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Selfhost dog/cat tracker? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Does anyone selfhost a tracker for a dog or cat? A reputable company charges 5€-13€ per month for it. I'm not sure I want to pay that for more than 10 years

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[+] -8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Connecting to GPS satellites uses a LOT of power. Most GPS units small enough to go on a collar will only last for a day or two without a charge. That's why people are suggesting AirTags, because they don't use GPS and the battery lasts for like...a year? But if you're worried about your dog getting lost in the wilderness rather than near humans, then an AirTag won't help much.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Connecting to GPS satellites uses a LOT of power. Most GPS units small enough to go on a collar will only last for a day or two without a charge.

    You don't connect to the GPS satellites. On "client side" GPS is passive. Periodically getting the GPS position and sending it via mobile data is actually quite "cheap" regarding battery. Good GPS tracking hardware can get up to 40-90 days availability without having to recharge.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Then please point me to all of the cheap, long lasting options that are small and light enough to clip to a dog's collar and last for 40-90 days on a charge.

    Edit: I'm waiting......these pedants like to pounce on my sloppy use of the word "connect" but haven't actually presented me with a product that proves me wrong.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That’s not how GPS works.

    It’s basically a radio signal your device listens for. Power consumption is tiny for that purpose. My smartwatch can go weeks with GPS active. Hell I have a 20 year old Garmin GPS for my motorcycle that will go several months on a couple AA batteries, and that tech is ancient by todays standards.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    To be fair, GPS itself is ancient by today's standards too. It has been operational for 30 years and first started development another 20 years before that.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    No honey, that IS how GPS works. Triangulating your position via GPS requires connecting to no less than three satellites. Your smartwatch does not have GPS active 99% of the time. It's getting location data by mostly by looking at cell towers and WiFi networks nearby, and only uses GPS very sparingly. If your GPS was constantly active (which is what you would want when trying to catch a lost dog) then your smartwatch battery would be dead within hours, not days.

    Your Garmin runs on AA's for weeks because it's not TRACKING anything, it's just showing your location on a map, locally. It's ONLY using GPS and not using any sort of data connection. The energy required to constantly check GPS and constantly report back a device's location via LTE is actually quite a lot, even if you only check in every five minutes. This is why GPS trackers only last a couple days unless they have a big battery. And this is why AirTags are popular; they last a long time because they don't use GPS and they don't need a data connection.

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