Travel Bug Dog Tag Blue Blinky Bug #2

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Owner:
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Released:
Friday, September 9, 2005
Origin:
New Hampshire, United States
Recently Spotted:
In the hands of foodee.

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Current Goal

This bug is designed to travel and Blink. It would prefer to migrate South in the Winter to avoid the cold.

About This Item

Solar Powered Altoids Tin


The Solar Powered Altoids Tin

PLEASE COMMENT ON THE BLINKING WHEN YOU LOG, like is it still blinking

More information including source code can be found in the Blue Blinky Bug Blog. More photos can be found in the Bug Gallery

Features and Behaviors:

  • Solar powered for extended mission life.
  • Rechargable internal lithium ion battery. Without actually testing or doing all the math I estimate that the bug can run dark for at least a month, perhaps more.
  • Electrolytic capcaitor for backup operation. If the main battery pack dies it can be unplugged to allow light operation and a few minutes of dark operation.
  • Light operation the bug blinks a blue LED about every 4 seconds and emit a double click.
  • In dark operation it will blink about every 13 seconds and emit a single click
  • Transitioning from light-to-dark it emits sad chirps.
  • Transition from dark to light triggers happy chirps.


User Operation:
  • Open the lid and examine it! Wait for the clicks and blink.
  • Take it with you while in your care and try to keep it in the light (solar panel up) as much as possible to charge.
  • Try to place it in safe and dry caches that have a lot of traffic. The bug doesn't like to hide for too long.
  • The bug doesn't like extreme cold so it would prefer to migrate South for the Winter.
  • Please mention in your up/down log entry the health of the battery. It is designed to run dark for several minutes even with no battery. I am interested if the battery is working when you first open the cache.

Gallery Images related to Blue Blinky Bug #2

View 1 Gallery Image

Tracking History (5509mi) View Map

Dropped Off 11/19/2005 Smitty & Co. placed it in In The Spirit Of The Season Maine - 43.81 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 11/2/2005 Smitty & Co. retrieved it from Duck Trap River Preserve Maine   Visit Log

We'll move it along soon.
Dropped Off 10/21/2005 nocachedown placed it in Duck Trap River Preserve Maine - 166.19 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 10/2/2005 nocachedown retrieved it from Flint Brook 2 New Hampshire   Visit Log

Picked up this unusual travel bug at Flint Brook 2. It's been sitting on my desk chirping away since. I'll get this bug back into circulation as quickly as possible. Thanks.
Write note 10/2/2005 newts posted a note for it   Visit Log

After the reports of it not working I checked it out today when I was crusing for caches on the Nashua River. When I pulled it out it chirped right away. I measured the battery voltage at almost 4 volts.

I atached the laminated travel bug card that I forgot when I released it and put it back in.

One note, the chirps and clicks are not very loud at all. The blink should be obvious but happen only every 13 seconds when "dark".
Dropped Off 9/25/2005 Team Spoonhead placed it in Flint Brook 2 New Hampshire - 3.85 miles  Visit Log

I have had this interesting TB for over a week now and so it was time to move it on. I never did get it to work though - perhaps it needed more time in the sun to recharge. I hope the next finder has more success. Very creative idea!
Retrieve It from a Cache 9/13/2005 Team Spoonhead retrieved it from Roby Park GeoCache New Hampshire   Visit Log

This has to be one of the most interesting bugs I have seen. I will test it out and report back before moving it on.
Dropped Off 9/12/2005 newts placed it in Roby Park GeoCache New Hampshire   Visit Log
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