Emerson Fisher FLOBOSS 407

FloBoss 407 Instruction Manual
1-12 Rev 5/00
1.5.2 Determining Radio Power Consumption
In determining power requirements for radios, the duty cycle for the radio must be estimated. The duty
cycle is the percentage of time the radio is transmitting (TX). For example, if a radio is transmitting 1
second out of every 60 seconds, and for the remaining 59 seconds the radio is drawing receive (RX)
power, the duty cycle is:
Duty Cycle = TX time/(TX time + RX time) = 1 sec/60 sec = 0.0167
To calculate the total power consumed by a radio, obtain the power (P) consumption values for transmit
and receive from the radio manufacturer’s literature, then use the following equation to calculate the
power consumption for a particular duty cycle:
Power = (P
TX
x
Duty Cycle) + [P
RX
(1 - Duty Cycle)]
Determine the power consumption for all radios that use power from the ROC/FloBoss, and enter the
total calculated value in Table 1-1.
1.5.3 Totaling Power Requirements
To adequately meet the needs of the ROC/FloBoss system, it is important to determine the total power
consumption, size solar panel, and battery backup requirements accordingly. For total power
consumption, add the device values in Table 1-1. Although Table 1-1 and Table 1-2 take into account
the power supplied by the ROC/FloBoss to its connected devices, be sure to add the power consumption
(in mW) of any other devices used with the ROC/FloBoss in the same power system, but not accounted
for in the tables.
Convert the total value (in mW) to Watts by dividing it by 1000.
mW / 1000 = Watts
For selecting an adequate power supply, use a safety factor (SF) of 1.25 to account for losses and other
variables not factored into the power consumption calculations. To incorporate the safety factor,
multiply the total power consumption (P) by 1.25.
P
SF
= P
x
1.25 = _____ Watts
To convert P
SF
to current consumption in amps (I
SF
), divide P
SF
by the system voltage (V), either 12 or
24 volts.
I
SF
= P
SF
/ V = _____ Amps