Hello Open Acoustic Developers. I had recommended the purchase of 2 second generation Audiomoths with cases for our not for profit wildlife research group here in Ontario, Canada. WE have as of yet been able to capture any usable audio after a year now. Either the recording contain repetitive mechanical sounding click (that also show up/display in Audio software (Audacity/Sonic Visualizer ) or files having seemingly random file sizes with no discernible audio or files having 0 kb . The most recent contents of the cards are as follows
Both units have had been flashed with latest software. I fear they are mechanically defective which is having a serious impact on our research. Can I send them back/shipping is now so incredibly expensive but I dont know what else to do.
I truly do NOT believe this is user error and now my fellow researchers are exasperated at this point as the research site is 3 hr drive each way. How can we verify if the hardware is functional/functioning properly... Yes we have tried setting back to defaults but any audio captured is so low in volume/poor quality it is unusable. Would this have anything to do with the cases we purchased with?
PLEASE ASSIST AS WE ARE IN REAL NEED OF GETTING THESE RE-DEPOLYED IN A MONTH OR SO. THANK YOU!!!
FIRST CARD
2 folders
one called ".fsevents"
and the other called ".Spotlight-V100
no log file on this card generated
Multiple supported cards tried with similar results
THE SECOND CARD has following config results
Device ID : 247AA501608F8DC4
Firmware : AudioMoth-Firmware-Basic (1.8.0)
Time zone : UTC
Sample rate (Hz) : 32000
Gain : Low
Sleep duration (s) : 5
Recording duration (s) : 3595
Active recording periods : 2
Recording period 1 : 00:00 - 07:00 (UTC)
Recording period 2 : 19:00 - 24:00 (UTC)
Earliest recording time : ---------- --:--:--
Latest recording time : ---------- --:--:--
Filter : -
Trigger type : -
Threshold setting : -
Minimum trigger duration (s) : -
Enable LED : Yes
Enable low-voltage cut-off : Yes
Enable battery level indication : Yes
Always require acoustic chime : No
Use daily folder for WAV files : Yes
Disable 48Hz DC blocking filter : Yes
Enable energy saver mode : No
Enable low gain range : Yes
Enable magnetic switch : No
Enable GPS time setting : No
Hello Alex, The units have been retrieved and here are the test results so far. There seems to be issues with consistent high levels of white noise.
Audio Moth Testing – White Noise challenge
Units
AM 1 using a 128 GB U3 ONN card
AM2 using a 128 GB U3 San Disc card
R: Recording
F: Filtering
A: Advance
Common to both units throughout testing
R: Sleep 5 seconds; Recording Duration 3595 seconds
A: Daily folder enabled
Play back of recordings on a HP Pavilion laptop with B&O speakers at 100% (Max Volume), otherwise as from factory, the settings.
Facing the same direction, side by each
Test 1
Both units flashed with 1.8.1 update
Both sd cards reformatted to FAT 32X
Schedule: 0000-2400 hrs
Factory default: R: Sample Rate – 48
R: Gain – Medium
AM1: A: 48 Hz DC blocking filter – Disabled
F: Trigger Type None; Filter Type – None
AM2: F: Trigger Type – Amplitude; Filter Type – None; Min Trigger duration 0.001
A: 48 Hz DC – Enabled
RESULTS: White noise present both units
AM1: White Noise less intense
Suspect that the trigger type has no influence on the occurrence of white noise.
Test 2
AM1: R: Sample Rate - 8; Gain – Low
F: Trigger Type – None
A: 48 Hz DC – Disabled
AM2: R: Sample Rate – 8; Gain – High
F: Trigger Type – None
A: 48 Hz DC – Disabled
RESULTS: White noise present
AM2: White noise slightly more intense
Test 3
AM1: R: Sample Rate – 48; Gain – Low
AM2: R: Sample Rate – 384; Gain – Low
RESULTS: White noise present
Test 4
AM1 & AM2: R: Sample Rate –8; Gain – Low
A: 48 Hz DC – Enabled
RESULTS: White noise present, intensity very low, doesn’t seem to pick up sound unless really close to the units, for example the impact of rain.
Test 5
AM1: R: Sample Rate – 8; Gain – Low
A: 48 Hz DC – Disabled; Enable Low Gain – Enabled
AM2: R: Sample Rate – 8; Gain – Low
A: 48 Hz DC – Enabled; Enable Low Gain – Enabled
RESULTS: White noise eliminated. Recording of birds chirping really faint. AM 1 play back of chirping more distinct and likely due to microphone orientation being more inline to source.
Test 6: Attempt to improve recording clarity and volume of sound
AM1: R: Sample Rate – 8; Gain – High
A: 48 Hz DC – Disabled; Enable Low Gain – Enabled
AM2: R: Sample Rate – 8; Gain – Low
A: 48 Hz DC – Disabled; Enable Low Gain – Enabled
RESULTS: TBD
Alex, the units will have to be retrieved so it may be a number of days before we can get you the required info but we will assuredly! Thanks so much
Hi, With the most up-to-date firmware installed - version 1.8.1 - can you switch the device to DEFAULT with an SD card installed, the AudioMoth will immediately start recording with the default settings (you don't need to set the time or anything - just put batteries in and move the switch to DEFAULT and you will see the red LED start to flash), make a ten-second recording of you counting to 10 about 0.5 meters away from the device (outside the case) and then post the resulting WAV file, and the CONFIG.TXT file, somewhere that we could access it - or email it to alex@openacousticdevices.info. Did these devices make clear recordings on your desk before deployment? Make sure that the SD cards are newly formatted as exFAT or FAT32 cards. The two files you are seeing are generated by a Mac which has read the SD card, rather than by AudioMoth. Can you confirm the exact make, model and size of the SD card that you are using, and also the same for the batteries that you are using? If you can send up some examples of the files which are the wrong size, that would be useful. The header information in the WAV file will always provide an explanation as to why the file is shorter than requested. Most commonly this is due to the battery voltage being too low, or sometimes due to the card being full (or the file allocation table being full as the card has not been reformatted between writing and deleting lots of files). Files which are 0kB in size result from an SD card write error during recording (since the file is opened but not closed correctly), again commonly caused by the battery voltage being low, or the SD card filling up. You have 'Enable low gain range' and 'Disable 48Hz DC blocking filter' set in the configuration file. The former, along with the 'Low' gain setting selected, will result in very low-volume recordings. Is this intentional? Finally, can you confirm where and when you purchased the AudioMoth? Thanks, Alex