Carrier offers electric transport refrigeration units (eTRUs). For these units, you get the same telematics you've come to depend on, but with new battery data.
This guide walks through your eTRU data available on LYNX Fleet to help you make decisions about asset utilization, planning, and service needs.
In this article:
Asset Battery Management
Asset Details
More Information
Electrification Feature:
Asset Battery Management
This section gives you an overview on the state of your electric fleet. View details about your eTRU on LYNX Fleet by clicking on the left menu and navigating to Asset Battery Management.
When the page loads, you'll see an overview of your electric assets.
Battery Notifications widget shows you recent events to be aware of:
Critical notifications alert you to the highest priority items that should be addressed
Warning notifications alert you to items that should be monitored
State of Charge widget organizes assets based on their battery levels. Charging statuses for each category gives you more details on battery state:
Charging (grid) - Battery is being charged while plugged in to the grid (shown as an animated bar)
Charging (axle) - Battery is being regenerated via the axle generator (shown as an animated bar)
In Use - Battery is giving power to the eTRU
Inactive - Battery is not giving or receiving power
Configure your view with the following controls:
Filter by fleet at the top right corner of the screen
Filter assets that are recently online that have reported within the last 10 minutes
In general, assets with 80-100% state of charge (SoC) are more prepared for trips over assets with only 10% SoC. Knowing your fleet's SoC is useful when planning for asset utilization or coordinating charging schedules to optimize battery health.
Click on "Low," "Normal," or "High" to go to a filtered view of the Electric Assets tab showing only the assets in each SoC range.
Asset Battery Management:
Electric Assets
This tab gives you a full list of individual battery assets. These batteries are usually associated with an eTRU, but sometimes they may not be linked with an asset. Contact Carrier at lynx-support@carrier.com for help with linking a battery asset to an eTRU.
Useful information available in this tab includes:
Recently online - Reported in the last 10 minutes
Offline - Has not reported within the time frame indicated
Charging - Plugged in to the grid or receiving power from axle generator
In Use - Battery is giving power to the eTRU
Inactive - Battery is not giving or receiving power
Battery levels - Shutdown at 0%, low, normal, high
Rebalancing overdue - Last rebalanced over 7 days ago
Battery temperatures - Low or high temperatures that affect operational efficiency
TRU details - Details about the eTRU that batteries are associated with
Use quick filters to drill down with one click for easier investigations. The highlighted areas below can be clicked to filter the table results.
Use table filters to drill down even more to find assets that meet specific criteria. Click on the column menu icon when you hover over any table column. Then click on the filter icon when the menu opens. These filters will let you type in text or make a selection.
Download a CSV file by clicking on the "Export" button on the top right-hand corner of the table. If you use quick filters, the report will only contain the total assets that meet the filter criteria. If you use table filters, any filtering you made using the table filters will not be reflected in the report.
Navigate to specific assets by clicking on the asset link in the “Asset Name” column.
Asset Battery Management:
Battery Notifications
This tab gives you a full history of battery notifications. When the page loads, all notifications that have started in the past 24 hours are shown by default, with the most recent at the top of the table.
Useful information in each column of this table includes:
Details - Description of overdue behaviors, offline batteries, or low battery levels
Recommended Steps - Actions you can take to resolve issues
Criticality - "Critical" is highest priority and "Warning" is lower priority
Choose any date range to find notifications in a different timeframe.
Select the start date first. This will automatically set the end date to 24 hours after the start date you selected.
Select the end date last. Now you can set the date range to longer than 24 hours.
Use table actions to control table settings and configure it to your preference. Click on the column menu icon when you hover over any table column. Then click on the filter icon when the menu opens. You may:
Pin any column
Autosize one or all columns
Reset columns to default settings
The following actions do not require the menu to be open:
Resize any column by clicking and dragging between column headers
Reorder columns by clicking and dragging a column header left or right
Search for any word or phrase found in the asset name or criticality label to quickly find specific eTRUs. You may enter complete or partial words into the search bar. It will only filter results that have an exact match, not similar words.
Asset Details:
Battery Details
Quickly understand an asset's battery status and ensure it is being operated optimally. In the Asset Details section, the dedicated Battery Details tab is useful for gaining insight into daily events that impact battery health, performance, and efficiency.
Snapshot of current state when the battery last reported
Trip readiness - Helps you understand whether the asset is in optimal condition for a trip
SoC level - Shown as a percentage and categorized as low, normal, or high
Charging status - Charging via grid or axle, in use, or inactive
Battery temperature - Includes the minimum and maximum ranges
Rebalancing status - Learn about battery rebalancing
Battery information - Includes battery details, specifications, start of operations, and warranty expiration date
Visualization of battery events over the last 24 hours
SoC graph - Includes light red area that indicates low battery threshold
Battery events bar chart - Includes charging statuses and usage and some eTRU data
Active notifications - Shows ongoing notifications from the last 24 hours
Expand the battery snapshot card to see more battery information. The card will remain expanded or collapsed as you use LYNX Fleet.
Hover over the charts to see details for each point in time. If there is data where you place your mouse, a tooltip will appear.
Click and drag on the State of Charge line chart to zoom in to a shorter point in time. The area you highlight and zoom into will also update the bar chart time frame below. To reset the view, click on the "Zoom Out" button on the top right corner of the card.
Show/hide or reorder bar chart data by clicking on the show/hide bars icon on the top right of the Battery Events card next to the "Zoom" button. When the modal appears, hover your mouse over any data point to reveal the eye icon and up/down arrows. Use the eye icon to show or hide a data point or click on the arrows to reorder data based on your preference.
Asset Details:
Route Replay
Trace events that happened to an asset to help you better understand conditions that affect battery management and performance. In the Asset Details section, the Route Replay tab gives you a historical view of events and where they occurred. It lets you analyze information with important details like geofence data.
Useful information available in this tab includes:
Events table - Shows a history of all events and triggered alarms in chronological order with most recent at the top of the table. Clicking on an event sets the map focus for that point in time and opens a details tooltip on the map about the event.
eTRU status - Moving, stationary, or offline and other details
Using Route Replay For Battery Management
You can use route information to optimize an asset's charging schedule. Seeing where an asset frequently travels can be useful to account for when and where to charge it for extended periods to satisfy rebalancing requirements.
Toggle between Street or Satellite view of the map. Changing views can be helpful for providing useful topological context. In general, more frequent start and stop driving reduces the unit's ability to charge the axle generator, which decreases the asset's ability to keep the battery charged throughout the trip. As a result, factors such as terrain, elevation, and traffic density may affect battery drain and regeneration.
More Information:
Battery Rebalancing
Balancing the eTRU's battery pack is important for maximizing the power capacity over its lifetime. Battery rebalancing works by maintaining an equivalent state of charge for each cell in the battery regardless of their difference in capacity. As the battery charges and discharges, the individual cells inside the pack may end up with different SoC levels. This imbalance can negatively affect battery performance or even shorten its lifespan.
Batteries must be rebalanced frequently for optimal performance and ensure compliance for warranty purposes. Because not rebalancing batteries within the recommended period is a known cause for unit failure and degraded performance, not following proper care will create warranty issues.
Rebalance batteries every 7 days by fully charging assets and keeping them plugged in to the grid for at least 3 hours more. Rebalancing optimizes the battery’s ability to charge efficiently and prolongs its life.
Have More Questions?
See Electrification FAQs or contact Carrier at lynx-support@carrier.com for more information about Electrification or LYNX Fleet.