Why are so many of my AMs faulty?

I have 4 units which are faulty and would appreciate some tips/feedback please.

AM1: Configures fine, but both lights flash when it should be recording and I get no files. I have tried with 3 different cards, including one that works fine in another unit. Sounds like a problem writing to the card, but not a card error as such.

AM2: Records noise only. Could this be a faulty mic?

AM3: Works OK , but the volltage always displays in Config App as <3.6v. The same batteries show as 4.4v when I put them in another unit.

AM4: When I connect to PC using a cable that works fine with other units, the green light flickers then fades. The Config App won't recognise the unit.

All of the above are running the latest (?) firmware, i.e. 1.4.4 and I am using Config App 1.3.6

At the moment I have more units that don't work than those that do.

Also, despite hardly any use, the fastening clips on the 'as supplied' protective cases have broken. Can these be replaced?

1 answer1 reply

2 Comments

Andy

Nov 17, 2020

Hi Lyndon, Sorry to hear you are having all these issues with your devices.

AM1: This could be a microSD card problem. Have you tried re-formatting the microSD card or trying a different microSD card in this unit?

AM2: This sounds like a damaged mic. Is there any chance this unit got wet?

AM3 - 4: These sound like other hardware issues, possibly moisture damage again.

What version of AudioMoth hardware are these devices?

For the clasps, our first batch had a weakness in the clasp strength, which has subsequently been fixed. If you email me at andy@openacousticdevices.info I can arrange some replacement stronger clasps to be posted to you.

Thanks,

Andy

lyndon.roberts

Nov 17, 2020

Replying to

Thanks Andy,

It gets worse I'm afraid.

I put out my 4 'working' units last night and, despite bench testing them successfully beforehand, 3 came back with the following message when i tried to download the data; "You need to format the disk in drive:X before you can use it." I can guarantee, 100%, that the the cards (all 256GB) were formatted properly, Before I deployed the AMs I ran them on the Default setting for a few minutes and got no errors flashing up. One of the 4 units did work, however, and produced WAV files. But here's another thing, the unit that worked porduced a file for every duty cycle, which I would not expect with triggering in a quiet environment (I set the amplitude threshold to 512 and the frequency range to 18-120kHz).

About your reply about my previous problem with faulty units:

AM-1 As I said, I tried 3 different cards including one that worked fine in another unit.

AM 2-4 None of my units havd been exposed to damp.

Case: A new clip will not do it i'm afraid as the green plastic is damaged where the clip came away. I still have the clip and it can't be attached.

All the faulty units are 1.0.0

Of the ones I used last night, 2 (both of which failed ... see above) are 1.1.0 and the other 2 (one which worked and one which failed) were 1.0.0