Li-SOCl₂ batteries for agricultural IoT devices
Sealed field devices, wide temperature range and scheduled reporting: capacity and pulse behaviour both have to be confirmed before a model is chosen.
Field devices work across a wide temperature range, are often sealed and inaccessible, and report through a gateway on a schedule. That combination puts two questions first: how much the device draws between reports, and how far the battery voltage may fall before the electronics stop working.
Sensors and gateways present different loads and should not be specified from the same numbers. Tell us which device the battery goes into, its working current, the peak current during transmission, the pulse duration and frequency, the cut-off voltage and the temperature range at the installation site.
What decides the battery
Application and device
Soil or weather sensor, or a gateway with a heavier radio load
Working current
The sleep and measurement load between reports
Peak current
What the radio draws while transmitting
Pulse duration and frequency
Length of a transmission burst and how often it repeats
Cut-off voltage
The lowest voltage the electronics still operate at
Operating temperature
Outdoor seasonal range at the installation site
Space and mechanical
Enclosure volume, mounting and connector access
Which configuration fits
Devices with modest transmissions can run from a single ER cell. Where the transmission pulse would pull the voltage below the cut-off level, an ER + pulse capacitor configuration separates the pulse from the standing load. Where the enclosure or the required capacity excludes a single cell, a series or parallel pack built to the enclosure is used.