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Yabby GPS FAQ

Written by Matthew Clark-Massera

Updated at February 3rd, 2023

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  • Battery Powered
  • Yabby3 Cellular
  • Yabby GPS & Yabby Wifi

How long will the batteries last?

Short answer: Up to 3 years at 1 daily update. Around 6-18 months generally with other configurations and applications.

Long (more accurate) answer: It depends on many things, see here for details along with a battery life calculator. The Yabby GPS is similar in design to our other devices, the Remora2 and Oyster2, but only uses 3 x AAA batteries, which have far less energy available. So it should be noted that aggressive tracking settings on the Yabby will quickly deplete the batteries. It is best used as a 'location' tool - i.e. "Where is my asset 4 x per day?", not "I need constant updates while it's on the move"-+

 
 

How do I change the update rate?

See How to change the update rate on the Oyster2, Remora2 and Yabby
The Yabby GPS has 2 tracking modes, discussed here - Battery Powered Devices - Overview of Operations

The tracking modes are:

  • "Movement Based" - accelerometer Movement based tracking, the update rate is increased when accelerometer activity is detected - even if we are sitting in one spot vibrating. 
  • Periodic Tracking - just update twice daily etc.
 
 

Can I set the Yabby GPS to update at specific times of the day?

Yes, see Scheduled Uploads. 

 
 

What are the default settings?

See Yabby Cellular GPS & WiFi - Getting Started
The following default settings apply:

  • Out of Trip:
    • 12-hour heartbeats. This is a GPS point and an upload every 12 hours.
  • When Movement is Detected by the Accelerometer:
    • Upload on Movement; Start Trip
    • GPS records position log every 15 mins, uploads upon end of trip
    • Upload on no Movement detected for 5 minutes; End Trip
 
 

My Yabby isn't tracking as well as the Oyster2/Remora2

While the Yabby is effectively a miniaturised version of the Oyster2, it has some key differences, and careful attention needs to be paid to the parameters. The defaults have been selected to provide reasonable battery life for general applications and may need to be adjusted. They are different defaults to the Oyster2/Remora2, so we will get different behaviour.

When on the move, by default the Yabby GPS will only log GPS fixes every 15 minutes, and it will not upload during a trip, just at the end. This means you will not see the Yabby move along a road on the map like the other devices - e.g. the Oyster2 and Remora2 get a fix every 2 min, upload every 30 while on the move, so you see the movement.

These defaults still let us get the trip history/replay for the asset - but if it looks like your device isn't tracking the same as it's bigger brothers - that's because it isn't! It's not configured in the same way out of the box!

Less frequent uploads can also highlight any coverage issues. For example if the Yabby leaves an underground carpark where there is no signal, it will attempt to upload on the beginning of the trip, and fail. Then if it then parks in another underground carpark, again we still miss the upload! So it will look like it has gone offline for a long time, but it has just been out of coverage at the precise wrong times.

 
 

I have just powered my device on and it has connected but doesn't have a GPS Fix?

It is most likely that the device simply failed its first fix attempt (it will attempt one on start up) - if it fails, it will go back to sleep until the next scheduled upload. On default settings, a trip will start due to a few seconds of accelerometer movement, and end after 5 mins of the unit being stationary. So an easy way to trigger another GPS fix + upload attempt is to simply move outdoors where there is better GPS signal, and shake the device for a while. The device will begin a trip and you should get a fix. If you then leave it still, after 5 min it will attempt a fix and upload again.

For further troubleshooting steps see:

  • GPS Troubleshooting
  • How to 'force' a connection
 
 

Can I use the Yabby be used to track run hours and Odometer readings?

Run hours can be tracked quite accurately based upon accelerometer movement, see here for information: Battery Powered Devices - Run Hour Monitoring. The Yabby will demarcate the start/end of movement via Trip Start and Trip End uploads, so we can use these times to calculate how long an asset was in use.

Odo readings are not viable on the Yabby. Getting an accurate reading relies on getting positions frequently enough during movement, which we can set, but will quickly flatten the batteries.

 
 

Theft prevention: How do I activate recovery mode?

See here: Common Concepts - Recovery Mode

 
 

What settings should I use to get fast after hours movement alerts? So I can be notified in case of theft.

See Alert on After Hours Movement

 
 

How do I set up low battery alerts? 

See HERE

 
 

Can the device do impact detection?  

Yes, see Common Configurations - High G Events
The accelerometer enables a few useful firmware features, see here: Accelerometer Event Detection - Accident, Rollover, Tilt, Tip and Rotation Counting

 
 
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  • Yabby Cellular GPS & WiFi - Getting Started
  • Yabby Wi-Fi FAQ
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  • Yabby Cellular GPS - Product Change Notifications

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