The Eelink GPT48-X is a custody-grade asset recorder: a magnetic-mount LTE-M / NB-IoT asset GPS tracker built on the Nordic nRF9160, designed to give unpowered assets a custody and utilisation record of their own. It fits to bare steel in about sixty seconds with no tools or wiring, reports position over 17 LTE-M bands (15 on NB-IoT), and runs up to four years of standby at one report per day on a sealed 8000 mAh lithium-manganese primary cell. Four operating modes — Long Standby, Trip, Activity and Emergency — change over the air. 2 m GNSS accuracy, IP65, 130 g, −20 °C to +65 °C. For containers, trailers, chassis, gensets and site plant, and available as a white-label ODM platform for IoT solution brands.

Custody-Grade Asset Recorder · Magnetic LTE-M / NB-IoT

Eelink GPT48-X: every asset carries its own custody record. Fitted in 60 seconds. On record for four years.

Nordic nRF9160 · 8000 mAh primary cell · Non-rechargeable

The Eelink GPT48-X is a custody-grade asset recorder: a magnetic-mount LTE-M / NB-IoT device that turns unpowered steel — containers, trailers, gensets, site plant — into assets that answer for themselves. An 8000 mAh primary cell on the Nordic nRF9160, no wiring, no installer — and under an ODM programme, your brand on the shell.

Custody-grade means three things

  • It records rather than reports. Position, time and device identity in every message, so the history stands on its own after the shipment closes.
  • It survives the handover. One device, one part number, across carriers, borders and years — not a trail that breaks where responsibility changes hands.
  • It states its own limits. Cell-ID positions are flagged as coarse, the standby figure is derated, and unvalidated numbers are marked, not invented.
8000 mAhLi-MnO₂ primary cell
4 yearsStandby, 1 report/day1
17 bandsLTE-M; 15 on NB-IoT
130 gMagnet base included
IP65−20 °C to +65 °C

Overview

Engineered for Assets That Supply No Power

Containers, chassis, trailers, gensets and site plant sit for months with nothing to plug into. Six decisions in the Eelink GPT48-X exist because of that one constraint.

Nordic nRF9160 low-power SiP

One certified system-in-package carries the LTE-M / NB-IoT modem, the Arm Cortex-M33 core and the power management — fewer parts between antenna and battery, and fewer places for current to leak.

17 LTE-M bands · 15 on NB-IoT

8000 mAh non-rechargeable cell

Lithium–manganese dioxide at 3.0 VDC, chosen for the transmit burst rather than the headline capacity. A sealed primary cell: no charge circuit, and the USB-C port is firmware only.

Up to 4 years at one report a day1

Magnet mount, no tools, no downtime

It clamps to bare steel and reports from where it lands — no bracket to fabricate, no loom to splice, no installer to book and no asset out of service. Four screw bosses take a bolted fixing when the mount must be permanent.

130 g · 101 × 60 × 25.5 mm

GPS L1 GNSS at −155 dBm

GPS L1 C/A on the 1575 MHz band, on a dedicated ceramic patch antenna, resolving to 2 m under open sky3. Where the sky is gone the device falls back to cell-tower positioning and labels it, so a coarse fix never silently trips a geofence.

TTFF 5 / 10 / 32 s hot·warm·cold, open sky3

Four modes on one part number

Long Standby, Emergency, Trip and Activity. The same hardware runs a four-year yard census and a live recovery, and the mode changes over the air rather than by sending someone out.

Changed remotely, mid-deployment

IP65, −20 °C to +65 °C

One sealed shell with no serviceable opening, rated dust-tight and against water jets from any direction. Specified for outdoor yards, open decks and unheated storage; not for immersion or wash-down.

20–90 % RH non-condensing

Fit assessment

Is the GPT48-X Right for Your Project?

Specify the Eelink GPT48-X when the asset has no power, sits still for weeks and has to be found across borders. Most failures in this class are scoping failures, not hardware failures.

Specify the GPT48-X when

The conditions the device was designed against.

