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Bat Survey and Monitoring Gear

The manufacturer currently recommends Sandisk Ultra/Ultra II CF cards, or Sandisk Extreme/Extreme III CF cards. Sizes up to 32GB have been successfully tested. 

There are currently 10 different “USER” profiles (USER0 – USER09) that you may customize/pre-program in order to save different recording settings.  There are also 10 different “PROFILE” (PROFILE0 – PROFILE9) that may be selected as well. However the recording settings within these profiles (PROFILE0 – PROFILE9) are predefined and cannot be changed like the “USER” profiles can be. Example: If you are customizing your recording settings for “USER3” under “F1>USER PROFILES”, be sure that you have “USER3” selected before deploying your detector if you would like to use the settings you just programmed! 

While on the home screen of the detector (the first line on the home screen will indicate which user or profile is active. Ex: “USER01”), press the ENTER key. A new screen will appear that lists the “USER” or “PROFILE” number at the top, followed by a short list of settings. Hitting the left or right arrow button will allow you to navigate to different user or profile. Hit the ENTER key again to select, and you will be brought back to the home screen. 

In this scenario, the error message that people often see is a variation of “CF* NOT READY”. This generally happens under the following combined circumstances: Two or more CF cards are being used in the detector. The detector batteries died during deployment. CF cards were pulled before being turned on again. A single CF card is inserted back into the detector and the detector is powered back on. The reason that this combination of events may cause such an error is that since the detector lost power while it was in “Record” mode and is now being powered back on, it is trying to resume where it left off when it initially lost power. Since you powered the detector on again with only one CF card, and the detector lost power while there were multiple cards inserted, the unit is expecting to see those additional cards. To solve this error, turn off your detector, replace the number of CF cards that were used during the previous deployment, and power the device back on.  The error should be gone, and you can now “wake” your detector by holding the power button to resume use.

The Pettersson D500x uses either AA or C type batteries, depending on the manufacture date. Unfortunately, due to the high number of variables (record time and length, sensitivity settings, screen brightness, nightly bat activity, insect noise, humidity, temperature, etc.), it’s difficult to give an all-inclusive estimate of battery life. Due to these factors, this timeframe can range anywhere from a few days, to well over a week. However, we generally recommend checking your detector at regular intervals to keep an eye on remaining battery life.  Advice that we find most useful: Don’t leave your detector unattended any longer than you can afford to lose data!

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