How to maximise the number of daily updates

[EDIT]

Two weeks in, I average something like 2% battery drain per communication cycle (receive + send). Probably less. On occasion the GPS fix hangs (no fix after 15 mins under open skies. Off/On and almost instant fix). In most cases a cycle requires 2-3 minutes.

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New inReach Mini. Purchased to send daily updates to my wife. No tracking other than my location at the time of the message. No navigation, only a daily message.

Not being familiar with the device, not obvious to me if battery life will be better if I disable tracking (extended tracking lasts for 20+ days). Turning the device off/on in order to send a message might require more energy to get a fix on GPS and Iridium.

Someone has experience with this?

0 carleson over 3 years ago

yes the battery life should be much longer with tracking and logging off. Maximum life would be to turn if on for your daily message, then turn it off.

0 twolpert over 3 years ago

Also note that turning on tracking (for sent track points - as opposed to logging for logged track points) WILL send track points via satellite. This does consume power. And it will be charged against your data plan.

Also note that the device automatically does an active mail check when you turn it on, and once an hour while powered up. It tries VERY hard to complete the mail check. If you are in challenging conditions, the (re)tries can be battery hogs.

0 gauvins over 3 years ago

Thanks for the comments. I'll most likely turn on the device once per day to send a preset. How will I know that incoming and outgoing messages have been successfully processed? The manual says that the up arrow is displayed when data is being sent/received. So my understanding is that I should wait until the up-arrow is turned off. Right?

0 twolpert over 3 years ago in reply to gauvins

It's probably not that precise. The arrow indicates that the iR modem is "on". If retries are involved, I think the device backs off (waits) between retries. And turns the modem off while it is waiting for the next retry.

The best way to know for sure is to go to the Mail Check page. This will tell you if a mail check is currently in progress. If not, it will show the time of the last successful check. Best bet for your scenario is to go to this page when you turn the device on. Wait there for the power-up mail check to complete.

0 gauvins over 3 years ago in reply to twolpert

Tried your suggestion (i.e. wait until the Mail Check page shows a successful check). Makes perfect sense. Sending a preset and receiving a message took about 5 minutes and the remaining battery power stayed unchanged -- so I can travel forever on a single charge! :). More seriously, I'll try a few days from my backyard to get a sense of how this process works, and then see how much longer the sync process takes when the device is turned on from a different location. I expect to travel 50-100kms/day, and expect that getting a fix on GPS and Iridium might take a little longer.

Really impressed by the efficiency.

0 twolpert over 3 years ago in reply to gauvins

I don't think that 100km with power off will cause a problem with acquiring the GPS fix. Close enough to the original location that the stored data will still be good enough to predict visible satellites.

That sort of thing is not an issue with Iridium. There is typically only one satellite overhead at any give time. As far as the device is concerned, it just sends blindly and waits for a response.