ecoObs batcorder 3.0 Instruction Manual

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batcorder 3.1

for batcorder 3.0 / 3.1

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Version 3.12 / en

Mar 2022

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Summary of Contents for ecoObs batcorder 3.0

Page 1 3.1 for batcorder 3.0 / 3.1 Manual Version 3.12 / en Mar 2022...
Page 2: Table Of Contents
ANUAL BATCORDER Instruction manual Instructions for use and safety Safety precautions Application notes Introduction What is the batcorder Optional accessories Overview Included in standard delivery Microphone Microphone capsule Temperature sensor Power supply Battery pack Internal battery SD-Karte Service jack: Display illumination Setting up the batcorder Preparing the power supply Assembling the batcorder...
Page 3 ANUAL BATCORDER Instructions for use Acoustic and electromagnetic inﬂuences Site selection and recording modalities Miscellaneous Sound format Filenames Log ﬁle Field setup Attaching the battery pack Echoabsorber General echo avoidance Attachment at a tarp pole Further information for ﬁeld setup Firmware update Tips, Tricks &...
Page 4: Instructions For Use And Safety
These instructions describe the batcorder 3.1 with the ﬁrmware version SW 3.23, with older devices of the type batcorder 3.0 or older software versions, there may be slight deviations in operation. In addition, some functions may be missing in older ﬁrmware versions.
Page 5: Safety Precautions
If the batcorder is damaged or does not start, please contact our support via ● email: info@ecoobs.de or 0911 3768053. Please do not try to repair the damage yourself or by unauthorized persons. Avoid excessive mechanic strain on the batcorder, especially on the plugs if ●...
Page 6: Application Notes
Do not use any tools for locking or opening (pliers, etc.). Avoid strong, short-term temperature ﬂuctuations, direct sunlight and ● temperatures above 40 ° C or below 0 ° C. If you have further questions, please contact our support team: info@ecoobs.de or +49 911 3768053...
Page 7: Introduction
(manual sound analysis) and batIdent (developed to identify European bat species). Information on the programs bcAdmin4, bcAnalyze3 and batIdent can be found on our homepage http://www.ecoobs.de http://www.ecoobs.com What is the batcorder The batcorder was developed to automatically register bat activity (objective triggering and calibrated sensitivity).
Page 8: Optional Accessories
Since spring 2021, the heart of both extensions has been Extension 4.0, which now supports the 4G network (LTE). For more information on the two extensions, see https://ecoobs.com/products/hardware/extensions/wind-turbine-extension/ https://ecoobs.com/products/hardware/extensions/box-extension/ Extensions that were bought before the release of the batcorder 3.1 are compatible.
Page 9: Overview
ANUAL BATCORDER Overview Included in standard delivery (a) batcorder + Cordura® bag (b) NiMH battery pack incl. charging electronics (6V / 2.4 Ah) (c) Power supply for the battery charger (110-240 V) (d) cables to connect batcorder and battery pack (5 pins, powercable) (e) microphone extender + microphone (f) cables for charging, connecting the power supply with the battery pack, (not shown)
Page 10: Microphone
In order to guarantee the simultaneous use and the comparability of the recordings, we urgently recommend that the microphone be checked regularly by ecoObs GmbH at least once a year. The stick microphone is tested and, if the sensitivity of the microphone capsule changes, it is either recalibrated or replaced.
Page 11: Temperature Sensor
ANUAL BATCORDER Temperature sensor The temperature sensor logs the outside temperature on the microphone. The reproducibility of the measured value is <0.5 ° C. The deviation from the actual temperature is approx. ± 2 ° C. The measured temperature is recorded in the log ﬁle every 15 minutes. Power supply Next to the microphone jack there is a ﬁve pole jack.
Page 12: Internal Battery
The battery cells in the battery pack are permanently installed and can only be changed by the manufacturer of the batcorder, ecoObs GmbH. Never change the battery yourself! Batcorder 3.1 cannot be used with old battery packs.
Page 13: Sd-Karte
