The Dart3 comes fitted with a 200mAh, Lithium Polymer (LiPo) internal back up battery. This allows for External Power Removed Alerts if the device is unplugged, and for the device to track for some time after being unplugged

LiPo batteries are commonly used as they are light weight and compact. 

Over time and use, batteries degrade, such that their overall capacity is reduced. The number and depth of charge/discharge cycles, temperature and the voltage they are stored at all contribute.

This degradation may not have an impact on the in-field performance of the device - given the unit is powered externally the majority of the time and the battery is there as a temporary back up - rather than powering the device like a mobile phone or laptop. 

In order to limit loss of capacity, when storing devices:

• Avoid storing in elevated temperatures - if you could, storing at 0°C is ideal. But as that may be impractical an air-conditioned environment at approx 25° is OK
• Store at around 40%-60% of the batteries full capacity (they are shipped at this capacity)
  • Note LiPo batteries self-discharge at a rate of about 5% per months - so if devices are stored for an extended period, it is best to recharge them periodically to avoid having them stored at <40% charge.

The table below, from batteryuniversity.com shows the effect on capacity under various storage conditions.

We do not always have much control of how the battery is treated while in the field. So there is little that can be done here, but it should be noted that capacity will be impacted adversely if:

• The asset's battery is regularly isolated - as this will cause regular deep charge/discharge cycles
• The device is exposed to high temperatures

Safety

For detailed information on how to safely store batteries a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) can be found here Certifications - [Dart3] (Support portal login required to access page - Contact Support to request a login)