Effect of profiles on battery lifetime
Battery life is a critical consideration when configuring measurement profiles. Treon Industrial Node X is designed to operate for long periods on battery power, but measurement frequency, calculation type, and network conditions all influence consumption.
Battery usage can be monitored directly in the Treon Connect UI, allowing you to evaluate the impact of configuration changes over time.
General battery usage principles
In normal operation, battery consumption follows these general rules:
Keepalive traffic uses minimal battery:
The wireless mesh remains connected using very low power.
Measurements and calculations consume battery:
Sampling sensors and processing data requires energy on the device.
Data transmission typically has the largest effect:
Sending data through the mesh network—especially larger data sets—has the highest battery impact.
Relative Cost of Different Data Types
Not all data types have the same impact on battery life:
- KPI data: low battery cost
- FFT data: medium battery cost
- Raw waveform data: high battery cost
As a result, frequent KPI measurements are generally safe, while FFTs and waveforms should be used more selectively.
Estimated message counts (default settings)
The amount of transmitted data directly affects battery usage. With default settings, typical message volumes are approximately:
| Data type | Messages |
|---|---|
| KPI | Axis × number of calculation IDs (≈ 6 messages) |
| FFT | Axis × FFT lines × calculation IDs ÷ 48 (≈ 600 messages) |
| Waveform | Axis × sample count ÷ 48 (≈ 1667 messages, Measurement 13, off by default) |
Calculation formulas:
- KPI: Axis × number of calculation IDs
- FFT: Axis × FFT lines × number of calculation IDs ÷ 48
- Raw data: Axis × sample count ÷ 48
These formulas can help estimate the battery impact when enabling new measurements or increasing measurement frequency. They cannot be used to calculate exact battery lifetimes of the Treon Industrial Node X as also other factors have an influence on battery usage.
Other effects on battery life
In a wireless mesh network, battery usage is influenced not only by a device’s own measurements but also by network routing:
- Nodes may relay data for other nodes.
- Long routing chains increase battery usage on intermediary devices.
Best Practices:
- Use the Network map in Treon Connect to identify long data paths.
- Add additional Treon Gateways if devices rely on too many hops to reach the gateway.
Summary
To maximize battery life:
- Use KPIs for frequent monitoring.
- Use FFTs primarily for diagnostics.
- Limit waveform usage to expert analysis.
- Monitor network topology and routing paths.
Small configuration changes can have a large impact on battery life, making battery awareness an important part of profile optimization.
