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...Eco Mode

...Eco Mode

 

Eco Mode is an option to extend the battery life of a tracker at the expense of the tracker being powered off for extended periods. If relatively infrequent location reports e.g. 1-8 times per day, suffices, then Eco Mode may suit. The interface used in the images below are from the Large screen www.trackerver.ie interface. The phone apps are similar in nature, if not screen layout. See illustrations in the HowTo training sections: iOS TrackServer App  and Android TrackServer App.

Advantages and disadvantages of Eco mode:

Advantages: 1) Battery lasts from 1wk to many months depending on model; 2) Infrequent recharging of battery; 3) Electronic silence makes a tracker virtual undetectable using a scanner.
Disadvantages: 1) Alerts (Zone-, Battery-, etc) are delayed depending on the wake-up time interval chosen; 2) Delay in changing tracker settings waiting for scheduled wake-up time.

To get Eco mode enabled:

When shipped, Eco mode, formerly known as Battery Save or Stealth mode, may be switched off because it can be confusing for Learners. In the past customers have put their tracker into Eco mode without fully understanding the consequences, and confusion has followed. The Eco mode can be added to your / a tracker's Commands menu if a customer requests it by ringing us or sending an email to support@gps2find.com, remembering to include your tracker's ID number.

TS_Commands1a   TS_EcoMode1  TS_EcoMode5    TS_EcoMode6  TS_EcoMode7

To turn your device to Eco mode, a little patience is required. When the "Eco Mode" option is pressed, a dropdown of power down time intervals appears. Selecting one leads to a confirm challenge to make sure that it's intentional. To confirm press OK. This message is no longer accompanied by an audible siren warning.  Select the interval between position reports (every 30mins, 2hrs, 4hrs, 8hrs, 12hrs, 16hrs, 20hrs and 24hrs).  This message warns that the ability to change the trackers settings is about to be lost until the next wake-up time.

If OK is pressed, three things happen: 1) the tracker powers off and all LED lights go out after a short time; and 2) in the TrackServer interface and Apps "Eco Mode" status appears, and 3) the next wake up time is displayed.When the Next Wakeup Time arrives, the device awakes to receive any instructions sent to it while it was powered off, and to send another position report, update its next Wakeup time, then power itself off again.

When in Eco Mode, the Commands menu is suppressed because the device must first be taken off Eco mode before Eco mode needs to be terminated before commands are possible. The only command option available is the Exit Eco mode, after which it becomes possible to send commands again.            

Turning off Battery Save mode:

Turning Battery Save mode on and off uses a SMS credit and some patience. Press the "Exit Eco mode" button (above), which results in a confirmation challenge. When restored it defaults to a Reporting time of 30sec position reporting, so set it to a longer interval using the Commands menu.

TS_EcoMode8             

To proceed/accept, press "OK". After pressing, the Eco Off button changes to Pending Exit at the time shown as Next Wakeup.  To cheat, it is possible to hasten this by putting the device on to charge, which causes it to wake immediately.

The purpose of Battery Save mode is to make the battery last a longer time. When a tracker is wired in to an external battery it doesn't need this effect and can cause contradictory conditions for the tracker's logic circuitry. Eco mode makes the tracker power down completely between position reports, with it waking up, send a position report, then powers down again. If connected to an external battery it cannot power down which causes problems. Use Battery Save mode when the tracker is remote or if it cannot be recharged easily or frequently. In Battery Save mode, both the GPS module and the modem turn off and only turn on again at scheduled wakeup times to send a position report.  This means minimal power consumption (~20uA) also makes the tracker almost impossible to detect with a scanner. When shutting down again, the green modem LED may flash for 2-3 minutes.  Customers need to understand that commands sent to the tracker when in Battery Save mode cannot be delivered or acted on until the tracker next wakes up. When "off the air" in this way, customers can get confused and contact Support unnecessarily.  Patience is required. W