We are using hydromoths with Ni-MH 1.2 Volt and 2300 and 2500 mAh batteries and SanDisk ultra 64 GB SD cards.
These are the settings we are using:
Device ID : 242A26056486ACAC
Firmware : AudioMoth-Firmware-Basic (1.9.2)
Time zone : UTC
Sample rate (Hz) : 48000
Gain : Medium
Sleep duration (s) : 300
Recording duration (s) : 300
Active recording periods : 1
Recording period 1 : 00:05 - 00:00 (UTC)
First recording date : ----------
Last recording date : ----------
Filter : -
Trigger type : -
Threshold setting : -
Minimum trigger duration (s) : -
Enable LED : Yes
Enable low-voltage cut-off : Yes
Enable battery level indication : Yes (NiMH/LiPo voltage range)
Always require acoustic chime : No
Use daily folder for WAV files : No
Disable 48Hz DC blocking filter : No
Enable energy saver mode : No
Enable low gain range : No
Enable magnetic switch : Yes
Enable GPS time setting : No
Our problem is that the hydromoths will stop recording and show a flashing red and green LED indicating a low battery or SD card failure. After max 4 days the size of the audiofiles gradually decline. We have calculated that the audiomoths should record for at least a week. We suspect the problem might be the voltage level getting too low.
The file size keeps decreasing to 0 kBs and then the moths will stop recording.
Is this a reoccuring problem? Or could it be because of our batteries?
Hi,
Can you use the 'Summarise AudioMoth Files' option in the Process menu of the Configuration App to show generate a SUMMARY.CSV file. This will show the battery voltage. I suspect that the battery voltage is running down and the AudioMoth is cutting the recordings short. The WAV file comment (shown in the SUMMARY.CSV file) will state this. Make sure that the batteries are in good condition and fully charged. You can get 2850mAh capacity Ni-MH batteries.
The most likely cause of the extra consumption is the SanDisk Ultra SD card. The consumption of different SD cards varies widely - https://www.openacousticdevices.info/sd-card-guide. We recommend SanDisk Extreme (red and gold) cards which consistently have low energy consumption.
Alex