Know your bees, weigh your bees
Various power options are available.
If Lithium Battery Packs are chosen as the sole power supply, it is recommended a spare pack is purchased to swap out depleted packs for recharging.
For power independence and rapid send rates, consider upgrading to the 8 Lithium Battery Pack, Boly Solar Power Pack or Boly Solar Panel.
Notes on Power Consumption:
- Power consumption is a function of the send rate. The 4G Hive Scales consume more power than WiFi units. The NB IoT Scales use little power
- The Boly Solar Power Pack or Panel will keep up at the maximum 1.5 minute send rate for Wifi units and 15 minute send rate on 4G units.
- For a larger power supply and bigger buffer for long wintertime overcast, the Boly Solar Power Pack can be supplemented with a 4 or 8 battery pack installed in the Hive Scale enclosure.
- The Boly Solar Panel requires a Charge Manager with a 4 or 8 battery pack inside the Hive Scale enclosure.
Notes on 4G Hive Scale
- Where WiFi is not available, 4G Hive Scales are available to send hive scale data to the server via the 4G network.
- Telstra clearly has the best country coverage, but Aldi has the cheapest SIM service. with a $5 SIM card valid for one year. The SIM includes only 10 Mb of data, but is sufficient for a year of hive data. The best part is, that Aldi uses the Telstra network, so we have the best of both worlds, the best regional 4G coverage and an almost zero cost SIM with enough data to last a year.
- The Huawei dongle has the best reception and Wifi strength to provide the best functionality for our 4G Hive Scales. With the patch lead and high gain aerial a marginal reception becomes more reliable.
Notes on NB IoT Hive Scales
- Very low power draw (two years or more on one battery charge) and the battery packs are recommended over the Boly Solar Power Pack for cost saving.
- M2M is our data provider for the scales as minimal cost per scale.
| Description | Retail Price |
| 4 x 18650 Lithium 3.7 volt 12.8 ah Battery Pack | $70 |
| 8 x 18650 Lithium 3.7 volt 25.6 ah Battery Pack | $140 |
| 1 x Lipo Battery Pack Charger and USB cable (required to re-charge Lithium Battery Packs) | $25 |
| 1 x Boly Solar Power Pack, 4 x 18650 Lithium batteries included | $195 |
| 1 x Boly Solar Panel with Charge Management module (requires Lithium Battery Pack) | $80 |
| 1 x Unlocked Huawei Dongle 4G WiFi E8372-320 | $110 |
| 1 x Aldi $5 SIM 90 days, $15 recharge 365 days | $5 |
| 1 x IoT Nano SIM | FOC |
| 1 x Yagi 10/12 dBi aerial plus 1.5-metre connecting lead | $90 |
| 1 x 4G High Gain Aerial and patch lead | $95 |
| 1 x Extra Load Cell | $300 |
|
|
|
|
4 x 18650 Lithium 3.7 volt 12.8 ah Battery Pack |
8 x 18650 Lithium 3.7 volt 25.6 ah Battery Pack |
|
|
|
|
Boly Solar Power Pack, with attachment fitting |
Boly Solar Power Pack |
|
|
|
|
Lipo Charger + USB cable for Lipo Battery Packs |
Boly Solar Panel |
|
|
|
|
Huawei Dongle 4G WiFi |
Charge Management Module used with Boly Solar Panel |