ANUAL BATCORDER SD-Karte The slot to insert the SDHC card is located at the bottom end of the casing (opposite to the microphone/power connector) of the batcorder. It is securedby a lid. Open the lid to access the slot. Press slightly on the back lid of the batcorder top while simultaneously lifting and ﬂapping back the lid (see drawing).
Page 14: Service Jack
ANUAL BATCORDER The batcorder will ask you to rewrite the FAT table whenever you insert a new or computer manipulated (formatted or otherwise changed directory structure) SDHC card. Accept that step with ”„Continue”, but be advised that all existing ﬁles will be erased when continuing! This step is necessary to lay out the FAT table and sector size such that the batcorder can use it with optimal speed.
Page 15: Setting Up The Batcorder
ANUAL BATCORDER Setting up the batcorder For setting up the batcorder you need additional accessory not packed with the standard delivery: SDHC/SDXC card. Preparing the power supply The batcorder includes a sealed up battery pack (rechargeable, 6V / 2.4 Ah, NiMH).
Page 16: Settings
ANUAL BATCORDER Settings On the setting pages you can navigate between ﬁelds using the left/right arrow keys ( ). The up/down arrow keys ( ) change the selected value. After starting the batcorder, the SETTINGS: MEMORY + CLOCK display appears ﬁrst. SETTINGS: MEMORY+CLOCK At this screen you can change the following settings: 1) Erase SDHC card...
Page 17: Settings-Advanced
ANUAL BATCORDER addition, it should be noted that the time change takes place in the middle of the night and therefore a correction in bcAdmin4 is necessary later, even if the change is made manually on the batcorder. 4) Pressing the REC button together with the button takes you to the menu for setting the microphone correction factor (MCF).
Page 18: Quality
ANUAL BATCORDER Quality The quality value is used to distinguish a bat call from an "interfering signal". The quality value is set to 20 by default, because this value is usually optimal. An increase leads to the reception of signals that no longer meet the strict criteria of a bat call.
Page 19: Posttrigger
ANUAL BATCORDER Figure: Approximation of recording distance for two diﬀerent threshold settings based on typical bat calls. Note the explanations in the next paragraph. The ﬁgure above shows recording distances for three diﬀerent frequencies based on assumptions of call intensity and attenuation. These should be seen as an indication.
Page 20: Critical Frequency
ANUAL BATCORDER The graph explains pre- and posttrigger times of the batcorder. Arrows indicate positive trigger events (= bat calls). The pretrigger of 50 ms is not adjustable. Critical Frequency The third setting, is important for bat call recognition. Calls below this frequency are ignored in the analysis, thus, the signal is neither ﬁltered analogously nor digitally.
Page 21: Default Settings
ANUAL BATCORDER accordance with the speciﬁcations of RENEBAT / ProBat. Default Settings Reset the batcorder to default settings with Quality = 20, Threshold = -27 dB, Posttrigger = 400ms and Critical Frequency = 16 by pressing the REC key. These values are optimal for the analysis with bcAdmin and bcDiscriminator. Speciﬁc Settings If accessories, e.g.
Page 22: Recording
ANUAL BATCORDER Recording The batcorder has three diﬀerent recording modes: ● automatic, timer started recording: Auto+Timer Mode ● automatic, manual started recording: Auto-Mode ● manual recording: Manual-Mode The three modes can be selected one after the other using the MODE button. First the MODE: AUTO + TIMER appears, then the MODE: AUTO and then the MODE: MANUAL display.
Page 23 ANUAL BATCORDER A successful activation is additionally displayed by a message.You have to conﬁrm this and the activation is signaled by a short message. Avoid changing the SDHC card after you have activated the Auto+Timer mode. If the newly inserted card is not properly formatted, the batcorder will stop on the SDHC format step after powering itself up.
Page 24: Auto-Mode
ANUAL BATCORDER Auto-Mode Switching to the Auto mode, the device initially is in pause mode until the scanning process for call detection is started with the REC key. It can be switched to the pause state again by pressing the REC key a second time. This mode proves useful if you walk transects and you want to automatically record bat calls with the same detection algorithm the autonomous batcorder mode uses.