  • The asset has no power to give. Containers, chassis, trailers, swap bodies, skips, gensets and site plant, detached for weeks at a time.
  • There is exposed ferrous steel to sit on. A chassis rail, a door panel, a frame member or a lip — outside face, label to open sky.
  • Installation labour is the real cost. Across a few hundred assets the wiring bill and the downtime outgrow the hardware.
  • The fleet crosses regions. Seventeen LTE-M bands and fifteen on NB-IoT means one part number to forecast, stock and ship.
  • You need both census and pursuit. A quiet daily heartbeat, switched over the air to live reporting the day something goes missing.

Choose something else when

Each has a better answer, and most are elsewhere in our range.

  • The asset has a permanent 12 / 24 V feed. Specify the TK417 instead and get ignition, mileage and driver behaviour with it.
  • You need continuous second-by-second tracking. No non-rechargeable device delivers that for years. Emergency mode is for the incident, not the deployment.
  • The device will be immersed or pressure-washed. IP65 covers dust and water jets, not submersion or wash-down lances. Tell us and we scope a higher-rated enclosure.
  • The asset lives below −20 °C. Deep-freeze storage and Arctic service sit outside the specified range and outside the battery model behind it.
  • The device must be hidden, or must go inside. If concealment beats energy reserve, take the GPT12-X Ultra. Nothing in this class works shut inside a metal box.

Deployment

One Tour of Duty: Sixty Seconds to Four Years, Then the Next Asset

A wired tracker is an installation. The Eelink GPT48-X is a tour of duty: sixty seconds to fit, years of quiet custody records, a switch to live pursuit the week something goes missing — then off, and onto the next asset. Across 400 trailers it is the install bill, not the hardware, that decides the business case.

GPT48-X — ACTUAL FOOTPRINT CREDIT CARD 85.6 × 54 mm, for scale 101.26 mm 60.26 mm 25.5 mm deep · 130 g including the magnet base

Drawn to scale. Small enough for a container door recess or a chassis rail lip, clear of forklifts and dock plates.

0:60 FIT magnet on clean steel, one key press 4 yrs CENSUS one report a day¹ LIVE THE BAD WEEK Emergency mode, switched over the air NEXT REDEPLOY lift off, onto the next asset ONE DEVICE · MANY ASSETS battery % in every report says when the loop ends

The service loop the device is designed around. Fit and first fix are confirmed by the two LEDs before you walk away; the mode changes over the air, never by site visit; and the magnet means recovery of the tracker is as fast as deployment was.

Field note 01

Outside the box, not inside it

A 1 mm aluminium sheet costs GPS L1 more than 50 dB, and L1 arrives at −158.5 dBW — 37–45 dB-Hz in open sky. There is no 50 dB to spend. Cellular still leaks through door seams: a slot half a wavelength long, 95 mm at L1 and 214 mm at 700 MHz, shields nothing. Sealed in a steel box you do not get a weak fix. You get a wrong one.

Field note 02

Trackers are lost to shear, not to pull-off

Rated magnet pull is measured perpendicular, on bare flat thick steel, at zero gap — none of which describes a painted chassis. Nickel-plated neodymium on steel runs a friction coefficient near 0.1–0.25, so sliding capacity is a fraction of the rated figure. Half a millimetre of paint costs roughly a fifth of the holding force; a full millimetre closer to half.

Field note 03

Design to the surface, not the forecast

MIL-STD-810H records materiel in full sun exceeding 60 °C at 35–40 °C ambient; measured structural steel reaches 59.4 °C at 37.5 °C air. Standard N-grade neodymium gives up 0.12 % of remanence per °C, so the magnet on a sun-loaded roof is weaker than the one you tested indoors.

Product visualisation of the Eelink GPT48-X base, corner rings marking the magnetic mount area and the four screw bosses

The mounting system

Magnets for the tour, bosses for the tenure

The base carries the magnet array for tool-free fitting and four moulded screw bosses for when the mount must be permanent. One base, both custody models — rotate the tracker across assets, or bolt it to one.

