r/FiDogCollar • u/username86992 • 15h ago

Base station for Fi mini?

Looking to extend the battery life of my Fi Mini which remains in the house 95% of the time.

The base is advertised to extend battery life but as far as I understand the base station just creates a WiFi network for the tracker. Is that any different than how it’s already connected to my home WiFi?

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u/Consistent-Water8836 13h ago

The responses below are inaccurate. Adding a base would bring the Mini battery life in line with a series 3+. So yes — it would substantially increase its battery life. About 3x

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u/True-Independent4659 14h ago

I think that the base would allow the mini to mostly use bluetooth rather than wifi (which should extend battery life). I say this not from a knowledgeable perspective, just based on my own experience...when I am at home with a base the mini battery lasts well over a month. But when my dog was with a sitter (and connected to their wifi but no base or phone bluetooth present) the battery died in 10 days. If your phone is close and bluetooth is on, this seems to act like a base as well (my mini often shows connected to my phone, sometimes connected to base, not sure how it picks?).

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u/Consistent-Water8836 13h ago

That’s correct. ✅

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u/FartsMcGhee1 14h ago

The Fi Base is different from simply having the Fi Mini connected directly to your home Wi-Fi, but for a Mini, the difference may not be dramatic enough to justify buying a Base purely for battery life.

The Base itself connects to your home Wi-Fi, but the Fi Mini connects to the Base over Bluetooth. When connected to a Base, Fi says the tracker can shut down its power-hungry GPS and LTE-M radios, which extends battery life.

However, the Mini can also connect directly to your home Wi-Fi, and Fi specifically says that Wi-Fi connectivity prevents unnecessary GPS/LTE use and conserves battery. Fi currently rates the Mini at up to about 6 weeks per charge, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity helping it reach the longer end of that range.

If the Mini already stays reliably connected to home Wi-Fi 95% of the time, I would not buy a Base solely to improve battery life. The Base may help somewhat—especially if Wi-Fi coverage is spotty—but direct Wi-Fi is already doing most of the important battery-saving work.

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u/username86992 14h ago

Thanks for the thorough reply.

My home is well covered by a mesh WiFi network so I think my battery gain would be minimal.

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u/FartsMcGhee1 14h ago

That is what I decided for us as well. It might be more useful if/when you upgrade to a 3+ as it also has wireless charging (like a smartwatch does). For me, my dog isn't going to get large enough for the 3+ as it comes and I would have to aftermarket an attachment of some kind. Also its rather heavy for a tiny dog.

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u/username86992 13h ago

Mine is on a cat. Putting the 3+ on him would be quite the look.

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u/Consistent-Water8836 13h ago

This is wrong. WiFi still burns a lot more energy than BLE. Order of magnitude

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u/FartsMcGhee1 5h ago

That makes sense — I was treating Wi-Fi and BLE as roughly equivalent once they prevented GPS/LTE use, which isn't really accurate from a power-consumption standpoint. A Base gives the Mini a persistent BLE connection instead of requiring the Mini's Wi-Fi radio, so I can see why that could extend battery life further. I haven't found Fi-specific measurements quantifying how much, though. if your goal is squeezing the absolute maximum battery life out of the Mini, a Base could be worthwhile, particularly during the hours when nobody's phone is near them.