Power consumption & low power sleep modes

Power consumption & low power sleep modes

The Track My Ride GPS vehicle tracking hardware can be installed in two different ways, either plug-n-play into a passenger vehicle's OBDII diagnostics port, or hardwired into any 12V or 24V power source. The Track My Ride GPS vehicle tracking hardware has been designed to enter a low power sleep mode automatically when your vehicle has been parked up for 30 minutes, to ensure that your vehicle's main battery is not drained.

How to monitor your vehicle's battery

We've got you covered! All new Track My Ride accounts come by default with a Low Voltage alert already created, so if your vehicle's battery voltage drops below 12.0V, you'll be notified via email and push notification via our mobile app. You can learn more about creating alerts in our support portal here.



TMR-S8 GPS vehicle tracker power consumption

Normal operation - While driving

While you're driving your vehicle, the TMR-S8 GPS vehicle tracker will typically use around 100 to 150 milliamps of current, at 12 volts. When your engine is turned on, the vehicle's alternator is constantly recharging the vehicle's main battery and providing enough power to run all the various electrical systems in your vehicle. The small amount of current used by the TMR-S8 GPS vehicle tracker will be insignificant while your vehicle is turned on and driving around.

Low power sleep mode - While parked up

When you park your vehicle and turn off the engine, the tracker will automatically enter a low power sleep mode after 30 minutes, as long as all the following conditions are met
  1. 30 minutes have passed with the vehicle being stationary, and
  2. No motion has been detected from the tracker's internal motion sensor, and
  3. The tracker's engine detection has not detected the engine as turned on.
    1. (Default) Voltage based engine detection: The engine will be deemed as off if the vehicles voltage is less than 13.2 volts.
    2. Motion based engine detection: If you have reconfigured your tracker to use this method, the engine will be deemed as off once 60s have passed with no motion detected.
    3. Ignition wire based engine detection: If you have reconfigured your tracker to use this method, the engine will be deemed as off if there is no voltage (0V) on the ignition sense wire from the tracker's wiring harness.

Different levels of low power sleep mode

The TMR-S8 GPS vehicle tracker has multiple levels of sleep modes that can be utilised, each using less power by turning off different functions of the hardware. Depending on your vehicle usage and main vehicle battery size and age, you may find a different sleep mode suits your requirements best.

You can adjust the sleep mode used by your tracker by editing your vehicle's settings, from the vehicle page.

 

The different low power sleep modes are as follows:
  1. Disabled
    1. The tracker will not enter sleep mode. Typical power consumption will be 100 to 150mA @ 12V constantly, regardless of the activity of the vehicle or tracker. The mobile module and GPS module remain active at all times.

  2. GPS sleep
    1. Less than 18 milli-amperes (mA) current @ 12V typically.
    2. The GPS module is disabled while in this sleep mode.
    3. The mobile module remains active and connected to the mobile network.
    4. The Driver ID keyfob input channel (hardwire required) is monitored.
    5. Hourly heartbeat: The tracker will wake up from sleep mode for 2 minutes once per hour. During this period, the GPS chip will attempt the acquire a new GPS signal. The tracker will also attempt to connect to the Track My Ride servers to report its current location and vehicle status.
    6. The tracker only wakes from this sleep mode when one of the following occurs:
      1. A +12V or +24V signal is detected on the Ignition/Acc input of the wiring harness, if hardwired.
      2. A +12V or +24V signal is detected on one of the input channels of the wiring harness, if hardwired.
      3. Motion is detected for more than 1 second.

  3. Deep sleep
    1. Less than 5mA current @ 12V typically.
    2. The GPS module and mobile module are disabled while in this sleep mode.
    3. All non-critical subsystems are put in low power mode.
    4. The Driver ID keyfob input channel (hardwire required) is disabled and not monitored.
    5. Hourly heartbeat: The tracker will wake up from sleep mode for 2 minutes once per hour. During this period, the GPS chip will attempt the acquire a new GPS signal. The tracker will also attempt to connect to the Track My Ride servers to report its current location and vehicle status.
    6. The tracker only wakes from this sleep mode when one of the following occurs:
      1. A +12V or +24V signal is detected on the Ignition/Acc input of the wiring harness, if hardwired.
      2. Motion is detected for more than 1 second.

