Hi everyone!
So I've been trying to configure my AudioMoths so that they will record 10 minutes, then rest for 20 minutes etc from 7:30am-7:30pm. Since that time period is more than the 5 allowed periods, I've set the device like in the photo below.
I've been deploying them around different sites the past week, but every time I check on them in the morning, there aren't any files on the SD card (which were all formatted to FAT32 before I used them and I double check the configuration before putting them in place).
What's weird is that the indicator lights are all correct (solid green when configuring on the USB/OFF setting and flashing green when on standby or blinking red when recording when on the CUSTOM setting) and the clock is still correct when I collect them later, it's just that there are no files in the card.
I'm wondering if there is a maximum time allowed on the duration for the sleep/record duration that I'm hitting and if so, what should I do about it?
(The devices seemed to be recording just fine when I was testing them out in DEFAULT mode, so I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware issue, but I could be wrong).
If there isn't a limit, is there anything I should do to troubleshoot the issue and figure out why it's not recording properly?
Hi Rebecca, That should be working fine and the way you've set the configuration app is how we would do it in your application. The firmware on your device is quite an old version so you should probably update to the latest version - the instructions are here - https://www.openacousticdevices.info/flashing. Also check that you have the most up to date version of the Configuration App.
Do you see the red LED flashing for the full 10 minutes when it is recording in CUSTOM mode? If you configure the device and start it at any time, it will wait and then join the schedule at the appropriate time (i.e. starting to record at 0 and 30 minutes past each hour between 06:00 and 18:00). I'll double check on one of hour devices that this configuration works as expected for us. Alex
Hi Alex,
So I ran the test and something really weird happened. With half the monitors everything without a hitch - no problems there! With the other half, they recorded til about 11am ish before they fell out of sync and stopped recording like before (like they would be fine at the start, then fall behind the others until they just stopped recording on the SD card entirely).
I compared the two sets together and noticed that the lights for the faulty set seemed to be blinking much slower than the other ones (about 1 blink every 2 seconds) and when I plugged them in, the internal clocks was over two hour behind the correct UTC time.
(Set 1 is working properly while set 2 is the lagging one)
This is what they looked like after a couple of sleep/recording cycles:
After I reconfigured them, the AudioMoths in set 2 would still lag behind the correct time like in this video, with the gap widening as time went on:
Not sure if this is the same issue from before popping up again, or a new one that only happened after flashing the devices. It's not a battery problem (all the devices have ~4V of power) and all of the configuration settings between the two sets are identical so I'm not quite sure what is happening to cause the lag...
-Rebecca
Whoops, one of the videos didn't upload properly!
To fix that you just need to take the batteries out, wait a couple of seconds, and then put them back in. They should then keep time correctly when you view them in the Configuration App. The time viewed in the Configuration App should always be changing every second and should keep perfect time.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your thorough reply, I've done what you suggested and it seem to be working properly now! (Red lights are flashing for the full 10 minutes and I can get files off of the SD card). I'll do the same with my other AudioMoths and leave them out for a full 12-hour recording test tomorrow to see if any other lingering issues arise with them. Thanks for the help!
-Rebecca