SkyTracker™ FAQ

Standard battery life is rated for 1800 transmissions, which is equal to approximately 7-9 years under residential loads. Replacement costs are $99. We will do the replacement for you, just ship the unit to our facility and we will turn it around to you same day.

The SkyTracker™ installs in one minute on newly fabricated ASME “remote-ready” propane storage containers and five minutes for most older ASME tanks.

All transmissions from the SkyTracker™ are encrypted.

SkyTracker™ Internal Degree Day Recorder Features:

• K-Factor Calculation for each tank.
• Out-Of-Ordinary Event Notice: If the number of degree days recorded is not consistent with the fuel usage, an alert is raised.

Over 7000 tanks have an installed SkyTracker, including installations for NASA, NORAD, Home Depot, Hampton Inns, AmericInns, Ruby Tuesdays, Dunkin Donuts, Boater’s World, various government installations across the country, homes of the famous and in countless agricultural applications.

Live customer service personnel are available by telephone, email or facsimile from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM CT Monday – Friday. Field based Account Executives and a number of other employees are also available by cell phone during business hours and at off times. The Website is open 24/7/365 and provides additional information, instructions and tech support. Insite Account Executives and Mr. Humphrey typically meet propane dealers at their offices during initial set-up and to provide additional support and training. It is Insite’s policy to provide dealers with access to propane-trained personnel, including senior management, for prompt service, dependable resolutions and customer satisfaction.

No,the dealer can use their own accounting software through our API interface.

Yes. SkyTracker™ holds a 913 Explosion Proof Rating from ETL and is compliant with Part 15 of FCC Rules. The unit is also UL approved.

Indefinite, but technology can change so we state approximately 7 to 10 years.

No. SkyTracker™ is a web-based application with access given to dealers through a user name and password. There is no additional equipment or cost for the web access provided the dealer already has Internet access.

Up to 100 people can be notified for each SkyTracker™ out-of-ordinary event. Alert notices are sent through website alerts, text messages to cell phones and/or email.

Time for delivery, critical low-level, delivery alert level, no change when expected, tank overfilled, 10% level drop, and SkyHelp Service’s™ CO, Propane Leak, Generator Failure, or indoor low-temperature notices if elected by the dealer and dealer’s customer.

The level is checked every hour, and the unit will transmit if an out-of-ordinary event occurs. Out-of-ordinary events include a 10% drop, a fill, overfill, or a critical low level. If there are no such events, the unit transmits once a day, twice a day, every third day, or once a week depending upon the model you select.

Field diagnosis is not required. A couple of simple tests determine if a battery failure has occurred or the Hall Sensor cable has been compromised. The dealer should carry a couple of these inexpensive standard maintenance items in inventory.

Yes.

Signal strength is 18-24 decibels. Distances are unlimited; 12,500 miles to LEO satellites, then returned to SENS ground stations around the World where it is recovered, processed and encrypted by Insite’s X-Series IBM server cluster for dealers to recover their tank and home information from anywhere in the World.

SkyTracker’s™ base plate is attached to the tank by specified commercial grade adhesive tape that is specifically provided with each SkyTracker™. The tape cannot be purchased in retail stores. A casual passerby will not be able to remove the unit. SkyTracker™ itself locks onto the base plate and the clip to remove SkyTracker™ is hidden. The Hall Sensor Cable also locks onto SkyTracker™ in a unique manner, but the removal of same is through a simple hidden release. Insite has had no reports of theft or vandalism to date.

Temperature, hail, wind, ice and snow do not affect SkyTracker™. SkyTracker’s™ SkyBrain™ processor can operate to -31 degrees below zero. Also, SkyTracker™ has been tested to transmit through several inches of solid ice and from under several feet of water. In field application, SkyTrackers™ are deployed today from the Amazon River at the equator to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Labrador, Canada to Israel to the outback of Australia. The World’s propane dealers have found that SkyTracker™ can operate anywhere, anytime.

Yes. SkyTracker™ can transmit from underground when SkyTracker™ is installed in an in-ground meter or valve box so long as the lid does not contain metal. NDS boxes can be purchased through Insite, for one-source shopping convenience, or at Home Depot or Lowes Home Improvement stores.

• Four easy steps, with no special training or expertise required for installation of Insite’s SkyTracker™.
  1. Peel the tape off of the SkyTracker™ base-plate.
  2. Stick SkyTracker™ on the tank.
  3. Plug the Rochester R-3D Hall Sensor in the Remote-Ready Dial.
  4. Plug the other end of the SkyTracker™ cable into SkyTracker™ itself, which turns the unit on so SkyTracker™ can begin transmitting immediately (Peel, Stick, Plug & Plug).
• SkyTracker™ installs in under one minute on newer ASME containers with remote-ready dials and in less than five minutes on any older ASME tank without a remote-ready dial. A remote-ready replacement dial is provided with each SkyTracker™.
• Some basic customer information must first be set-up in the SkyTracker™ website, which requires a couple of minutes in SkyTracker’s™ user-friendly, secure website.

