Hello,

I am conducting my undergraduate thesis on amphibian bioacoustics in the Dominican Republic. I’ve been experiencing some issues with my recordings; out of my seven AudioMoths, only three recorded properly. Some devices recorded for only four days, others for about twenty, and only a few completed the full month. I’m wondering what could be causing this.

Could it be due to humidity? At my study site, humidity often reaches 100% and rarely drops below 75%. Daytime temperatures are around 25 °C, while nighttime temperatures can fall to 7 °C. I noticed that some of the batteries showed signs of corrosion, with bluish residue on the devices. I use the protective cases for the AudioMoths, but they might not be sufficient against moisture. I’m considering placing them inside Ziploc bags with silica gel, as I suspect humidity might be the main issue.

All units use Duracell AA alkaline batteries, Kingston 64 GB SD cards, and the same configuration:

• Sample rate: 48 kHz

• Gain: medium

• Recording schedule: 5 minutes per hour, 24 hours a day

• Battery: 4.5V Firmware version: 1.11.0

  Energy saver mode

The software indicates 24 files of about 29 MB each (691 MB total per day), with an estimated daily energy consumption of 20 mAh.

Some of them were flashing green and red lights. Do you have any recommendations or adjustments I could make to prevent this issue in future recordings?