1Visualisation of an Eelink GPT48-X magnet-mounted on a trailer chassis rail beneath the deck
Trailer chassis rail — sheltered, ferrous, sky through the gap
2Visualisation of an Eelink GPT48-X on a container door face beside the payload markings
Container door face — outside the steel, label to open sky
3Visualisation of an Eelink GPT48-X on the steel body panel of an excavator
Equipment panel — flat bare steel on plant and gensets

Global coverage

Product visualisation of the Eelink GPT48-X over a dotted world map, one part number for all regions 17

LTE-M bands · fifteen on NB-IoT · one part number

Most trackers in this class ship as a regional SKU — one for North America, another for Europe, a third for Japan — and the unit that lands on the wrong trailer never attaches.

Global LTE-M / NB-IoT Coverage on One Part Number

The Eelink GPT48-X carries one worldwide part number: 17 LTE-M (CAT-M1) bands, 15 of them also on NB-IoT, on the Nordic nRF9160 — a system-in-package carrying GCF, PTCRB, FCC and CE approvals at module level.

North America

B2B4B5B12B13B14B17B25B26B66

Europe, Middle East & Africa

B1B3B8B20B28

Japan & Korea

B1B3B8B18B19B26

LATAM, Australia & South-East Asia

B1B3B5B8B28

B14 and B19 are LTE-M only. On NB-IoT the same hardware presents fifteen bands, not seventeen — a distinction most datasheets in this class leave out.

The band list is the easy part. The bearer is the decision.

LTE-M · CAT-M1
NB-IoT · CAT-NB2
Bands on this hardware
LTE-M17
NB-IoT15No B14, no B19
Keeps the link while the asset moves
LTE-MYesConnected-mode handover
NB-IoTNoIdle-mode cell reselection only
Maximum coupling loss
LTE-M≥155.7 dB
NB-IoT164 dBStandalone deployment
Uplink · typical latency
LTE-M375 kbps · 100–150 msHalf-duplex FDD
NB-IoT158.5 kbps · ≈1 sSeconds under coverage enhancement
Specify it for
LTE-MAnything that moves while it is reporting: trailers, chassis, plant out on hire.
NB-IoTAssets that sit still in difficult signal: basements, tank farms, sub-level yards.

Three things must be true before a device works on a visited network, and only the first appears on a datasheet. The operator must have deployed the technology on a band the device supports. A roaming agreement must cover that specific radio technology, not LTE in general. And the visited network must actually implement PSM and eDRX — Nordic has documented networks where roaming attaches but power saving does not, so the device reports and the battery does not last. NB-IoT roaming is negotiated bilaterally, and AT&T announced in late 2024 it would stop certifying new NB-IoT devices and migrate to LTE-M. Tell us the countries; we confirm the combination before you order.

Power budget

Four Years on One Cell — and Four Ways to Spend It

The Eelink GPT48-X is rated for up to four years of standby at one report per day, on a single 8000 mAh non-rechargeable lithium–manganese dioxide primary cell. Battery life is not a property of the cell. It is a property of how often you ask the device to speak.

Where the four-year number comes from

Our working model, at one report per day in Long Standby at room temperature. Check the arithmetic — most vendors will not show you theirs.

Idle draw between reports — 6 µA eDRX × 24 h0.144 mAh
One wake, GNSS fix and LTE-M report≈4.42 mAh
Daily total4.56 mAh
8000 mAh ÷ 4.56 mAh per day1 754 days ≈ 4.8 years

That 4.8 is a bench figure, and we do not publish it. The transmit term is modelled from the 265 mA upper bound of the LTE-M working current, at attach and fix times typical of good coverage; poor coverage lengthens both, and moves the result further than temperature does. So we derate to four years and that is the controlled specification — the number to write into your business case, your budget and your replacement cycle1. Trip and Activity life is set by motion, not the timer; we quote those against your real profile.

The same model, run out to your cadence — bars to scale

4.0 yearsPlan for1 4.56 mAhDaily budget 1 / dayCadence

Same ledger, same derate, moved by hand. Motion wakes in Trip and Activity are not modelled — those are quoted to your movement profile. A 60–90 day pilot beats any slider.

1 report / day
4.0 years
1 / 12 hours
2.0 years
1 / 6 hours
12 months
1 / 4 hours
8 months
1 / hour
9 weeks

Modelled from the same ledger and carrying the same derate, not measured on a bench per row1. The shape is the point: the report is what costs, the sleep is nearly free, so every doubling of cadence roughly halves the life. Choose the interval your operation actually needs: a daily census and an hourly track are two different products out of one part number.

