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