Possum Sound Lure: Final Prototype

 

Today we've finally completed the coding and design of the Possum version of our sound lure.   This is going to target brush tailed possums locally in Taranaki.   

We are very fortunate to have the support of Venture Taranaki and the Curious Minds Project as part of this process who have been invaluable in assisting with funding to ensure this project goes ahead.

While the desgin of the unit is familiar to regular visitors to this blog there are some key differences between this unit and early versions, or the version that we are currently using to target Stoats and other pests.

Firstly we have significantly altered the code with regards to this version - this version of the unit remains silent during daylight hours (while it is charging) and will only start to activate at night, once the solar panel detects that the light level is 'night'.   This is of course because Possums are a nocturnal animal.   

Secondly the sound profile that is being played is exclusively possum related, rather than the generic version that we have been using to this point which has had a range of noises.   While it has shown clearly that possums appear to be attracted towards a range of noise we want to specifically see if there are sounds which are going to encourage possums more than others.   Our first batch of sounds are a range of possum noises that have been either supplied to us or available online that we've been able to adapt.   

Finally we have made our first technical change in nearly a year of our initial set ups.  We have significantly upgraded the solar panel that we are using with the unit.   Our first deploymenets involved using several different units, the main unit that we used was a Solar Panel that was 5v and 1.2w.   We were also running other versions of the lure with slightly larger units to see if we could get the balance right between charging the unit successfully and producing a cost effective way to do so.    While we felt the units were charging successfully we also were monitoring the unit in semi-shade conditions and the solar panles ability to be robust when faced with windy conditions.    We have made attempts to design ways to ensure the panel is attatched to the unit or produce seperate housing for it.   It should also be noted that the original panels that are still in use have been deployed outside for a full calendar year and are still working as expected with minimum protection for them.