Beacon maintenance & battery change

Beacon maintenance

Beacon installations are typically quite low maintenance, once the installation is done successfully. Beacons don't typically break on their own. The most common situations that require maintenance are:

Beacon falling down or stolen
Beacon moved to a new location due to construction work
Beacon battery running out.

Proximi.io web portal includes a beacon maintenance view that gives you insights on your beacon installation health. Please note that the beacons themselves are not directly connected to cloud, and the data is collected through passing-by mobile phones. Thus, if nobody that has the app installed is visiting the venue for a couple of days, there is no data coming in.

The most useful views are:

Last seen beacons: gives you insights into when each beacon was last detected. On the opposite, there is also a "Dead beacons" view that shows the beacons that have not been detected for a while. Dead beacons have either run out of battery, or are just placed in very remote areas that are often not visited by people.

Telemetry monitoring: gives you details on battery level. Important: only Eddystone beacons can transmit their battery level. For iBeacons you have to just compare the data to the Eddystone beacons and assume a similar battery status. The table view shows you the exact battery voltage returned by the battery, and a symbol that communicates what this number means. Options are:

The value has been calculated based on the average CR2447 battery consumption curve in standard room temperature. Please note that based on temperature fluctuation, this number may vary dramatically. We recommend changing batteries, when the status is quarter. The final quarter will replenish quickly.

Monitoring via API

If you want to access the last seen data through a REST API, you will find it under inputs: https://proximi.io/docs/rest-api/#get-all-inputs .

If you want to access the telemetry data via REST API. Use this API endpoint for the latest status of each input: https://proximi.io/docs/rest-api/#input-monitoring .

For a Kontakt.io API returns the following:

[{"input_id":"b5de8773-cf73-4f5f-a25e-1c6ef8177bf9","data":{"namespace":"EDD1EBEAC04E5DEFA017","instance_id":"DBB15991AAAE","batteryvoltage":5904,"temperature":26.167969,"uptime":136016130300,"pdu":73255118,"createdAt":1627384188655,"batteryHuman":"full"},"organization_id":"0c4f268f-6c2f-439f-b127-33a70df62c0e","id":"5c46b3c1-25ed-4a46-8131-5730e2bf1888","createdAt":"2020-07-27T11:24:17.440Z","updatedAt":"2020-07-27T11:24:17.440Z"}]

PDU= payload size, (this info is a bit unnecessary)

Battery voltage is a numeral, and that's interpret by our API as Battery human. Options: full, three-quarters, half, quarter, empty.

Important: If you see any battery values under https://api.proximi.fi/core/inputs API, those are values retrieved from the beacon manufacturer's API endpoint from the moment that the beacons were imported to our system. Those values should not be used for battery level monitoring.

Battery change

Kontakt.io Anchor Beacon 2

Battery model: ER14250 (1.2 Ah)
The Kontakt.io Anchor Beacon 2 is very easy regarding beacon maintenance. A sharp item needs to be pressed to a small cavity on the side of the beacon to pop it open.

Video:

Kontakt.io Anchor Beacon

Battery model: Dual CR 2477, smoldered together
Battery change requires a bit more force and a sharp object. It is usually easier to detach the beacon from the wall/ceiling before opening it. The batteries are smoldered together, so in order to get the same battery lifetime, you should get double batteries as a replacement. It has been possible to order double batteries from kontakt.io until now.

Other models

Battery model: varies
Open your beacons to check the correct battery model.