The following battery information is condensed from a discussion amongst all of our dealers about battery life and why it seems shorter in the winter months.

It is well known in the industry that challenges to the fence often increase as the dog develops a winter coat, thus compromising skin-to-point contact. Usually by Thanksgiving, in the KC area, this means we start getting phone calls about dogs leaving the yard.

A dog can control battery life.  The battery could last a year if the dog never challenges, but with extreme and excessive challenging, a battery’s life can be less than half a day.

If a dog challenges twice as many times per day in cold weather than in warm weather, the battery life would drop to 2 months.

Our engineers know this and test 100% of all new batteries prior to shipment. They do not test for voltage alone but also test for internal resistance. This is because internal resistance is the best gauge of remaining life of a lithium battery cell. Lithium cells that fall short are rejected before they are shipped.

The fastest test we can do for battery capacity takes 2 days to accomplish. The test is performed both at nominal room temperature (between 68°F and 75°F) and again at around 20°F. In addition to the temperatures, we subject the receivers to shocking and dormancy patterns much like a dog’s behavior. Results for this test in the past have yielded 4.5 months of battery life at room temperature and 3.25 months at 20°F. Cold batteries do not last as long.