On average, each of our devices draw 45 milliamps from the vehicle’s battery. This amount of power will discharge the battery over time but provided that the vehicle is used on a regular basis you should not see any battery discharge issues.
If a vehicle is not used for a number of weeks, these 45 milliamps may cause the battery to discharge. However, this should only occur with vehicle’s with older batteries.
Cold weather also affects battery usage. A colder battery will not hold as much charge as a warmer one. This means that if we experience cold weather there will be a higher likelihood that your battery will discharge more quickly. This however is not an impact caused by the telematics device and should be taken into account during colder months of the year.
The age of the vehicle’s battery will also play a part in how long it takes for a vehicle’s battery to discharge. Meaning that older vehicle batteries will retain less power, and often discharge power a lot faster than newer ones. It’s worth replacing older batteries where batteries are no longer retaining their charge as expected.
Other components of the vehicle used will affect the battery drainage as well, bear in mind that if you are using other vehicle components (such as air conditioning, heating or other ancillary equipment such as tools), then this will also impact your vehicle’s battery.