Poor battery life - Vibration sensor V2

Hello,

We use a V2 vibration and temperature sensor with frequency analysis (https://store.ncd.io/product/industrial-iot-wireless-vibration-temperature-sensor/) to measure the vibration of a fan.

For the first 3 months, we took 1 reading every 15 minutes. Then, last Friday, we increased to 1 reading per minute. The sensor batteries then drained very quickly. The voltage went from 3V to 1.9V in 2 days, then the sensor stopped emitting (see the purple curve).

image

The main settings of the sensor related to the power consumption are :
1- Power: 4
2- Filtering : yes
3- Delay : 60 s

Do you believe that the emission power can have a significant impact on the life of the batteries that could explain this poor performance? In the case of this plant, the sensors are close to the receiver (maximum 100 feet).

Thanks in advance for your feedback :slight_smile:

is the time domain enabled ?

Hi Bhaskar,

Yes, it is activated on demand

Yes, that will drain battery extremely fast. keep in mind in order to accept the on demand request command the sensor stays on for 1-2 sec and during that time it can consumes upto 120mA current. during a regular sleep interval it consumes around 50uA.

You can reduce the wireless power level to get a bit extra life if you want to use it high transmission rate.

And what about other time domain modes. Would they drain the batteries more slowly ?

all time domain will consume same amount of power.

Data should be sent only a few times per hr in order to achieve long battery life.

Ok thanks.

It becomes obvious to me that in order to use these sensors with frequency analysis with frequent readings, I have to use an external power supply.

In order to properly calculate the characteristics of the power supply (voltage, power) and wiring (length, gauge) to be used, can you please give me the characteristics of the current consumed by these sensors (our sensors are dispersed over a very long production line). What is the MAXIMUM current used anytime in mA ? What is the acceptable voltage range (to calculate the allowable voltage drop of the wiring)?

Thank you in advance for your answer :slight_smile:

Each sensor will consume around 70mA@12V.
The min external power supply voltage is 5V.

Thanks

Ok. Thank you for your prompt response :slight_smile:

Last little question: Can the external power supply and the batteries work in parallel?

Let me explain: I would like the sensors to be powered by the external power supply all the time. On the other hand, if the current is lost in the factory, and therefore the external power supply becomes unavailable, I would like the sensor batteries to power the sensor while the external power supply is interrupted. Then, when the external power comes back on, the batteries would stop being used.

This would save us from having to add a UPS to our system.

Is this how the sensor power system works?

Thanks

we just added an external power supply option to this product now.

At one time either will run of batteries or external power supply.

the auto switch function can be added but it will require some changes in hardware.

Thanks