In this article we will walk through best practices for charging, setup, and in transit configuration to maximize battery life and desired battery duration.
Charging
The TRAK-X reusable device relies on a lithium ion battery cell that requires recharging after each use. From a fully depleted battery state it is best to charge for a minimum of 6 hours to fully recharge. PAXAFE recommends leaving TRAK-X hardware on the charger until ready for use. These devices are equipped with modern lithium ion batteries that have overcharge protection technologies that do not require unplugging when full. The Anker PowerPort 10 (SKU#A2133111) charger is the preferred 10 port charging device coupled with compatible micro-usb cables.
Activation Troubleshooting
Most TRAK-X hardware issues are as a result of depleted batteries or the devices going into standby mode after long durations without use. Please see below scenarios for troubleshooting:
Why won't my device activate via bluetooth?- Please ensure bluetooth is enabled on your mobile phone and bluetooth permissions are set to always allow.
- Place the device on the charger and wait 60 seconds. This will reset the bluetooth radio. Attempt to activate the device again.
- Still not working? Submit a support via the chatbot in the bottom right of this screen.
My device was activated, why am I not seeing activity in the CONTXT platform?
- Depending on network strength your device may take up to 15 minutes to connect and start transmitting data to the CONTXT platform.
- Devices activated in areas of poor network connectivity may take up to 30 minutes to connect.
- Double check your configuration profile. If your ping interval is set to a higher value you will see less frequent pings.
TRAK-X Battery Life Guide
The battery life of the TRAK-X ranges from 5-65 days depending on how frequently the devices are pinging to the CONTXT platform. A more aggressive ping interval (10 minutes inmotion / 10 minutes nonmotion) will typically result in a maximum of 5 days battery life. Alternatively a ping interval of (12 inmotion / 24 nonmotion) will yield 60+ days battery life. Striking a balance of ping interval to your business use case is key to the best experience with this hardware. As part of your onboarding process, your customer success team will identify common use cases, make recommendations for configuration profiles and help you set them up.
Aside from ping interval there are external factors that can impact battery life. Common scenarios listed below:
- Device is traveling through an area with poor network connectivity and makes multiple attempts to connect to a viable network.
- Device is placed and loaded on an intermodal container that is towards the bottom of the stack of the vessel it is traveling on.
- Device is packed inside packaging containing metal.
- Repeated shock/light threshold events. The shock and light sensors on the device immediately wake the device as excursions occur - this is by design to provide users with near-real time alerts. As a result - if a device is experiencing repeated events it will contribute to faster battery depletion.
To minimize potential issues please refer to: How to Ship Via Air and How to Ship Via Ocean for mode specific recommendations for battery preservation.