Badge guide

Time tracking badge battery life and charging a fleet

Name: Time tracking badge battery life and charging a fleet
Brand: ZeroBadge

The ZeroBadge badge runs one month or more on a charge. Under qualifying operating conditions. Battery life varies with reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage, and configuration. The office gets a low-battery alert at 25% by default, so charging can follow the alert rather than a guess. If a badge dies mid-shift, the day shows a missing clock-out or early finish on the exceptions list and the supervisor confirms the real end time.

Last updated October 29, 2026

A charge lasts one month or more under qualifying conditions

The badge runs one month or more on a charge. Under qualifying operating conditions. Battery life varies with reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage, and configuration. Badges are off between shifts, so the battery is used only during paid work time.

What the badge does in one working week at the usual reporting interval

Shift length: 10 hours = 600 minutes
Reporting interval: about every 5 minutes
Readings per shift: 600 / 5 = about 120
Readings per 5-day week: 120 x 5 = about 600
Why this matters for battery: Each reading is a radio transmission, and reporting frequency is one of the conditions behind the one-month figure.

This arithmetic describes reporting load only. It is not a battery-life calculation. ZeroBadge does not publish a battery capacity on this page. Ask for the specification sheet with your quote.

Reporting frequency, signal, usage and configuration all change battery life

Four things move battery life, and the note attached to every battery claim names them: reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage and configuration. Each one changes how much time the radio spends transmitting or searching for a network.

What affects battery life, and what you control
Factor	Effect on battery	What you control
Reporting frequency	More readings per hour mean more transmissions	Fewer readings save battery but blur site arrivals and short stops. Ask about options in your quote.
Signal conditions	A badge searching for or holding a weak connection can work harder than one in good coverage	Test a badge on your worst site. You cannot change coverage, but you can plan more frequent checks on crews that work below grade.
Usage	Hours powered on per week	Badges are meant to be off between shifts. A badge left on overnight uses battery for no recorded work.
Configuration	Settings chosen for the badge and the account	Ask ZeroBadge what is configured for your account and keep a note of it.
Temperature and age	Most rechargeable batteries lose capacity in extremes and over time	Operating range and battery details are on the specification sheet, which this page does not list.

Cellular chip makers describe the same pattern: battery life depends mainly on how long a device spends in low-power states versus active radio states, and on how long the radio stays connected after a transfer.

A charging routine for a crew of 40

Pick a routine that survives a busy week, because one badge that never gets charged is the usual cause of a missing shift. Tie charging to something that already happens on a schedule, and let the low-battery alert catch the exceptions.

Three charging routines and where each one breaks down
Routine	How it works	Where it breaks down
One charging day a month	Every badge is charged the same day the foreman turns in the week	A badge that drained early is dead for days before the charging day arrives
Rolling rotation	A third of the fleet is charged each week, so every badge is charged about every three weeks	Needs someone to own the list, and a crew on a remote job can fall off it
Charge on alert	A badge at 25% is charged that night	Relies on the office seeing the alert, and on the worker returning the badge in time

A rolling rotation for 40 badges

Fleet: 40 badges
Rotation: Every badge charged about every 3 weeks (a margin inside the one-month figure)
Badges charged per week: 40 / 3 = 13.3, so 14 per week
Per working day: 14 / 5 = about 3 badges a day
What this means: About 3 badges a day, or one batch of 14 on the day the foremen turn in their weeks.

Three weeks is a suggested margin, not a ZeroBadge requirement. How many badges a charging station holds, and the charger itself, are covered in your quote.

1
Pick the routine and the owner
One person, the same day each week. A routine nobody owns lapses.
2
Check the fleet list before the charging day
Battery level is shown per badge, so the office can see which badges are low before a long week or a remote job.
3
Charge the low ones first, whatever the schedule says
A badge at or below 25% goes on the charger that night.
4
Follow the manufacturer's charging instructions
General guidance for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, is to use only the manufacturer-approved charging device, charge in a ventilated area away from paper and cloth, and stop using any battery that shows overheating, an odor, bulging or leaking. Confirm your badge's battery type and charging limits on its specification sheet.

