@ioanF , you can do a little bit better than 10 ma. I have here an adalogger rp2040 feather with DS3231 RTC wing and a I2S Mems microphone. During "dormant" mode running from xosc and waiting for DS3231 wakeup I get 4.7 ma . This includes about 1 ma for  microphone and DS323 together. OK, that is still 3 ma higher than 0.7 ma RP2040 documentation is said to claim. I guess, there is some uncertainty with  the AT35 USB tester I'm using. Putting the LDO enable pin (EN) to ground, the USB tester said 1 ma, which may be dominated by the offset of the tester as the LIPO charger as remaining component should only consume 0.2 ma (max).

Edit (for the records): After 'disabling' all GPIO but the RTC wakeup pin, the system (RP2040+DS3231 RTC+ I2S Mems microphone) consumes only 1.8 mA. I guess I`m now close to the clamed dormant power consumption!

Nightjar comes to mind but I am not too sure if it is actually “on the market”…

There's quite a few diy or prototype solutions described online and in literature - but it seems none of these have made it to market yet as generally available fully usable products. We can only hope. 

Re: the conversation about alternatives to knots/tying nylon line, I wonder if something like these PCB mount screw terminals would be strong enough to hold line in place for a long time, but also not sever it? They could be mounted either side of the nichrome coil, with holes for the nylon to come through from underneath, pulled over the nichrome and then through the screw terminal, where it can be secured in place. The metal screws could potentially be replaced with nylon to make it a little 'softer' on the line maybe? Below is an absolutely amazing diagram of the idea! Could even make a PCB for it all (or mod the current drop-off PCB to have this at the front)...the only thing is they aren't the smallest things in the world...so good for larger drop-offs maybe (certainly ok for AWDs I reckon) but not smaller critters...

I've been trying to find something off the shelf along those lines @Rob_Appleby

This is a cubesat example that's neat but not really meant to withstand the load an animal would put on it.

Seems like most tensioning examples out there are custom made but I'm convinced it can be done with off the shelf parts.

Regarding worries of damaging the line you can use ptfe tube or polyester/fep heatshrink for added abrasion resistance.

No problem at all Yu (@JY) and good luck with your studies! Happy to discuss this and any other ideas any time.

All the best,

Rob

You can catch up on the recording at that same link to the June Variety Hour! Lacey's fabulous talk starts around the 9:40 mark :) 

Hi Talia! 

I feel like the topic is so broad that it might help to put some constraints around things, see what works, and then broaden those out. I have a lot of ideas regarding the data monitoring and collection side based on the other sensor and observation networks we've set up in the past. 

There may also be some potential scope to incorporate things like data collection and integrated monitoring to the Build Your Own Datalogger series where the system is updated to feed data into the observation network. 

It'd probably take a bit of discussion and coordination. Let me know if interested. I'm fine to jump on a call or discuss via email too.