Understanding the Battery Life of your HardTrack Cloud Sensor devices

Understanding the Battery Life of your HardTrack Cloud Sensor devices

                                                       


How the replaceable battery works in the HTC devices :

HTC - HardTrack Cloud Sensor:





- HTC lithium batteries experience passivation when the battery is not used for a period of time.  Battery passivation can cause the battery to report a low battery percentage for a time after initial installation. As the device uses the battery, the passivation is removed and the battery percentage increases to a maximum of 90 - 99% (depending on the temperature).  The passivation removal process could take a week or more, if the number of times device wakes to collect temperature data is once per day or less.  
When new batteries are installed, and they have removed passivation, they will typically report their remaining battery power 90 - 99% during the majority of their useful life.  When the battery power begins to drop, the battery power will drop quickly over a few days or hours to zero.

  • Battery depletion.  

    • The temperature at the device's location affects the battery. Battery power is used more quickly in a cold environment than in a warm environment. 

      • For example, a battery in a device located where the temperature is consistently 20°F/-7°C will not last as long as a battery in a device located where the temperature is consistently 80°F/27°C.

    • Areas with weak cellular signals can cause the devices to deplete the battery faster than in areas with strong cellular signals, due to the devices making more attempts to connect and upload data.

  • Battery percentage ranges.  The battery life will typically remain at 90 to 99% during most of the useful life of a battery.

    • When the battery life drops below 70%, then to 50% there is enough battery life to power the device as expected for a few hours, which gives you to time to replace the device.

      • Watch the daily health reports for declining battery power levels, so that you do not miss any of our temperature readings.


HTC II - HardTrack Cloud Sensor II (rechargeable battery and backup battery)


- HTC II backup lithium batteries, which are rarely or never used will passivize within the device over time and will need to be replaced, typically once per year.  If necessary, the HTC II will work without the backup battery.

  • Backup Battery depletion.  The temperature at the device's location affects the battery. Battery power is used more quickly in a cold environment than in a warm environment.

    • For example, a battery in a device located where the temperature is consistently 20°F/-7°C will not last as long as a battery in a device located where the temperature is consistently 80°F/27°C.

  • Backup Battery percentage ranges.  The battery life will stay at 100% during the useful life of a battery.

    • When the battery life is at 50% there is enough battery life to power the device as expected for a few hours, which gives you to time to replace the device.

      • Watch the daily health reports for declining battery power levels, so that you do not miss any of our temperature readings.


FAQ's on how to extend battery life:

Something you can do to extend battery life on your devices is to increase the upload interval setting, while leaving the logging interval at, for example: 15.  

For example: 

Logging Interval 15

Upload Interval 4

 

The HardTrack Cloud Sensor will upload once per hour, every 60 minutes (15 * 4) = 60.  When the upload occurs, you will see 4 new, 15-minute temperature readings.

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After the pour passes the maximum temperature, for example after 24 to 72 hours, provided the specifications allow it, you can change the settings to:

 

Logging Interval 15

Upload Interval 12

 

You will then see 12 new 15-minute temperature readings every 3 hours/180 minutes.


To extend the battery life even further, for example after 24 to 72 hours, provided the specifications allow it, you can change the settings to:

 

Logging Interval 60

Upload Interval 3

 You will then see 3 new 60-minute temperature readings every 3 hours/180 minutes.

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When you make these changes, the HardTrack Cloud Sensor will automatically pick up the changes when it connects at its regularly scheduled upload time. 

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In cases where you are decreasing the upload Interval, you may want to swipe the magnet to allow more immediate changes to take effect.  Otherwise, change, even decreases, in the upload Interval will be picked up the next time the device connects at its regularly scheduled time. 

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When a device is set to stop logging, it will connect once every 24 hours just to check in with the Cloud Server, so commands sent to the device will eventually be picked up,

provided the antenna is connected and there is sufficient cellular signal in the area. 

WarningHTC devices & HTC II devices running on Backup Batteries: Please keep in mind that the devices will attempt to connect to the Cloud Server regardless of whether or not the antenna is firmly attached to a HTC device.  If the antenna is not firmly attached, the device will attempt to connect several times, potentially depleting the remaining battery power over several days.
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If you are okay will longer logging Intervals, such as 30 or 60 minutes.  Changing the logging Interval to one of the values, will extend battery life.  It is okay to initially set the logging interval to 15 minutes so that you can see the temperature readings uploading, then send another Restart Logging command to change the logging interval to a longer, acceptable logging interval, for example 60 minutes.

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WarningIt is very important to Stop logging on your devices when you have completed monitoring a concrete pour, otherwise battery power will continue to be used until the device receives the Stop logging command.