{"id":2792,"date":"2018-12-13T09:35:30","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T09:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2792"},"modified":"2018-12-13T09:36:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T09:36:07","slug":"beacon-battery-level-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/beacon-battery-level-observations\/","title":{"rendered":"Beacon Battery Level Observations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most beacons provide a battery level % indication that&#8217;s visible in advertising and\/or the manufacturer configuration app. It&#8217;s also usually visible via a Bluetooth Service Characteristic.<\/p>\n<p>Some observations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lithium batteries (if you are using them) have a very flat voltage profile with a sudden drop off towards the end of their life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an example for Energizer Lithium AA:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2793\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/energizeraadischargeprofile.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"343\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/energizeraadischargeprofile.png 343w, https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/energizeraadischargeprofile-300x242.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 343px) 85vw, 343px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For a typical CR2032 Lithium coin cell:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2794\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cr2032dischargeprofile.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"349\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cr2032dischargeprofile.png 349w, https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cr2032dischargeprofile-300x176.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 349px) 85vw, 349px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The beacons use very little power over time. If you are measuring over days when batteries last years, you will see very little difference.<\/li>\n<li>The firmware in the beacon and\/or app need to determine what voltage signifies 100%. This can vary by battery type. Some beacons\/apps simplify things by using a fixed voltage for 100% such that it&#8217;s possible that the voltage is higher than this at the start of the life of the battery. The level will appear to stay at 100% for a long time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A consequence of the above factors is that you can&#8217;t estimate battery life by looking at battery percentage over time. You need to measure current use. We have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/beaconzone-beacon-battery-use-testing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previous blog post<\/a> on this topic.<\/p>\n<p>Battery level can only be used as an indication that the battery is low and should be changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most beacons provide a battery level % indication that&#8217;s visible in advertising and\/or the manufacturer configuration app. It&#8217;s also usually visible via a Bluetooth Service Characteristic. Some observations: Lithium batteries (if you are using them) have a very flat voltage profile with a sudden drop off towards the end of their life. Here&#8217;s an example &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/beacon-battery-level-observations\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Beacon Battery Level Observations&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2796,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions\/2796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaconzone.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}