Page 25: Manual-Mode
ANUAL BATCORDER Manual-Mode Using the manual mode, recordings are started or stopped only by pressing the REC key. This mode is useful if signals have to be recorded that are not triggered by the automatic modes or if the recording time has to be controlled manually. Display elements in the recording modes In recording mode the batcorder displays diﬀerent status information.
Page 26: Instructions For Use
ANUAL BATCORDER Instructions for use Detecting bat calls reliably and in a quantitative manner poses high demands on setup and actual recording location. Automatic triggering, recording and computerized analyzing on species level highly depends on the proper detector setup. We therefore recommend to follow the pieces of advice. The user guidelines were compiled particularly regarding inﬂuences on the triggering mechanism, automated...
Page 27: Site Selection And Recording Modalities
ANUAL BATCORDER ● Strong electromagnetic ﬁelds (for example power lines, big coils, power switchboards, wind turbines, ...) may lead to additional recordings of noise and noise in recordings. ● AC sources (for example neon lamps, energy saving lamps, ...) may produce narrow bandwidth ultrasonic noise.
Page 28 ANUAL BATCORDER ● Hibernaculum or swarming site: A bat detector set up inside or in front of a hibernaculum will lead to a huge number of recordings in autumn and spring. This makes data analysis more diﬃcult. Social calls as well as unspeciﬁc echolocation calls near structures may lead to uninterpretable recordings.
Page 29: Miscellaneous
ANUAL BATCORDER Miscellaneous Sound format Recordings with the batcorder are written as raw audio ﬁles without header information. The data is organized as PCM values with an amplitude resolution of 16 bit, LittleEndian byte order (Intel) and a sample rate of 500 kHz. The ﬁles can be read with any sound software that is capable of opening raw audio ﬁles with the necessary sampling parameters.
Page 30 ANUAL BATCORDER A valid log entry for an event (not a recording) consists of ﬁve ﬁelds separated by tabulators: Mode (Auto on/oﬀ or Timer on/oﬀ), date (DD.MM.YY), time (HH:MM:SS), ﬁlecode and settings: Auto on 30.03.08 19:00:44 FILECODE SETTINGS A recording entry consists of ﬁve elements. The kind of recording (A automatic, T timer, M manual), date, time, ﬁlename and recording duration (milliseconds): 30.03.08 19:08:30...
Page 31 ANUAL BATCORDER 10.05.21 21:22:52 050408-XXXXXXXXXX-00010.raw 1148ms 10.05.21 21:22:53 050408-XXXXXXXXXX-00011.raw 975ms Auto on 10.10.13 23:28:20 XXXXXXXXXX "20;27;400;16;01" 10.05.21 23:28:23 050408-XXXXXXXXXX-00012.raw 1032ms 10.05.21 23:28:24 050408-XXXXXXXXXX-00013.raw 831ms 10.05.21 23:28:25 050408-XXXXXXXXXX-00014.raw 1116ms Auto oﬀ 10.05.21 23:28:26 In addition, various errors on the SD card and when sending SMS (only with extensions) are saved in the log.
Page 32: Field Setup
ANUAL BATCORDER Field setup Attaching the battery pack The batcorderʻs cordura® bag is designed to easily attach the battery pack. Battery pack and batcorder cases have Velcro® fasteners for solid ﬁxation (see drawing). Echoabsorber The batcorder is delivered with a special echo absorbing velvet cloth. This minimizes echos reﬂected directly from the batcorder.
Page 33: General Echo Avoidance
ANUAL BATCORDER General echo avoidance A carefully chosen set up is necessary to get well and echo-reduced recordings. Place the batcorder on top of a 2.5 meters high pole and place it in approximately 2 to 4 meters distance to vegetation structures or other sound reﬂecting surfaces (including stems of trees).
Page 34: Further Information For Field Setup
ANUAL BATCORDER Further information for ﬁeld setup Many of the commonly used bat detectors are placed inside plastic boxes or other casings (safety against theft or rain) when used as simple automatic bat detection systems. Usually, these are either placed on the ground or attached to trees.
Page 35 ANUAL BATCORDER We highly recommend that you subscribe to our newsletter at www.ecoobs.de so that you will be informed immediately about updates. You will see the current version of the ﬁrmware of your batcorder when you start the device as HXXX (hardware version) and SXXX (software version). Only a few steps are necessary to update the software version.
