# Problems with Alpha Dogg



## farmboy07

Hello I'm new to the site. I just got the Alpha Dogg for xmas and Ive taken it out 5 times. Worked great and then today I went out and turned it on to a loud distortion sound. Thought nothing of it and then my remote would get a signal then loose it. I had the call about 40 yards away. Put all new batteries in and still did it. Anyone else had problems? I turned it on inside my house and still kept getting and loosing the signal and i was 2 feet away for it.


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## youngdon

Welcome to the forum farmboy07.

Are you sure that the batteries you put in were fresh ?and making good contact ? other than that I'd try contacting the manufacturer.


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## Mattuk

Welcome to PT farmboy07.


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## bones44

Welcome farmboy07. That really stinks to hear. Like Don said about the batteries. Another issue to check is to make sure you have the correct kind of batteries. Some of the manufacturers suggest only using one kind as there many different ones out there. Some electronics don't do so well with lithium batteries which can really goof things up. Check your manual. Could be as simple as that. Good luck.


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## pdxJaxon

My Brother just got the Alpha Dogg and he loves it. However, .....the remote only works out to about 40-50 yards. No other complaints so far.

Good luck with yours. I'm sure Primos will take care of you.

Jaxon


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## youngdon

It seems as though every maker overstates the real world ability of their remotes. I'll be anxious to see how the Flextone Echo works, they state 300yds.


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## farmboy07

I'm almost positive that i have a defective remote. I'm going to contact primos and see what they say on Monday


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## Predatorhunter

Welcome To PT farmboy07!

That really stinks about your call problems. Hopefully when you contact Primos they will take care of it for you.


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## youngdon

farmboy07 said:


> I'm almost positive that i have a defective remote. I'm going to contact primos and see what they say on Monday


Let us know what happens with this situation.


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## sos1inmesa

I had that happen to, with the distortion. It worked great my first few trips then got gradually worse with distortion. I totally thought the unit was defective. I popped in some new batteries and it was good as new. I echo Don, let us know what happens.


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## s196344

just got my alpha dogg went out tried it, took it so my buddy could see it. We decided to try it real quick so we just jumped in truck went out to to wood line and set it about 40 yards away. Called in a bob cat with in minutes spotted it from about 150 to 200 yards came with in 50 yards of us. excited!!!!!


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## youngdon

Welcome to the forum s196344.


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## Predatorhunter

Welcome to PT s196344


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## hassell

Welcome to PT, enjoy the site and go get that Bobcat.


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## showmeyote

That stinks! I am curious to see what the problem is what what the out come is.


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## Varminthunter123

I have this call and I have to change batteries about every other hunt or mine will do the same thing, distorted sounds.

Welcome to PT!!


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## sos1inmesa

Varminthunter123 said:


> I have this call and I have to change batteries about every other hunt or mine will do the same thing, distorted sounds.
> 
> Welcome to PT!!


Do you do coyote howls mostly, or distress? When mine distorted, I know the main reason was bad batteries, but at the time it was when I first got my caller and I was going really high with the volume and mainly running howls. I would notice as the batteries got weaker, the max volume I could run those howls kept getting drastically lower. When I used to crank it, using these howls, I went through batteries quick like what you are saying.

I've changed my approach (which has given me awesome results), of doing just distress at lower volumes, and coincidentally I'm only changing batteries every 7 or 8 trips out. And I'm only changing them cause I don't want to risk them going out on a stand. So my experience has changed totally with battery life. Granted, if that is what's draining them, it would be nicer to get at least a few more trips out of them. Batteries aint cheap when your buying them every other outing.


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## HowlinRed

I'm using rechargeable batt. for that very reason.

Welcome to PT s196344!


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## 220swift

Welcome to PT s196344.

Higher volume requires more power from the caller no matter the brand, therefore higher volume will drain batteries faster. The Alpha Dogg is driving three speakers where as most other brands have one speaker. The Alpha Dogg *WILL* require more power to drive all three speakers and then you add volume and short battery life happens. SOS, you're right on with your approach and battery life.


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## Harmzy

Thanks guys for the info on the battery issue. I was just about to send my Alpha Dogg call back to Primos per their request when I asked about the speaker breaking up a high volume howls. I guess I should have figured it might be the batteries ... I have used it several times hunting, played with it at home and added calls/software updates all on this set of batteries.


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## sos1inmesa

Welcome to the forum Harmzy! Yeah I thought the same thing, "oh great, my new e-caller is a dud". But yeah, the batteries seemed to be the trick.


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## Harmzy

Question for those who might know. On the Alpha Dogg, I loaded some free sounds which caused the "no name" problem and also messed up the "hunts" on the e-caller.

Has anyone done this with success? Help me please!

I have updated to 1.3 software, deleted all information in the properties associated with the MP3 file and unchecked "archive" in the properties. Are there other suggestions you guys have?

Thanks.


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## 220swift

I have deleted all the non predator sounds and loaded 500 mp3s. I did have the no name thing show up and called Primos. They said they would get back to me. WOW, in less than 10 minutes I got a call back with the info I needed to correct the problem.

View attachment NO_NAME_sound_workaround_instructions_WinXP_v11 (1).txt


I have used these instructions with a computer running XP. If you are running Vista or Windows 7 there is a slight difference in the way you edit the names. I have renamed about 100 of my mp3s and then synced the remote and the names appeared.

I would caution not to load as many sounds as I have. I've had the sync process take between 15 and 20 minutes. I do take things to extremes, however when I'm done I'll know every aspect of the electronic item I'm working with. I've already prepared two suggestions for modifications to the Alpha Dogg that I will be submitting to Primos.

Also, the link below is to their knowledge base site.

http://primos.zendesk.com/home


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## Harmzy

Thanks for the reply 220swift. I got the no name thing fixed. My only problem now is that the hunts I build as well as the expert hunts have problems where silence sounds get changed to say cougar, coyote or bobcat sounds and do not actually play silence anymore. I can even create a new hunt, save it and come back to it later and it will be messed up also. Right now I am tempted to remove the few sounds I added in an attempt to fix the sound renaming problem I have. I have tried Primos no name fix and their expert hunt fix on my computer at home running vista as well as my work computer running XP. I've been to primoszendesk and have a ticket open trying to get things fixed. Primos sent me a shipping ticket so I can return the unit for replacement or repair, but I don't want to send it off just yet when the coyote calling season is in full swing. The call works ... its just the hunts no longer have silence where they are supposed to. Any more ideas?


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## 220swift

I'll duplicate want you're doing on mine and see if I can find a fix. I'll let you know.


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## Harmzy

Thanks for the help ... but don't mess yours up in the process. I wonder if I could have added sounds, updated software and did the fixes in an order that resulted in things not working. Maybe deleting my sounds and going back to version 1.0 software would get me back to a good starting point.


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## 220swift

Harmzy said:


> Thanks for the help ... but don't mess yours up in the process. I wonder if I could have added sounds, updated software and did the fixes in an order that resulted in things not working. Maybe deleting my sounds and going back to version 1.0 software would get me back to a good starting point.


 you can't go backwards with firmware, that would require a factory reset (flash) of the main processor. I've done most of the same things you've done execpt the hunt fix. I'm betting that's where things went south for you.


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## 220swift

Well damn, I added one more file with 10 mp3s to the Alpha, resynced and now 1/3rd of my files are "no name" again. Primos will be getting an ear full from me today. I've been in the computer indusrty a long time and it should not take this long to get a firmware update written.

I still really like the call, I'm just pi*%&# about their support.


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