AudioMoth Battery & SD card calculator

Power

The energy estimate reproduces the calculation inside AudioMoth's own Configuration App (lifeDisplay.js), which sums recording current (depends only on sample rate and energy saver mode, not gain), a small fixed cost each time AudioMoth wakes and opens a new file, and a constant 0.1 mA sleep current between recordings.

Recording current by sample rate, energy saver figure in parentheses where available: 8 kHz 8.5 mA (5.5), 16 kHz 9.0 mA (6.0), 32 kHz 10.0 mA (7.0), 48 kHz 10.5 mA (7.5), 96 kHz 13.5 mA, 192 kHz 20.0 mA, 250 kHz 17.0 mA, 384 kHz 24.0 mA. Energy saver mode isn't available above 48 kHz.

The "Energy use" figure is rounded the same way the Configuration App rounds its own display (nearest 10 mAh above 100 mAh, nearest 5 above 50, and so on), so for matching settings it reads identically to what the app shows. Battery and SD card life are calculated from the unrounded value.

Storage

File size uses AudioMoth's actual output format - uncompressed 16-bit mono WAV - so sample rate × 2 bytes × seconds recorded. A single WAV file is capped at roughly 4.29 GB before AudioMoth splits it into a new file, which this tool accounts for on long recordings.

Multiple recording periods in one day

The energy and storage totals only depend on total time spent recording and how many times AudioMoth opens a new file, not on how that time is arranged across the day. A schedule split into several periods (say, two 11-hour blocks with an hour's gap either side) gives the same numbers as one continuous window of the same total length - enter the total recording hours per day in Continuous mode to match it. The 24-hour strip will show that as one solid block rather than the separate periods, but the numbers are accurate either way.

What this leaves out

Amplitude/frequency-triggered recording (which can use less energy than continuous scheduled recording, since AudioMoth only writes audio when triggered), sunrise/sunset-based schedules, and the GPS module's extra draw per fix. For those, the Configuration App's own estimate is the source of truth.

On the battery and SD card figures

The mAh and GB numbers for AA cells and cards are manufacturer-rated capacities, and real deployments typically get less than that. Field testing by the Kitzes Lab (ARU battery longevity study) found AudioMoths reaching roughly 70–75% of the naive rated-capacity estimate at room temperature, dropping further for alkaline cells in cold weather, while lithium AA cells stayed close to their room-temperature performance even near freezing. The "real-world conditions" setting applies that derating. Treat every result here as a planning estimate, not a guarantee, and lean conservative for anything left unattended for months.