Specifications

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5.10.5 Power consumption and operational life
The power consumption meter provides the remaining operational life of the buoy. Over time
the reading will provide a more precise estimate of the power consumption in your particular
conditions.
Given the power consumption and the energy content in the previous subsection, you may
calculate the operational life of your buoy, see Table 5.10.5.
Table 5.10.5. Total power consumption and operational life of
standard buoys, assuming the nominal battery energy content and the batteries are used in a
continuous period.
Buoy model
(standard)
Power consumption
(mW)
Operational life
(years)
WR-SG 0.9 m 270 2.6
WR-SG 0.7 m 270 1.3
DWR-MkIII 0.9 m 345 3
DWR-MkIII 0.7 m 345 1
DWR-G 0.9 m 875 2
DWR-G 0.7 m 875 1
DWR-G 0.4 m 1100 30 days*
* in case of rechargeable batteries the operational
life is not determined
5.10.6 Battery booster
The battery booster is a device that "boosts" the output power of the buoy's batteries. It holds a
small array of very large capacitors that are capable of supplying the high power pulses as
drawn by some of the buoy's options (i.e. Orbcomm, Iridium). When the battery booster is not
installed these high power pulses need to be supplied directly by the batteries. This is no
problem for new batteries, but after a few months (as the batteries age) the high power pulses
can no longer be supplied. The battery booster delivers the high power pulse to the electronics
efficiently while the batteries are discharged with a low current.
The battery booster is placed between the batteries and the electronics unit. Because the
battery booster holds a lot of energy that can be released VERY quickly, an automatic resettable
fuse protects the battery booster against short circuit of its output.