  4. Online deep sleep
    1. Less than 16mA current @ 12V typically.
    2. The GPS module is disabled while in this sleep mode.
    3. The mobile module remains active and connected to the mobile network.
    4. All non-critical subsystems are put in low power mode.
    5. The Driver ID keyfob input channel (hardwire required) is disabled and not monitored.
    6. Hourly heartbeat: The tracker will wake up from sleep mode for 2 minutes once per hour. During this period, the GPS chip will attempt the acquire a new GPS signal. The tracker will also attempt to connect to the Track My Ride servers to report its current location and vehicle status.
    7. The tracker only wakes from this sleep mode when one of the following occurs:
      1. A +12V or +24V signal is detected on the Ignition/Acc input of the wiring harness, if hardwired.
      2. Motion is detected for more than 1 second.

  5. Ultra deep sleep
    1. Less than 3mA current @ 12V typically.
    2. The GPS module and mobile module are disabled while in this sleep mode.
    3. No hourly heartbeat occurs.
    4. The tracker only wakes from this sleep mode when one of the following occurs:
      1. A +12V or +24V signal is detected on the Ignition/Acc input of the wiring harness, if hardwired.
      2. Motion is detected for more than 1 second.
    5. If you do not use your vehicle, it will not update its last connection status in the Track My Ride app until the next time you turn the vehicle on.

How is GPS sleep mode different from Online deep sleep mode?

These modes are similar, both modes turn off the GPS module while keeping the mobile network connection established. The main difference is that GPS sleep mode is a lighter sleep state that only affects the GPS module, while Online Deep Sleep mode is a deeper sleep state that turns off more functionality (like I/O activity) while maintaining mobile network connectivity. Online Deep Sleep mode provides more power savings than GPS sleep mode, but less than full Deep Sleep mode since it keeps the mobile network module powered.

Periodic Hourly Heartbeat

Alert
The heartbeat is disabled if the sleep mode is configured as Ultra deep sleep.
The tracker will wake up hourly (default) to report its current location, the status of the vehicle, current voltage and other statistics. This is fantastic to monitor your vehicle and ensure it's still where you left it, and that your tracker is operating correctly. Of course though, this takes a small amount of power to perform. If you want to save additional power, you can change the period for the heartbeat to be every 2 hours, or up to every 48 hours. The less frequently your tracker wakes up for its heartbeat, the less power the tracker will consume while in low power sleep mode.

You can edit the frequency of the heartbeat by adjusting the Deep sleep heartbeat parameter, when editing the vehicle.




How much power draw is too much? Which sleep mode is right for me?

IdeaYour tracker monitors your vehicle's battery voltage. You can view your vehicle's current voltage in the vehicles page.
Typically, as long as your tracker is entering the low power sleep mode, and you drive your vehicle at least once a month, then you don't need to worry.



A battery's voltage indicates its charge state - a fully charged battery reads a higher voltage than when it's partially charged. Various factors like temperature, age, and internal resistance affect a battery's voltage output. A typical passenger vehicle with a lead-acid chemistry battery will measure around 12.8 Volts when fully charged, and 12.0 Volts when it is almost exhausted. If the voltage drops below 12V or 11.9V, you should recharge your battery, or drive your vehicle for a period of time so the alternator can recharge it for you. If it gets much below this voltage, it may not have enough capacity to start your vehicle anymore. Please note, different battery chemistries will have different float voltages and may differ slightly or read a higher voltage when the vehicle is parked up, this is totally normal.

The Ampere-hour (Ah) rating tells you how much current a battery can supply over time. For instance, a 50 Ah battery can theoretically provide 50 amperes for one hour, or 25 amperes for two hours (though real-world performance may vary). Reserve capacity measures how long a battery can maintain a specified current before its voltage drops to a minimum usable level.

A typical passenger vehicle will have a capacity of around 40 to 50 Ah. You can then use this value to determine how long you could leave your vehicle stationary for until the electronics within the vehicle (including your GPS tracker) will deplete the battery.

40 Ah is equal to 40,000 milli-ampere hours (mAh). If the tracker is in low power sleep mode, say Deep Sleep drawing 5mA, then your battery will be able to supply power to your tracker (and be 100% drained) in :
  1. 40,000mAh / 5mA = 8000 hours
  2. 8000hrs / 24hrs = 333 days
As such, if your tracker was in low power sleep mode, you should ensure you use the car at least every 150 days to be on the safe side. That would be around 50% of the battery's capacity. If you will use your vehicle less than this, it's recommended to connect it to a trickle charger to ensure the battery isn't depleted.


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