Motorola Radio Battery Life Explained: The 5/5/90 Duty Cycle and Shift Planning
Motorola publishes battery life on a 5/5/90 duty cycle, so a radio rated at 22.5 hours is not 22.5 hours of talking. Here are the official figures across nine model-and-battery combinations, and how to size them against an 8- or 12-hour shift.
| Specification | Digital (hours).. | Analogue (hours).. |
|---|---|---|
| Model and battery | Digital (hours) | Analogue (hours) |
| XPR 3500e - 3000 mAh | 28.5 | 21.0 |
| DP2400e - 3000 mAh | 28.5 | 21.0 |
| MOTOTRBO R2 - 2300 mAh | 26.5 | 19.5 |
| MOTOTRBO R2 - 2100 mAh | 22.5 | 17 |
| MOTOTRBO R5 - 2200 mAh | 21.5 | 16 |
| XPR 3500e - 2100 mAh | 19.5 | 14.0 |
| DP1400 - 1600 mAh slim | 14.5 | 11.5 |
| SL2600 - 2300 mAh | 13.5 | 11 |
| DP2400e - 1400 mAh | 13.0 | 9.5 |
Duty Cycle
The 5/5/90 duty cycle means 5 per cent of the time transmitting, 5 per cent receiving, and 90 per cent in standby. That is a realistic patrol or floor-walking pattern, and it is the basis Motorola states for the lifecycle figures in its own specification sheets. A radio quoted at 22.5 hours digital is therefore not a 22.5-hour conversation. Continuous transmit, heavy repeater traffic, GNSS polling and Bluetooth accessories all pull the real number down, and cold weather pulls it down further, which is why the same radio can look comfortable in a datasheet and marginal on a night shift.
Shift Planning
For shift planning the cheaper lever is almost always the battery, not the radio. On the DP2400e the published figure moves from 13.0 hours digital on the 1400 mAh pack to 28.5 hours on the 3000 mAh pack - enough to cover two 12-hour shifts on a single charge. Buying the larger pack, a spare and a multi-unit charger usually costs less per shift than the extra radios that a short runtime would force you to buy. Size the pack for your worst shift, not your average one, and keep the analogue figure in view if any part of the fleet still runs analogue.
Data Source: Motorola Solutions published specification sheets and product-page battery tags (duty cycle basis: 5/5/90)
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