PurpleAir sensor was installed behind the main enclosure on Nov 16. The Wi-Fi access point was also replaced. Both seem to be working well.
I checked the malfunctioning camera on the new pole. Cable tested okay, but I tried switching to another cable, another switch port, and temporarily bypassing the surge protector (on the main box end) and nothing made a difference. That means the camera itself is probably the issue, but I will need to bring out a ladder to check/replace. This will have to happen on a future visit. In the meantime, the southern marsh cam is working well so this one will be on the stream full time for now.
Box is still free of live ants, but will need to remember to re-treat in the spring.
The Wi-Fi access point at this location appears to be stuck in a boot loop. There might be a bad connection but most likely the unit has failed due to its age. The original AP is considered end-of-life by the latest controller software anyway so it is time to replace it.
Working wi-fi will be necessary to install a PurpleAir PM2.5 sensor at this location. I've procured a new access point and will install it on my next visit at the same time as the sensor (should be first half of November).
The camera on the new pole also seems to be offline. Will also investigate this on the next visit. Hopefully it's just a loose connection.
Once again dealt with an ant infestation in the box. The network connection had been coming and going for a month or so, sometimes going out associated with thunderstorms but coming back randomly days later, and then going offline again unrelated to any weather events.
It turns out the ants had built a rather soggy nest inside the UPS, and the UPS was angrily buzzing with an error.
Since the UPS has a history of causing more issues at this location than it helps, I removed the ant-infested one and replaced it with a plain surge protector. It's better to have occasional 10-minute downtimes when there's a storm than for it to go out weeks at a time due to a cranky UPS.
Fortunately, the ants did not appear to have gotten into the network switch, computer, or audio interface.
Resprayed the inside of the box and applied fresh Ant Shield. This should probably become part of the standard spring procedure, since the ants seem to have gotten quite tenacious.
The North Headwaters box was heavily infested by ants and was completely rebuilt this fall. Ants and wood particles were observed by members of Responsive Environments during a group visit this summer (I was not present).
On 3 August 2023, together with Blaine Western, we determined that ants had infiltrated the backer board in the enclosure and that replacement would be necessary. The network switch was also not powering on at this time. We removed all of the equipment from the enclosure so that the backer board could be removed and discarded. The X32 audio mixer and the streaming computer still appeared to be in functioning condition.
On August 17, we installed a new backer board (primed and painted to hopefully discourage future ant damage) and reinstalled the equipment. The network switch was replaced with a new one.