I deployed 40 AudioMoths in a forest for two months. However, when I now checked the SD-cards and the filenames, there is obviously something wrong with the filenames. I have files, that are named with as they were recorded within the night e.g. 11 pm - but I hear many songbirds singing on the file. Additionally, the date of the last recordings does not match the date of collecting the devices from the field. I put them out at the beginning of May and collected them at the end of June, but the last files are named with 20200515. However on those "youngest" files I can hear myself opening the enclosures and turning of the devices in my office. Does someone have a clue what has happened here to the timecodes of the files? Did the decives stop recording one day due to lack of energy (batteries lifetime should have run out before collection) but then started again to record when temperature rose again etc.? Or did something went wrong with the clock?
I configured them to record the whole day with sleeping for 1500 seconds and recording for 300 seconds with a sampling rate of 32khz.
Any hints concerning that problem would be great!
Thanks!
David Singer
I failed to directly upload the config-file here in the forum for unknown reason. So here is a link to the file: https://owncloud.gwdg.de/index.php/s/bjRoOIzo2n4Vm9i
Yes, here is one example file:
Unfortunately I deinstalled the old configuration app, so I do not know the version. However, it was at the end of April 2020 when I configured the devices and I used the most recent version of the app at that moment. Firmware must have the version before 1.4.0 - but I can look it up in a few days when I have access to the devices.
Thank you!
David
Do you mind attaching the file again? It doesn't seem to be in the message above.
Can you remember which firmware/Configuration App version you used, and what the configuration settings were for this deployment (a screenshot of the config app or the actual config file would be best)?
Hi Andy,
thanks for your response. I was using UTC+2 as time zone. However, I did not use Configuration App 1.3.6. since it has not been available at the end of April. So I used the old firmware and the previous app to configure those devices.
I configured the devices in the office but started them (switching to custom) in the field before mounting the boxes to the tree.
The metadata for one of the "youngest" from 20200514 files looks like this:
So battery obviously has not been a problem, voltage was quiet high at the last files - and the devices were still recording when we collected them after 2 months. Normally they should have run out of battery with the mentioned settings within that time period. We used SD cards "SanDisk Extreme 32GB".
I attached a file from 20200515 - you can here, that the device has been in the office and not in the forest while recording... However, we deployed them on 20200430 and collected them on 20200629. By listening to the youngest files of some devices, it seems like there has been a recording rhythm of 2 hours instead of every half hour - I heard myself phoning first at 4:45 pm and on the next file giving an online lecture at 6:45 pm... But those two files are named like 20200515_203000 and 20200515_210000.
I do not have an idea about that shifting of the recording rhythm/clock delay. Maybe my only possibility is to manually check the files for the "dawn chorus" and somehow reconstruct the timing by that or check, whether the rhythm of every 2 hours may fit the bird activity pattern for the whole recording period and then rename the files.
Or do you have another idea how to reconstruct the timing?
Regards,
David
Hi David,
Sorry to hear that you are having problems with this. What timezone or location are you in? The filename times are in UTC, so this could be why 11pm is not what you expect. The recording WAV files have comments which can give you an idea of why they stopped. Here is an example AudioMoth comment below, if the recording stopped before it should have the comment should give you the reason.
Comments can be viewed in Audacity or right-clicking "Get info" on Mac.
Also, can you check whether you are on the latest firmware 1.4.4 and Configuration App 1.3.6.
Let me know if you have any trouble, or you could send a sample of the last WAV file on 20200515.
Andy