Q: Please explain the battery life cycle?
With the non-rechargeable Lithium Thionyl Chloride (LiSOCl2) “D” cell batteries used in the Mtrack, the life-cycle is influenced by numerous factors such as unit sleep cycle, reporting rates, temperature, unit in alarm mode, GSM coverage, etc. All these issues will affect the level of energy drawn from the battery and therefore its life span.
In order to understand the expected lifetime of the battery, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of some of the factors which have an influence on the life of a battery:
Sleep Cycle
The main reason behind this sleep cycle is twofold: to preserve the battery life of the unit (the shorter the sleep-cycle of the unit, the shorter the battery life), and to increase the difficulty of detecting the unit.
The sleep cycle is remotely configurable and can be changed at any time.
Reporting position
Mtrack can be programmed to send a position via SMS through the GSM network each time it wakes up. This enables the units sleep cycle to be configured for the shortest response time in an emergency situation, as well as limit the number of SMS’s (should regular position reports be required). The unit can also be programmed to send a position only every x times it wakes up.
Operating temperature
Long term operation above ambient temperature may lead to reduced capacity and lower voltage readings at the beginning of pulses.
Unit in alarm mode
The number of times the unit has been in alarm has the greatest impact of all. In fact, if a unit has been in alarm mode for more than a couple of hours it is recommended to have the battery exchanged.
Variations in GSM coverage:
The longer the device has to search for a GSM base station to report to, the more power is required. Mtrack is defaulted to only search for 1 minute. This prevents unnecessary power consumption in poor GSM reception areas.