The 25% low-battery alert tells the office before a badge dies

The office gets a low-battery alert when a badge drops to 25%. That is the default level. It turns charging from a guess into a short list for the day.

A low-battery alert on an ordinary Wednesday

10:40 AMA badge reaches 25%. The office sees the low-battery alert.
10:45 AMThe office checks the fleet list, sees the worker is at the second jobsite and tells that site's foreman.
3:30 PMThe worker powers the badge off at the end of the shift. The foreman takes it to the charger.
Thursday 6:15 AMA charged badge goes back to the worker, or a spare does if the first is still on the charger.

Battery and signal are shown for every badge in the fleet list, so a badge that looks stuck can also be pinged or restarted remotely before anyone drives out to it. See the badge for the full list of fleet actions.

Keep spares so a charging badge never leaves a worker without one

A spare badge is a charged badge that is not assigned to anyone, and the office can assign it to a worker in software the moment it is needed. Without spares, a worker whose badge is charging or lost has no record for that shift.

Sizing a spare pool, using a starting assumption

Workers wearing badges: 40
Spare share (a starting assumption, not a ZeroBadge requirement): 10%
Spare badges: 40 x 0.10 = 4
Fleet to order: 40 + 4 = 44 badges
Adjust for your own losses: If badges go missing or get damaged more often, raise the share. If crews are stable and close to the shop, lower it.

Pricing depends on the number of badges, office users and contract term, and is quote-based.

Assign a spare to a worker in software. Earlier shifts stay with the earlier worker.
Mark a lost badge as lost, so the fleet list shows it as out of service.
Keep the spares at the shop, charged, rather than in a truck.

What happens when a badge dies mid-shift

When a badge dies mid-shift, it stops reporting, and the day shows it as a missing clock-out or an early finish on the exceptions list. Readings the badge sent before it died are kept. The supervisor confirms the real end time and the correction is made with an audit trail.

1
Spot it on the exceptions list
The list shows missing clock-outs, late starts, early finishes and time outside approved sites. A dead badge appears as one of the first two.
2
Ask the foreman when the worker finished
The foreman knows whether the crew worked until 3:30 PM or went home early.
3
Swap the badge
Assign a charged spare to the worker so the next shift is recorded. Charge the dead badge.
4
Correct the record
Edit the end of the shift with the confirmed time and a reason. Corrections keep an audit trail.
5
Approve the week
Once the exceptions are cleared, the manager approves and approved hours go to the payroll provider.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a time tracking badge battery last?

How do I know when a badge needs charging?

The office gets a low-battery alert when a badge reaches 25%, which is the default. Battery level is also shown per badge in the fleet list, so you can charge the low ones before a long week.

What happens if a badge dies in the middle of a shift?

It stops reporting. The shift shows as a missing clock-out or early finish on the exceptions list, the supervisor confirms the real end time and the record is corrected with an audit trail. A charged spare can be assigned to the worker straight away.

How many spare badges should we keep?

A starting assumption is about 10% of the fleet, so 4 spares for 40 workers. That is a rule of thumb, not a ZeroBadge requirement. Raise it if badges go missing or get damaged often, lower it if crews are stable and close to the shop.

Does the badge keep reporting if a worker forgets to turn it off?

Yes, while it is on and has battery and signal. That uses battery and creates a shift that runs past the real end, which shows up on the exceptions list as a missing clock-out. Correct it with the confirmed time.

Sources

1.Battery Charging - Lithium-Ion Batteries (OSH Answers) · Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
2.Maximizing battery lifetime in cellular IoT: an analysis of eDRX, PSM, and AS-RAI · Nordic Semiconductor (chip maker engineering blog)