• Battery Life: SkyTracker’s™ standard battery packs are warranted for 200 transmissions, which is equal to approximately 1 to 2 years under residential loads. Three Hundred transmissions from SkyTracker’s™ battery packs have been recorded by dealers in warmer climates. An Extended Life Battery is also available, which are warranted for 800 transmissions.
• Expertise and time needed to replace the battery: A Philips head screwdriver is required to back-out four ½ inch screws. SkyTracker’s™ battery pack is a plug-in, so replacement is under one minute. Replacement battery pack comes with replacement battery door gasket to assure weather re-seal.

SkyTracker’s™ primary power supply is a lithium battery pack with fuse to protect interior components in a power surge, such as an indirect lightning strike. However, SkyTracker™, also accepts any 12 volt source. When 12 volt or any solar panel system is used, a 4-cell lithium battery back-up is standard on Insite’s SkyTracker™.

No. SkyTracker™ requires only a 15 degree view of any sky, North, South, East or West. SkyTracker™ also transmits through (or from under) an environmental esthetic “Rainbird” in-ground sprinkler control enclosure (NDS, meter or valve box). SkyTracker™ also transmits from inside any wood building or from inside most metal roof buildings, so long as there are windows within 20 feet of SkyTracker™ so that a sky view is available.

1. Data of competing systems are not secure in transmission.
2. Competitor’s systems frequently encounter a higher rate of signal interference, including customer intentional or accidental disconnection of receiving devices inside a customer’s home or business.
3. Distance from tank to base receiver, which has to be installed inside a customer’s home or business, can cause interference or dropped signals.
4. Poor cellular reception and dropped calls on competing systems that use cellular transmitters
5. The inconveniences related to indoor installation: coordination with the customer for installation or removal, problems involved with a customer who moves, and the difficulty of device retrieval in the case of non-payment.
6. External power and phone lines must be available for land-line phone-based systems, including cellular transmitters from tank to customer’s residence.
7. Telephony based systems only work on analog phone lines. If the customer has digital telephone service, their service must be converted to analog, which is costly, time-consuming and a degradation to transmission quality.
8. Installation cost of competing systems is much higher and far more time-consuming than SkyTracker™.
9. Technical service is not by voice messaging or email. Insite provides live tech support 12 hours each business day from two locations in the US.

SkyTracker™ is non-intrusive to a storage container and does not require the dealer to enter into a customer’s home or business to install RF or cellular receiver equipment that connects to telephone or power lines in a customer’s home. This means that SkyTracker™ transmissions encounter less interference than other systems. In addition, SkyTracker™ transmits in the noise spectrum, therefore SkyTracker’s™ signals cannot be detected, much less decoded, other than by the patented Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS). SkyTracker™ security is maximized over competing devices.

Insite uses 48 GPS LEO satellites clustered in 6 orbital configurations of 8 satellites each. Each orbital fleet monitors one continent.

Insite will replace any unit that is determined to be defective within the Three Year (3) Limited Warranty period, based on date of purchase. A defective unit is one which a dealer has notified Insite verbally or in writing is not working and it has been determined that the problem is not a bad battery or a damaged cable/sensor. To aid in a warranty decision, Insite may require that one of Dealer’s employees or agents replace the battery or the Hall Sensor Cable from the Remote-Ready Dial to SkyTracker™ on the tank prior to determining if the unit is defective or not. (NOTE: one Hall Effect R-3D cable, one Junior or Senior Remote-Ready Dial and one battery pack is provided with each SkyTracker™.) Batteries and cables are considered maintenance items after the first year of service.

On warranty returns, a Return Merchandise Authorization (“RMA”) will be provided Dealer at any time a warranty claim is made. The Company will pay the shipping, both ways, of any replacement unit(s). The Company shall also provide Dealer with a return shipping label for any defective unit(s). Replacement units will be billed at time of shipment, but a credit invoice will be issued upon return-receipt of defective unit(s) at Insite’s Operations Department in Cape Girardeau, MO or any other location designated by Insite so long as said units are received within 60 days of the initial shipment date of the replacement SkyTracker(s)™. Otherwise, the invoice for those replacement units will be due and payable.

Yes, with use of any of the fuel level gauges as described above or any future sensor that emits voltage, including discharges emitted by electro-magnetic fields.

Insite’s SkyTracker™ can read any voltage output, such as a Rochester R-3D Hall Effect Sensor, which uses Remote-Ready Dials, but SkyTracker™ can adapt to any voltage range. SkyTracker™ can read PERC supported Adept Sciences & Technologies, LLC’s sonar system, Rotarex dials, Tarantin Tank products and Squibb-Taylor gauges and any contact closure of any manufacturer.

SkyTracker™ is a self-contained Low Earth Orbital (LEO) satellite transmitter with internal battery pack that mounts directly on any container (ASME, U-69, diesel or refined fuels tanks) in under five minutes or next to a tank in an in-ground meter or valve box, as would be the case for underground containers.

SkyTracker™ does not require any other component to read the liquid level of a container, so nothing is installed in a customer’s home or business unless the dealer sells their customer Carbon Monoxide or Propane Leak Detectors or the Indoor Low Temperature Sensor of SkyTracker’s™ resalable safety products known as SkyHelp Services™. SkyHelp Services™ safety alerts are carried outside the home by SkyTracker™ to up to 100 people, which is great for second homes or vacation homes or where children or elderly are at home.