chinese clone, I really wonder why no schematic out there.Second, any hints on how to debug a SIM? Card works in another device.Veiksmi,J?nis

author: KhronX
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2018, 12:08:36 pm
content: Any chance you could attach some reasonably sized photos? For whatever reason, those two are tiiiiiiiny...

author: jtu
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 27, 2018, 09:11:31 am
content: Thanks for noticing. And sorry, I have not learned how to resize pics for the forum easily yet. My mac offers some options, but I have not found a consistent one. There are web services, but those are slow and inconvenient.Here you are, nevertheless. I'll add more teardown pics later.

author: KhronX
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2018, 01:05:29 pm
content: Yeah, if it has SIM issues, photos of (only) the outside won't help all that much, i'm afraid

author: jtu
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 08:59:45 am
content: Hereis link to the album. You can see main board from both sides, display board, sensors board there.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 03:49:58 pm
content: Suspect the card holder but check the traces to it for any signs of data. Hopefully the controller hasn't been damaged.More IPA cleaning around the card holder ?

author: jtu
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 07:16:00 pm
content: SIM card holder was prime suspect. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I re-soldered the holder. Cleaning included.Ok, googled SIM pinouts, SIM holder pinouts. I was not able to find any SIM holder pinout similar to this case.I tried to poke it with scope anyway. My findings: there is activity starting couple soconds after turning DUT on, high appears to be 1.8V:pin 1 = groundpin 2 = Vcc? gets up first, stays highpin 3 = groundpin 4 = I don't know, gets up last, stays highpin 5 = seem NCpin 6 = should be clock ~3MHz; it does the clock thing for ~3-4 seconds then goes lowpin 7 = should be data line; does something while clock is on, then stays highTo understand the sequence of the events I did it in pairs also: pin 2 gets up first, then 7, then 6, then 4.I did SIM holder pic and scope screenshots, see gallery.I should capture the whole thing probably to understand the ending. But for that I need to do some reading first, I'm not that proficient with scope yetAny feedback appreciated!

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 09:12:19 pm
content: Nice scope !Yeah I have no idea of SIM card protocols or pinouts either, but you are getting something on the scope, great.Thoughts....Damaged card holder, dry solder joint ?Try another SIM.Good work.

author: eduardsk
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 31, 2018, 12:45:52 pm
content: Hi guys,I have a very similar problem with water resistance. But the humidity damaged (it started burning when I reconnected it) the cable that connects battery to the camera.Any thoughts where could I get this kind of cable?