Product visualisation of the Eelink GPT48-X on a dial motif, the four-year cell behind four operating modes

One cell, four ways to spend it — the dial is the duty cycle you choose below.

The cell

Chosen for the pulse — and what that choice costs us

A position report is a burst, not a trickle: the modem pulls up to 265 mA to attach and transmit, from a cell that spent the previous day delivering microamps. Bobbin-construction Li–SOCl₂, this industry’s default, is not built for that — Saft’s own C-size pair rates the bobbin cell at 150 mA continuous / 300 mA pulse against 2.0 A / 4.0 A for the Li–MnO₂ equivalent, and bobbin cells passivate on the shelf so the first heavy pulse after a long rest arrives at a depressed voltage. The trade is real and you should hear it from us: bobbin Li–SOCl₂ carries roughly twice the energy density. We take the trade anyway, because a tracker that cannot make its transmit burst in year four is not a four-year tracker — it is a two-year tracker with an optimistic datasheet.

Long Standby

One report a day, radio off in between. Where the four-year number lives, and where containers and trailers sit.

Longest life

Emergency

Continuous short-interval reporting until you switch it back — the week an asset is missing and every fix outranks the cell.

Recovery mode

Trip

Silent while parked. Reports through the journey, then a final position once the asset has been still about four minutes.

Journey detail

Activity

Wakes on the accelerometer, reports only while the asset moves. Nothing while it sits, which for most yard assets is most of the year.

Utilisation data

Deployment matrix

Industry Applications, Configured by Asset Class

The table our application engineers work from when they configure an Eelink GPT48-X for a fleet. Tell us the asset and we will tell you the mode, the cadence and the service life to plan for.

Asset classWhat it is costing you todayModeCadencePlan for
Visualisation of a container leaving a terminal by road, a marker ring over the Eelink GPT48-X position on the door face

Containers, trailers & swap bodies

What it is costing you

Interchange and demurrage disputes you cannot evidence; a chassis pool nobody can size.

Mode

Long Standby

Cadence

1 report / day

Plan for

Up to 4 years1

The duty cycle the headline belongs to.

Visualisation of refrigerated trailers at a depot, a marker ring over the Eelink GPT48-X position on the tracked unit

Reefers & cold chain

What it is costing you

Boxes that fall off the map every time they are pre-cooled, and a wired install that cuts insulation.

Mode

Long Standby

Cadence

1 report / day

Plan for

3–4 years

De-rate below −10 °C; mount ambient-side, no penetration.

Visualisation of an excavator on a wet site, the Eelink GPT48-X position marked in the foreground

Gensets, pumps & site plant

What it is costing you

Off-hire units nobody collects, and a utilisation number finance does not believe.

Mode

Activity

Cadence

On movement

Plan for

Quoted to your profile

Motion wakes set the life, not the timer.

Visualisation of a loaded waste skip, a marker ring over the Eelink GPT48-X on its side panel

Skips, bins & waste containers

What it is costing you

Thousands of low-value steel units, each too cheap to wire and together too many to count.

Mode

Long Standby

Cadence

1 / day or 1 / 12 h

Plan for

Quoted to cadence

Only a sixty-second fit works at this scale.

Visualisation of a recovered Eelink GPT48-X lying on wet ground at a container yard

Any asset, the week it goes missing

What it is costing you

A theft or mis-delivery, where a daily ping is useless and every fix outranks capacity.

Mode

Emergency

Cadence

Continuous

Plan for

Days, by design

Switched on remotely, switched back when the asset is home.

Modes change remotely, over the air — a container sits in Long Standby for four years, then goes into Emergency the afternoon it disappears.

Specifications

Technical Specifications

Taken from the Eelink GPT48-X engineering datasheet. Where our own documents disagree, the row carries both figures.

Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — cellular and network specifications
CellularEelink GPT48-X
ModuleNordic Semiconductor nRF9160 system-in-package
TechnologyLTE-M (CAT-M1) / NB-IoT (CAT-NB2) — no 2G fallback
LTE bandsB1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B8 / B12 / B13 / B14 / B17 / B18 / B19 / B20 / B25 / B26 / B28 / B66 — 17 on LTE-M. B14 and B19 are LTE-M only, so NB-IoT presents 15
MobilityLTE-M holds the link in connected mode; NB-IoT reselects in idle mode only
Working currentLTE-M 124–265 mA · NB-IoT 150–180 mA
RX sensitivityLTE-M −108 dBm · NB-IoT −114 dBm
Low-power modesPSM and eDRX — both subject to network support on the visited operator6
SIMNano-SIM (4FF), not supplied
Module certificationsThe nRF9160 SiP holds GCF, PTCRB, FCC and CE approvals at module level5
Device certificationsNot claimed on this page — the current certificate set is issued per market on request5
Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — GNSS and positioning specifications
PositioningEelink GPT48-X
ConstellationsGPS L1 C/A, with QZSS L1 C/A, plus LBS cell-tower aiding3Supersedes the GLONASS and BeiDou reception claimed in older Eelink material — the nRF9160 receives neither.
GNSS band1575 MHz — single band
Satellite accuracy2 m, open sky
LBS accuracyHundreds of metres — a which-yard answer, not a which-bay one7
GNSS sensitivity−155 dBm
Time to first fixHot 5 s · Warm 10 s · Cold 32 s — published open-sky values8
AntennasInternal LTE bracket antenna and GPS ceramic patch antenna
Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — battery and power specifications
PowerEelink GPT48-X
Battery8000 mAh lithium–manganese dioxide (Li–MnO₂) primary cell
RechargeableNo — primary chemistry, replaceable cell
Nominal voltage / energy3.0 VDC · 24 Wh
Standby lifeUp to 4 years at one report per day1Our user manual and the 2026 catalogue publish five. Four supersedes it, pending a power model and a test report.
Battery reportingRemaining capacity on every report, as a percentage
Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — operating modes, sensors and alarms
OperationEelink GPT48-X
Operating modesLong Standby · Emergency · Trip · Activity
Report intervalConfigurable — 24 h / 12 h / 8 h typical, set remotely
Motion sensorBuilt-in accelerometer, wake-on-motion armed in every mode
AlarmsVibration, fall and crash detection in Emergency mode; geofence entry and exit
Remote wakeSMS command wakes the device ahead of its next report (operator dependent)
Anti-removalBuilt-in light sensor — scheduled for a future revision, not shipping today
Controls and indicatorsOne key for power-on and manual wake · blue LED GNSS, red LED cellular
Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — mechanical and environmental specifications
Mechanical & environmentalEelink GPT48-X
Dimensions101.26 (L) × 60.26 (W) × 25.5 (H) mm — 3.99 × 2.37 × 1.00 in
Net weight130 g (4.6 oz)2Supersedes the 150 g still printed in the engineering datasheet.
Fixing methodMagnetic mount, plus four-point screw fixing through moulded bosses
Service portUSB Type-C — firmware upgrade and debug only, not a charging port
Ingress protectionIP65 — dust-tight, protected against low-pressure water jets
Operating temperature−20 °C to +65 °C (−4 °F to 149 °F)
Operating humidity20% to 90% RH, non-condensing
Eelink GPT48-X magnetic asset GPS tracker — protocol, firmware and platform integration
Platform & firmwareEelink GPT48-X
ProtocolEELINK Device Protocol 2.0 family4, documented for platform integration
Firmware updateOTA — over the air
ConfigurationRemote — mode and interval, over the air
Data accessWeb platform, mobile app or SMS query
Eelink GPT48-X dimensioned drawing: 101.26 by 60.26 by 25.5 millimetres, 130 grams

Dimensioned three-view drawing — on the page rather than behind a form, because it is the first thing a mechanical engineer asks for.

