Batteries and shelf life
Once installed, terminals in the Apollo family run on mains power, with only short breaks for power cuts or maintenance. The PCI PTS standard requires every payment terminal to detect tampering and respond by erasing its sensitive data. To keep this tamper protection running without mains power, every Apollo terminal has the following batteries:
- Rechargeable: a small lithium-ion battery powers tamper protection without mains power. How long it lasts depends on the terminal type. In ApolloX, for example, it lasts up to six months. To stay charged, this battery recharges automatically whenever the terminal has power. A full recharge takes about 90 minutes in most terminals.
- Long-term: this larger non-rechargeable battery sets the terminal's shelf life, which depends on the terminal type: up to 60 months in Apollo Polar V1.4, 24 months in ApolloX and Apollo V2, and 18 months in other terminals. The terminal uses this battery only when it has no mains power and the rechargeable battery is empty.
To keep your payment data safe, a terminal that detects tampering destroys its cryptographic keys and certificates, then stops working.
Battery system behavior
We fully charge every terminal before dispatch. In most cases, a terminal arrives with no more than one week of the rechargeable battery's capacity used.
To see how the batteries of each terminal drain and recharge in storage and after installation, click Terminal lifecycle. To see how often a terminal in storage needs charging, click Shelf life calculator.
- Terminal lifecycle
- Shelf life calculator
about 6 months
about 24 months
To explore the chart, drag across it or hover over it.
About 6 months in stock, then a one-month outage at month 16: the rechargeable battery covers the first 6 months of stock, the long-term battery the last 0.3; the rechargeable battery covers all of the outage.
Battery management before installation
How often you charge a terminal in storage depends on how long it stays there, and what happens to it after installation. Every day a terminal spends on the long-term battery shortens its remaining shelf life for good. However, a terminal with mains power after installation rarely needs that reserve again.
Terminals in electric vehicle chargers
Planning approval and grid connections often take months, so chargers commonly stand on site without power long after installation. A terminal built into an EV charger that is not yet connected to the power source also counts as being in storage. Time in your stock counts against the same shelf life as time on site without power.
After installation, you protect the terminal with a temporary power supply, or with a site visit to charge it on the schedule in the following table.
Battery management guidance
In most terminals, each charge takes about 90 minutes. A terminal charged on the following schedule never uses its long-term battery, so it lasts indefinitely in storage.
| Situation | Our recommendation |
|---|---|
| < 9 months in storage | No charging needed. The long-term battery covers the storage period and keeps plenty of reserve. |
| ≥ 9 months in storage | Charge every three months, or every five to six months for ApolloX. |
| No power on installation For example, an EV charger |
|
Tamper mode
As PCI PTS requires, when both batteries run out or fail, tamper protection destroys the terminal's cryptographic keys and certificates. After that, on start-up, the terminal shows a Security Violation error and cannot boot, start its applications, or respond to integration commands. To repair it, you return the terminal to us under the RMA process.
Before the batteries run out and tamper mode starts, you exchange the long-term battery in an ApolloX through the battery service door on its rear. The replacement must be a battery that we supply, because it is not a standard off-the-shelf part. The terminal must be on mains power before you remove the old battery.
For other terminals, neither battery is replaceable, because the terminals have no user-serviceable parts. Opening a terminal triggers tamper protection, which stops it working whatever the battery state, and voids the warranty.