Track Boxes feature a standby mode which when enabled switches off the passive UHF reader (Transponders are NOT detected).

With the reader switched off, battery life is vastly increased offering a total standby time of up to 10 days, this also helps to reduce charging time. With standby mode enabled the energy consumption is below 1W, but the box will still charge the internal batteries which may draw more power. 

Reader status is indicated by the Blue LED, when OFF the reader is switched off, when ON the reader is switched on and active.

Standby mode can be enabled in 2 ways.

Lay-Flat Standby

When a Track Box is laid flat with the antenna pointing upwards, then the reader will automatically enter standby mode. The reader will be automatically enabled when the angle is raised and will begin detecting transponders.

This mode is most useful when charging, since Track Boxes can be stacked on top of one another and charged simultaneously using the dual charger adapter, and also prevents unnecessary reading of transponders which would otherwise result in increased mobile data consumption. 

This is not activated when the Track Box is laid flat with the antenna pointing down, this is to allow for applications where the Track Box is mounted overhead and angled downwards to detect transponders. 

Lay-flat standby may also be useful when setting up and testing connectivity at timing points without enabling the reader yet thus preserving battery life. 

Track Box Configuration Rules

Track Box configuration rules can be applied through RACE RESULT 12, these can be used to set a number of settings for Track Boxes. When standby mode is enabled in this way then the rate at which the Track Box communicates with servers is reduced, only sending periodic status updates, further reducing power consumption.

Mode

The mode can be set to standby which will turn the reader off. Note that because server communication is also reduced it may take substantially longer to return to normal operation when set in this way. 

Auto-Standby

Auto standby allows standby mode to be enabled for a specific time window, the auto standby is defined as a start and end time in UTC.

This mode allows for devices to be set up in advance with the reader off to preserve battery which will then automatically enable at the configured time.