1. Four years is our controlled specification for Long Standby at one report per day. Some of our own material has published five. Until an engineering power model and a test report support five, four is the number we will stand behind and the number to plan against.
2. 130 g is the figure in the user manual, the 2026 catalogue and our commercial documentation; the engineering datasheet still records 150 g. We are re-weighing current production stock and will confirm the controlled value against your order.
3. The Nordic nRF9160 receives GPS L1 C/A and QZSS L1 C/A on a single 1575 MHz band. Older Eelink material lists BeiDou and GLONASS for this model; that is not confirmed on this hardware, so we do not claim it here. If a specific constellation is a hard requirement, ask us and we will answer against the shipping build rather than the brochure.
4. EELINK Device Protocol 2.0 family. The integration document we issue is revision V2.0.3. Where 2.1 appears on older material, treat it as an error.
5. Module-level approvals belong to the Nordic nRF9160 SiP and do not transfer automatically to a finished device. We do not publish device-level FCC, CE or PTCRB claims for the GPT48-X on this page. Approvals vary by market; we send the current certificate set for your countries with the quotation.
6. PSM and eDRX are 3GPP features the visited network has to implement, not just the device. Where a network attaches but withholds them, the unit still reports and the battery estimate does not hold. We confirm this per country before you order.
7. Cellular positioning is a fallback, not a substitute. Peer-reviewed measurement puts median cellular error near 600 m against 8 m for assisted GPS (Zandbergen, Transactions in GIS, 2009). LBS positions are flagged so they never silently satisfy a geofence.
8. Time-to-first-fix figures are published open-sky values, not guaranteed values. Our manual quotes a different set (<3 s / <26 s / <35 s) — faster hot and warm, slower cold; we publish the datasheet numbers. A cold start in the 25–40 s range is normal for this class of receiver, and real fix times under steel, in a stack or against a wall will be longer. Ask us for the measured figure on your mounting geometry.
About these figures — which document wins. Where a specification on this page differs from an older Eelink document — the user manual, the 2026 catalogue, the engineering datasheet, or a distributor's or reseller's copy of any of them — the figure on this page is the controlled one and supersedes the other, effective 6 August 2026. The eight notes above name every value where that is currently the case, and each one states the superseded figure as well as the controlled one, so that the disagreement can be resolved by whoever finds it rather than guessed at.
About this designation. GPT48-X is an Eelink product designation, used by Shenzhen Eelink Communication Technology Co., Ltd. for this magnetic asset GPS tracker. It is written GPT48-X, GPT48X or GPT-48X in different documents and all refer to the same device. It is not related to any language model, processor or graphics product that shares the letters GPT.
Last updated: 6 August 2026. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Integration

Integration and Platform Support

The Eelink GPT48-X reports to whatever endpoint you nominate, over the EELINK Device Protocol 2.0 family. There is no walled garden, no per-device platform licence and no obligation to run our software. And the device produces telemetry only — it does not run models or make decisions on-device; the analytics layer is yours.

Device to endpoint — the whole path, and where it stops being ours

GPT48-X

Wakes on schedule or on motion, fixes position, builds the frame, sleeps again.

LTE-M or NB-IoT

Your SIM, your operator. One bearer chosen per deployment — the choice that matters most.

EELINK Protocol 2.0

Binary frames over TCP — position, heartbeat, alarm, status. Reference document V2.0.3.4

Your endpoint

Your own server, or a third-party platform. We hand over the parser reference, not a subscription.

Return path The same link runs backwards: configuration changes and firmware images go down to the fleet over the air, and an SMS wake-up brings a sleeping unit up on demand — subject to your SIM operator carrying mobile-terminated SMS on that network.

One frame, annotated

67 67 12 00 25 …         ← header · location frame
… UTC · lat / lon (1e-6°)  ← when and where, together
… speed · course · cell  ← cell IDs feed LBS fallback
… status · battery %      ← capacity in every report

Illustrative structure, not a captured packet — the byte-accurate map is the protocol reference V2.0.34, on request.

SMS commands a field team uses

WHERE#              ← instant position reply
SERVER,1,host,port# ← point at your endpoint
APN,your.apn#       ← set the carrier APN
MODE,EMERGENCY#     ← live tracking, then revert
FREQ,1440#          ← interval in minutes

Syntax varies by firmware build. On-demand wake needs mobile-terminated SMS on the SIM plan6.

Where the data can land — confirm the GPT48-X profile on your platform version during evaluation

Your own TCP endpoint Traccar Wialon Navixy flespi Third-party TSPs

Configured before it ships — parameters we pre-load at the factory

Server IP and port APN and credentials Operating mode Reporting interval Alarm thresholds Motion sensitivity Nano-SIM fitted Serial-to-IMEI manifest

OEM / ODM

Your Brand on the Shell. Our Engineering Behind It.

