johng Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 There are several good posts on the iPack battery in our Knowledge Base that are worth repeating here. To summarize, charge your iPack battery before deploying the iPack! Details follow... --- Important Tip: keep your iPack battery charged prior to installation, it will discharge over timeIfthe iPack is left in storage without a logger connected, the battery"shelf life" is about 3 months; at that point the battery should berecharged prior to installation of the iPack. The iPack circuitry isalways active and draws current in the uA range from the battery. It is normal for office testing to be performed with the logger and iPack before field installation... Ifthe logger and iPack are left connected without any PV charging thesystem, the iPack battery will completely run down in about 3 to 4weeks. This is due to the 2.5 mA current draw of the 2 V regulator inthe iPack. The iPack feeds the logger power instead of the D-Cells whenconnected to the logger. A good protocol would be to always"top off" the battery before deployment. A 15 VDC 500 mA source[universal iPack Charger, 100-240VAC Input (item: 3615)] connected tothe PV input can recharge the iPack battery in about 4 hours. Ifthe battery has completely discharged, you really should use a wallcharger whenever possible...a PV panel may take a up to a few days torecharge a completely discharged battery, depending on solarconditions. Also, if you choose to use a PV panel to recharge acompletely discharged battery, do so without connecting the logger toreduce the charge time. If the logger is connected to the iPack(especially with sensors that require significant power), the chargingefforts can be severely hampered. All iPacks are charged prior to shipment from NRG. --- How can I check the iPack battery?The correct place to check the iPack battery voltage from the attached Symphonie Logger is to go to: [Home] [3][4] This is the Utilities=>iPack screen The iPack battery voltage will show in "real time" with 2 second updates. Anotherscreen, which shows the iPack voltage, is the Status=>iPackscreen...[Home] [2] [3]...this screen shows the status of the iPack asof the last call attempt...it is historical, not real time. Yetanother place to see a battery voltage is the logger statusscreen...[Home] [2] [1]...this will show the voltage the logger isrunning on and will range from 1.25 to 2.05 Volts. If the iPack batteryis fully charged; it powers a 2 V regulator inside the iPack which thenpowers the logger. You should see 2 V here if everything is workingcorrectly between the logger and the iPack. With just the logger D-Cells you will see 1.5 V. Thebattery can also be removed from the iPack and tested with a voltmeter- it is important to have a test load on the battery, which willsimulate the phone being turned on. Measuring an unloaded battery willNOT necessarily provide meaningful readings. A 25-Watt lightbulb makes a good test load for the battery. Measure the voltage acrossthe battery and then again with the light bulb connected to thebattery...for a healthy battery, the voltage range should drop to 11.1V to 11.7 V with bulb on, and float up to 12.7 V to 13.1 V or so withbulb off. If the bulb starts bright and then quickly dimswithin a minute or so, the battery has lost capacity and should berecharged or replaced. --- iPack voltmeter reading doesn't match battery voltage shown in SDRTheiPack Voltmeter SCM will show higher voltage readings because the iPackis off most of the time when measurements are logged. The voltage sentwith the file that shows up on the SDR screen is lower because thisinstantaneous voltage measurement is taken when the iPack is awake andthe phone is on. On the Symphonie logger's display, thevoltage shown under the iPack status menu shows the voltage when theiPack is powered up (at the end of the call). The voltage shown on theSymphonie screen during a voice call is the battery voltage before thephone is powered up but while the iPack is powered up in preparationfor making a call. It is interesting to look at the iPackvoltmeter SCM data with SDR and select "minimum". You will be able toclearly see the battery voltage decrease during a call. This can behelpful in evaluating how the battery responds to and recovers frommaking a call. Excessive voltage drop or slow recovery can indicate a weakened battery. --- Connecting extra PV panels to the iPackUndermost conditions, the normal 5 Watt PV panel provides adequate solarcharging for the iPack. In some situations, it is advantageous to addadditional PV. The easiest method is to add a second 5 Watt PV panel tocreate a total of 10 Watts. On very rare occasion, certainusers have asked if they can go to 20 Watts of PV. The only situationwhere it might not be a good idea to use this size panel is if theiPack battery is completely dead and the 20 W panel is connected on aday with very bright sun so that it is generating the maximum amount ofpower. This could cause the charge controller to overheat.However, under normal circumstances (connecting the 20 W solar panel toan iPack with a healthy, charged battery), this is not an issue andusing the 20 W panel will not cause any damage to the iPack. --- Why an iPack is needed to power BP-20 and RH-5 sensors on SymphonieTheNRG BP-20 sensor requires a supply voltage between 7 and 35 volts whilethe RH-5 requires a supply voltage between 10 and 36 volts. A Symphonielogger cannot supply these voltages without an iPack. The iPack contains a 2300 mA-hr 12 V sealed rechargeable battery in order to power communications (phones) and these sensors. --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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