Operation and Maintenance

How long does a sensor’s battery last, who replaces it, and how often? Batteries are replaced based on condition, not on a schedule. The maintenance page lists every battery- or solar-powered sensor along with its current voltage and status: OK, Warning, or Critical. The cell is replaced when the device enters the “Warning” status, not because a set interval has elapsed. This eliminates the need to replace fully charged cells and, at the same time, prevents a sensor from failing unnoticed.

We’ll provide two figures regarding service life. For devices powered solely by one or more batteries, we estimate a typical minimum service life of five years. The reporting interval is the primary factor affecting how much longer the device will actually last: a sensor that transmits less frequently will last longer.

Devices with solar cells ideally operate entirely without a battery. In that case, it is not power consumption that limits the operating time, but rather the cell’s maximum service life of ten years, as specified by the battery manufacturer. Accordingly, a sensor in a windowless archive is closer to the five-year mark than one near a south-facing window.

The cell type and number are listed in every data sheet—some devices use one cell, others use two. This information should be included in maintenance planning—along with the number of affected devices and their accessibility. Replacing a sensor located under a ceiling eight meters high costs more than the cell itself.

Can the electrician do this on their own, or do we need to be involved? The division of labor is clear: the electrician installs and connects the equipment, and we get the system up and running. Programming, configuration, and commissioning—setting up sensors, registering receivers, assigning rooms, and configuring data transfer—are tasks that DEUTA Controls handles as a paid service; they are not the responsibility of the operator or the installer. Include this service as a separate line item, not as an add-on to the delivery.

The complete configuration—each sensor in its designated location, each receiver with its address, and the gateway settings—is contained in a single file. It can be backed up and restored. How do I document which sensor is installed in which room? That’s exactly the point: This documents which sensor is installed in which room. Anyone involved in the construction project who requests this list will receive it from the file, not from a manually updated spreadsheet.

For larger installations, the process is reversed: The file is created in advance at the desk, and on-site commissioning involves importing the data rather than programming each device individually. That’s the difference between spending one day versus one week on the job site.

What you need to provide: nothing. We usually handle the commissioning ourselves and bring all the necessary equipment, including a laptop and wireless technology.

We deliberately avoid giving a blanket estimate of how long the setup will take per floor: The duration depends on the type of sensors and whether they can be programmed in advance. Once the floor plan and desired configuration have been discussed, we’ll provide you with an estimate for your building within one to two days.

The gateway maintains its own history of measurement values as files on the device, with automatic rotation of the oldest entries. This data feeds the trend and comparison views in the dashboard. No additional database needs to be set up or maintained for this purpose.

This history is intended for reviewing past conditions within the building—such as the trend over a week or documentation of a heating period—and is not meant to serve as a long-term archive. Its duration depends on the number of sensors and the reporting interval; we can provide the specific duration for your system upon request.

If it takes years, the values are recorded in the target system. That is precisely why the question of data retention belongs in the data path specification and not in the sensor specification.