Page 36 (e.g. incorrect download, defective card, unnoticed access to the SD card while editing on the computer). As a rule, your batcorder can be revived, but only by ecoObs and not on site. Please contact the support.
Page 37: Tips, Tricks & Possible Problems
ANUAL BATCORDER Tips, Tricks & possible problems Formatting SDHC cards The batcorder writes on SDHC cards in a PC/Mac compatible format (FAT32). If necessary, the batcorder will ask you to format the SDHC card. This happens, for example, after manipulating the card or its contents with the computer. Attention: Even after formatting the card with the computer, the batcorder will rewrite the FAT table.
Page 38: Low Battery Voltage / Run Time
ANUAL BATCORDER error, the costs for this range from € 200 to € 1000. The batcorder can recognize some defects and displays them with an error code when it starts. In this case, use a diﬀerent SD card and the error should be resolved. If this is not the case, please contact us.
Page 39: Batcorder Is Not Responding
ANUAL BATCORDER prefer temperatures above 10° C. If reduced run time occurs in cold nights, the low temperatures are probably the reason. The newer the battery, the better it copes with such situations. Please note that the batcorder is not built to be used at temperatures below 0°C.
Page 40: Too Many Recordings, Many Bushcricket Recordings
ANUAL BATCORDER d) Microphone protective cap: The microphone is protected against mechanical damage by a short plastic tube during transport. Check if you removed this cap. e) MCF not entered or entered incorrectly f) The microphone sensitivity is too low. We recommend annual calibration of the microphones to compensate for a change in sensitivity or, if necessary, to replace the microphone capsule.
Page 41: Support
The batcorder software is improved regularly. You can easily install the updates yourself in most cases. Update ﬁles (free of charge) are available on our homepage ( http://www.ecoobs.com/cnt-bcupdate.html ). Follow the instructions in the Firmware update chapter from p. 34.
Page 42: Microphone Calibration
MCF of the microphone accordingly (see next page). The correct value can be found on the sticker on the microphone. We recommend the annual calibration check by ecoObs GmbH. Please send the microphone to the address below, we will then check the correction factor and inform you of the necessary changes and the procedure for adapting the batcorder.
Page 43: Adjustment Of The Microphone Calibration Factor
ANUAL BATCORDER Adjustment of the Microphone Calibration Factor If a batcorder 3.1 microphone is recalibrated, replaced or exchanged by a disc microphone, the microphone correction factor (MCF) needs to be adjusted for the batcorder. Method 1. Start the batcorder as usual. 2.
Page 44 ANUAL BATCORDER Recording properties type of microphone FG series, Electret, power-supply 1,3 V signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ca. 80 dB Directionality 0 to -9 dB loss at 0 - 180° incidence Analoge-circuitry Highpassﬁlter 16 kHz, Butterworth, 10th order Lowpassﬁlter 150 kHz, Butterworth, 10th order Overall-gain calibrated: 40 kHz @ 96 dB SPL = full gain Power Supply and Usage...
Page 45: Ec Declaration Of Conformity
Responsible person for documents Claus Schuster Hermann-Kolb.Str. 35b, 90475 Nürnberg The manufacturer ecoObs GmbH, Hermann-Kolb.Str. 35b, 90475 Nürnberg, Germany hereby declares for the product: Product description: batcorder 3.1 - digital bat call recorder complies with the relevant sections of the above referenced speciﬁcations - including any changes applicable at the time of the...
Page 46 Declaration of Conformity For the following equipment： Product Name: AC/DC Switching Adaptor Model Designation: GSMwxy (w=18,25,36；x=B,E；y=05,07,09,12,15,18,24,48) is herewith confirmed to comply with the requirements set out in the Council Directive, the following standards were applied： RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU) MDD Directive (93/42/EEC) TUV certificate No：TA50266669 EN60601-1:2006+A11+A1+A12;...

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Batcorder 3.1