03 Oct Tips & Tricks – Reading Transmit Voltage from Test Transmissions

When communicating with a MiniPAT using Tag Agent, there’s an optional action to run a Test Transmission. One of the reasons to run a Test Transmission is to check the health of the battery. Tag Agent reports the results, but it also logs the results in the Tag Log in Tag Portal. A logged Test Transmission is shown below for one MiniPAT tag.

The “172 BV” is a representation of the transmission voltage. To convert to voltage, divide the number by 50. In this case, 172 BV = 3.44 V. If this number falls within the range of a healthy battery for MiniPAT tags (≥ 3.2 V), then the battery is fit for deployment.

Test transmissions are crucial to maintaining the health of your MiniPAT tags. MiniPAT batteries develop an electronically insulating layer known as passivation to help with long-term storage. This passivation layer keeps the battery from short-circuiting and discharging on its own but also causes low-voltage readings during startup. Logging into Tag Agent and performing 5-10 test transmissions a month to exercise the battery ensures it does not develop a critical amount of passivation.