Energy consumption Sodaq One v3 vs. Sara AFF

1

I have been successfully running several Sodaq One v3 boards with a 0.5 W solar panel for over a year now. I am monitoring the weight of beehives at several locations in Berlin. I use the Sodaq Universal tracker software with LoRaWan via own TTN gateways. The systems run perfectly autonomously (even over the winter) with update rates of every 5 minutes, GPS fixed once in 24 hours.
Now I also have to monitor hives around Berlin. For this purpose, I have procured Sodaq AFF boards and operate them via NBIoT (Vodafone EasyConnect). Same software, update rate throttled to every 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, this board consumes much more power and I can not (even now in nice weather) keep the battery charged. After approx. 5 days the battery drops below 3.5 V.

I am grateful for any idea. Should it work with the Sara AFF?
Heinz

2

Dear @heinz,

The NB-IoT technology consumes a bit more power then LoRa.
The tracker code is written to let it work as a demo, the NB-IoT connection is re-established on the R4 modules. Therefor the power consumption is much higher.

The power consumption could be reduces by just turning on the modem and check if you get attached within a certain time. Otherwise do the default connect procedure.

Best regards,
Jan