Operating Modes & Power¶

The regulator is wired directly to the battery and is always powered. It manages its own power draw using two inputs: the engine ignition signal and the wake wire. You never turn the regulator on or off — you turn the key, and the regulator does the rest.

This page explains what the device is doing in each state: when WiFi is up, when the alternator can charge, when the dashboard is reachable, and how the processor throttles itself to save power at anchor.

The three WiFi modes, briefly¶

How the regulator gets on a network is covered in WiFi Setup; the short version:

Client mode — joins your boat's WiFi. The normal mode, and the only one with Cloud Features.
Hotspot mode — runs its own WiFi network (ground pin 12 at boot). Full dashboard and full charging, no internet.
Setup mode — a minimal configuration page for entering WiFi credentials (first boot, or ground pin 11 at boot). The alternator is disabled in setup mode, and the device stays at full power until configured.

Power management below applies to Client and Hotspot modes. Setup mode is exempt — it always runs at full speed with WiFi on, since you are expected to be actively configuring it.

Engine running (ignition on)¶

Full power, no exceptions: processor at 240 MHz, WiFi up, all sensors running, alternator charging under control of the charging logic. The dashboard streams live data roughly ten times per second.

Key off — the wind-down¶

Turning the ignition off does not put the regulator to sleep immediately. It runs a deliberate shutdown sequence:

Field ramp-down — full power is held while the alternator field winds down to zero.
Save everything — all settings, statistics, alternator-health and boat-performance data, and any open logs are written to permanent storage.
Cloud drain — WiFi stays up for 30 minutes so queued cloud uploads (history, performance data, weather) can finish.
Sleep — WiFi turns off and the processor drops to 80 MHz.

So for about half an hour after you shut down, the dashboard remains reachable as if the engine were running. After that, the device is in low power.

Low power (asleep, still watching)¶

In low power the processor runs at 80 MHz with WiFi off — but the regulator is not off. It keeps reading its sensors and logging battery voltage, state of charge, and vessel motion, so your history has no gaps at anchor. The only thing paused is the alternator temperature probe, which is meaningless with the engine stopped.

Two things wake it instantly:

Ignition on — full power resumes before the engine settles into idle.
The wake wire — see below.

The wake wire (pin 10, Green)¶

The wake wire lives in the same control cable as the override wires (Cable 4, RJ3 right port). Touch pin 10 (Green) to pin 16 (brown wire / GND) — a momentary contact is enough; many installations wire it to a panel button.

Grounding it gives you 5 minutes of full power: WiFi comes up, and the complete dashboard is available for checking state of charge, history, or settings — without turning the key. Every touch restarts the 5-minute clock, and the dashboard console warns 20 seconds before the window expires. When it runs out, the device drops back to low power on its own.

Operating modes summary¶

Ignition	Wake wire	WiFi mode	WiFi	Alternator	Dashboard	Processor
On	—	Client	On — ship's network	Charging	Full dashboard	240 MHz
On	—	Hotspot	On — own hotspot	Charging	Full dashboard	240 MHz
On	—	Setup	On — setup hotspot	Disabled	Setup page only	240 MHz
Off	Grounded in last 5 min	Client or Hotspot	On	Off — engine not running; logging continues	Full dashboard	240 MHz
Off	Not grounded	Client or Hotspot	Off	Off — logging continues	None — ground the wake wire	80 MHz
Off	—	Setup	On — setup hotspot	Disabled	Setup page only	240 MHz

Notes on the table:

For the first ~30 minutes after key-off the device is still in the wind-down sequence above: full power, WiFi up, dashboard reachable.
"Logging continues" means battery and motion data keep recording in low power; nothing in your history goes missing while the device sleeps.
Setup mode never sleeps. If the device is unconfigured, it waits at full power for you to configure it.

WiFi Setup — Client vs. Hotspot, the setup page, and the override wires.
Troubleshooting — recovery procedures, including the boot-override pins.
Boot & Main Loop — how the firmware itself sequences these states.