Falcon Cellular - Battery Recommendations and Estimates

Please see the attached spreadsheet for a calculator to determine rough estimates for battery life for the Falcon Cellular. 

The Falcon Cellular has multiple power options:

1. Line Power (5-16V input range)
2. 3 x AA Batteries - either:
   1. LiFeSO2 (e.g. Energizer Ultimate Lithium)
   2. Lithium Thionyl Chloride (LTC)

We also recommend these batteries for the Falcon Cellular device, the comments made in the linked article also apply to the Falcon. Please note that the Falcon Pulse current table is given below.

Pulse Current

Not all LTC batteries are built the same - in general, go for Spiral Type batteries. Bobbin Type batteries may not be able to supply enough peak current.

The batteries need to have a high enough rating for pulse current to meet the following peaks:

Note: Test your batteries, and ensure to leave some room with the specified pulse current - they do not always perform as well as the data sheet may suggest! Please also take into consideration the current draw of any peripherals/sensors that you add to the device.

GPS Fix Times:

Note the average time to GPS fix varies with the logging period - more frequent logs means that the GPS module is downloading fresh aiding data, and stays 'hot', so it will more easily acquire a subsequent fix. 

In general around 60s for a 'cold' start (logging period above 2hrs) and 8-12s for a 'hot' start (logging periods below 1hr).

You can also enter your real world device data from the Device Counters saved in OEM (average this across a few devices) to get a more accurate estimate. 

To get to the Device Counters, follow the Details link in OEM

The counters are at the bottom of the page: