We would like to share helpful information to enhance the Ventbuster® User experience. As our client, you are receiving regular emails with tips and tricks for operating the Ventbuster®. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us.
After reviewing some recent Ventbuster® tests we noticed that in these cold and darker days of winter, there can be more challenges maintaining battery power. To help sustain optimal battery life with the Ventbuster® power on-site, we wanted to pass along the following information:
✓ PRE-CHARGED: As detailed in the first issue of tips and tricks, solar batteries have a higher level of charging complexity. Because of the solar charge controller and nature of the deep cycle battery, we explained the three (3) stages of charging that should be understood to maintain and preserve battery life in the field.
Set up your test for success! Before deploying into the field, ensure that the auxiliary battery is not in the Bulk Stage, which is at 80 % of its charge, in general terms below 12 Volts. Do not deploy a battery that is below 12 Volts.
*Note, depending on how low the battery voltage is, Bulk Stage recharging may take a couple of days to restore its bulk charge.
✓ TRANSMISSION RATE: We have designed the Ventbuster® to update data to our IoT Platform at three different transmission rates. This serves to optimize the data storage capacity of the Ventbuster® and minimize data downloading times in remote situations. An added benefit of changing transmission rates and optimizing battery life is similar to your cellular phone...the fewer data transmissions throughout a day, the less power is consumed.
Data Reporting/Transmission Rate options are:
High-Rate: Data is continuously recorded, and the payload is delivered every 2 minutes.
Medium-Rate: Data is continuously recorded, and the payload is delivered every 15 minutes.
Low-Rate: Data is continuously recorded, and the payload is delivered every 60 minutes.
The “Timing - Low Speed” setting will conserve and optimize battery life for longer-term “Sentinel” monitoring.
Setting Data Transmission Rate:
Press the Right Arrow button on the Ventbuster® Communication Unit. The text in the top left of the screen will change from “> Menu” to “Device Information.”
Press the Down Arrow button and scroll through the selections to “Adjust Timing.”
Press the Right Arrow button, and the screen will change to “Timing – High Speed.” Press the Down Arrow button to scroll through the other options, “Timing – Medium Speed” or “Timing – Low Speed.” Select the desired timing option by pressing the Right Arrow button.
Return to the main screen by pressing the Left Arrow button two times.
As always, please refer to the Ventbuster® Field Guide and/or the Ventbuster® Start-up Checklist to set-up, start, and stop any SCVF Test.