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There might be a few challenges in evolving this product to an iPhone|Smartphone-free future. 3G modems are notorious for their energy inefficiency, and if one
by ameen 14y ago
There might be a few challenges in evolving this product to an iPhone|Smartphone-free future. 3G modems are notorious for their energy inefficiency, and if one were to include them in this device, the drain on the car's battery will be significantly higher.
- jarek 14y agoUnlikely. Cellular modems might be notorious when it comes to mobile devices, but the power use is tiny compared to car electrics (headlights, spark plugs, various fans). A cell phone might have a 5 Wh battery (5.45 Wh in iPhone 5); car batteries are closer to anywhere from 500 to beyond 1000 Wh. If your phone can idle for two days with only occasional modem use (no screen and minimal CPU use), a car battery can do most of a year with the same load. And of course your fancy monitor hardware would be able to detect that you're not moving for an extended period of time and decrease polling frequency to further lower the usage.
- sah2ed 14y ago> ... but the power use is tiny compared to car electrics (headlights, spark plugs, various fans). Spark plugs?
- jarek 14y agoI may have gotten a little ahead of myself with the spark plugs. They're necessarily very high voltage (north of 10k volts), so they come to mind easily, but I'm sure the current and spark duration are quite low. Still, just the lights will easily outweigh a consumer-grade cellular modem.