Charging and Batteries

Information on charging and batteries

The battery levels of the buoy and handset should be above 3.5 at a minimum before use. The power consumption of the buoy is directly related to the number of messages it sends. On average, fully charged batteries on the buoy can send about 400 messages before they are fully drained. Setting the interval to longer periods, or even putting the buoy to sleep will conserve power and increase the amount of time a buoy can be deployed.

The telemetry beacon takes a long time to charge, to fully charge from a dead battery can take upwards of 24 hours. Please only use the charging brick and cable provided. Newer USB-C type fast chargers will not work and could damage the electronics.

The battery levels are reported in voltage (V) and that ranges from 2.6 (low) to 4.3 (full). Users should expect batteries levels to hover around 3.8 and then drop off steeply. The chart below shows the power profile of a typical cycle.

The Scout telemetry has 4 high quality Samsung 30Q 18650 batteries that can be replaced. Please do not attempt to replace these batteries, if you think you need to replace the batteries please contact [email protected].

Charging the buoy

We strongly recommend fully charging the telemetry beacon before deployment.