Put a battery tracker on a trailer at the back of the yard, and it should still be reporting years from now. How many years comes down mostly to one setting you choose: how often it checks in. On AirIQ's IQ-BATT-3, that's anywhere from three and a half years to more than ten.
The short answer
Typical figures for the IQ-BATT-3, on three AA lithium cells:
| How often it reports | Typical battery life | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Once a day | 10+ years | Storage trailers, containers and seasonal equipment that sit for weeks |
| When it moves | 6 years | Equipment that sits most days but could walk off |
| Every hour | 3.5 years | Assets you want a steady trail on as they travel between sites |
These are typical figures, not a promise. Use, parking and cold all move the number.
Why how often it reports matters so much
A battery tracker spends almost its whole life asleep. The IQ-BATT-3 draws under 10 microamps while it sleeps, a trickle that barely touches the cells. The battery gets spent when it wakes up to find satellites, fix its position and send the report over the cellular network.
So battery life is really a count of wake-ups. Once a day is about 365 reports a year. Hourly is about 8,760, or 24 times as many. That's why going from daily to hourly takes a ten-year tracker down to three and a half years, not just a few months.
A simple way to picture it: the battery has a set number of heartbeats. The IQ-BATT-5 is good for roughly 4,000 reports. At one a day, that's just under 10 years. At two a day, it's about five. Every time you double how often it reports, you roughly halve the life. Set it to report every hour and you get about five to six months of steady reporting, but it sleeps whenever the asset sits still, so a parked asset goes much further.
The trade-off: battery life or a fresh location
Between reports, the map shows where the asset was the last time it checked in. Once a day gives you the longest life, but the position you're looking at can be up to a day old.
Movement-based reporting is how most owners get both. An accelerometer wakes the tracker when the asset moves, so a trailer that sits all month uses almost nothing, and an excavator that starts moving at 2 a.m. checks in right then. It's what drives after-hours movement alerts.
The same rule cuts the other way. An asset that moves every day wakes up every day, so on a busy machine, expect less than the six-year typical figure.
What else shortens battery life
- Cold. Every battery delivers less in deep cold. The IQ-BATT-3 is rated from -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to +60°C). For an asset that winters somewhere colder, the IQ-BATT-5 is rated down to -40°F.
- Weak coverage. A tracker at the edge of coverage can take longer to connect and send, and that time costs power. With no coverage at all, both models store reports onboard (over 48,000 on the IQ-BATT-3, 256 on the IQ-BATT-5) and send them when the signal comes back.
What happens when the batteries run out
You swap the batteries, not the tracker. Both IQ-BAT models have batteries you replace in the field. The IQ-BATT-3 takes three standard lithium AA cells you can buy at a hardware store, and the IQ-BATT-5 takes two specialty 3.6V lithium cells, also replaceable in the field.
That's the real difference from a tracker you recharge. Someone has to remember to take a rechargeable unit off and plug it in, and on an asset nobody visits, that's exactly what doesn't happen.
How to compare battery-life claims
A battery-life number on its own tells you very little. Whichever tracker you're looking at, ask:
- At what reporting frequency? A figure with no interval attached can't be compared with anything.
- Replaceable or rechargeable? Swapping cells every few years and charging on a schedule are different jobs.
- In what conditions? Ask for the temperature rating and what it does out of coverage.
When batteries aren't the right fit
If you want a position every few minutes, a battery tracker is the wrong tool. You'll spend your time changing batteries. For something that sits outside, go solar. The IQ-Solar recharges in daylight and reports every five minutes by default while it's moving, and that can be set faster. SolarNET, from Phillips Connect, is the solar option built for trailers. Mount either one vertically, high on the front or rear wall, not flat on top.
Anything with an engine is better on a tracker that runs on the vehicle's power. Cars, pickups and vans take a plug-in OBD device, and trucks and heavy equipment take the hardwired IQ-Wired. Battery, solar or wired covers which goes where.
Picking the right setting
Start with what you'd do with the answer. If you just need to know the trailer's still in the yard, once a day runs for a decade. If theft is the worry, report on movement and put the tracker where a thief won't look. If you need the trail, report hourly or go solar. Tell us what you're tracking and how often you want to see it, and we'll match the tracker and the setting. No pressure to buy.