The GPT48-X is the custody-grade recorder in the Eelink range — the location-and-custody counterpart to our evidence-grade condition devices. Eelink’s business is being the engineering and manufacturing partner behind mid-sized IoT platforms, rental operators and fleet-solution brands — most of what leaves our line carries somebody else’s name on it. The GPT48-X ships as your branded magnetic tracker: your firmware profile, your protocol endpoint, your label, your packaging.

Product visualisation of the Eelink GPT48-X with callouts for your logo, your colours and white-label readiness

Most of what we design ships under somebody else’s brand. That is the normal case here, not a special arrangement — which is why the awkward parts of a hardware programme are already routine to us: the regional approval that arrives after the launch date, the operator who will not enable PSM, the cell that goes end-of-life in year three.

A mid-sized IoT brand does not have to build a hardware team to own a hardware product. It has to find one that still answers the phone in year four.

Logo, label and packaging customization

Firmware reporting profiles and alarm logic

Protocol and API adaptation for your platform

SIM, APN and server pre-configuration

Mounting accessories and DFM review for your asset class

Per-market certification planning and test-house liaison

Sample → pilot → mass-production support

Firmware maintenance and OTA campaigns for the life of the fleet

Since 2004Designing cellular tracking hardware for two decades — under our own brand, and under our customers’
ODM by defaultDesign, firmware, certification planning and lifecycle support in-house; volume build placed with contract manufacturing partners
China + VietnamManufacturing partners in two countries, so one tariff line or one stopped site is not your stock-out
Year fourWhere a hardware programme is actually tested: firmware maintenance, OTA campaigns and per-market approvals, still running

What you receive

In the Box, and the Documents Behind It

Everything needed to put an Eelink GPT48-X on an asset. Connectivity runs on your own IoT contract; every document below goes out the day you ask.

In the box

1 × GPT48-X, battery fitted and sealed 4 × screws for permanent fixing Quick-start card: SIM, power-on, LED reference Protocol docs & onboarding with volume orders

Before you order

Frequently Asked Questions

The questions buyers actually ask about the Eelink GPT48-X — including where it is weaker than the alternatives.

Can the battery be recharged?

No. Lithium–manganese dioxide is a primary chemistry and there is no charge circuit — the USB-C port is firmware and debug only, the most common misreading of the datasheet. A unit that has sat in stock for eighteen months still has to attach on its first burst, and this cell is chosen so it does.

Four years, or five? Eelink material says both.

It does, and we have corrected it. Four years is the controlled specification — one report a day, Long Standby, reasonable signal — and it is the only figure we will put in a quotation. Our own arithmetic runs past it, and we still will not publish five. What moves the number most is not temperature but coverage: a device attaching at the cell edge holds its transmit current longer on every wake, and that term dominates the budget.

What does cold do to the number?

Available capacity falls in every primary cell as temperature drops, so a fleet wintering in Scandinavia or Canada should be planned conservatively. Send the profile the assets actually see and we de-rate the estimate rather than let you find it in year three.

Do we get any warning before it dies?

Remaining capacity rides on every report as a percentage, so replacement is scheduled off a dashboard rather than discovered when an asset goes quiet.

Does it work on 2G?

No — LTE-M and NB-IoT only, deliberately. 2G is being retired across North America and much of Europe, and a device specified for four years has to outlive its bearer. Seventeen bands on LTE-M and fifteen on NB-IoT is one part number for most markets — but as the coverage section sets out, the bearer decision matters more than the band count.

What happens when there is no satellite signal — can we seal it inside a container?

Do not seal it in. A millimetre of aluminium takes more than 50 dB out of GPS L1, but cellular still leaks through the door seams, so the unit does not go quiet — it keeps reporting a tower-derived position that looks like a fix and is not. Size that expectation honestly: peer-reviewed measurement puts median cellular error near 600 m against 8 m for assisted GPS. It answers which yard, not which bay. LBS positions are flagged as LBS so they never silently trigger or clear a geofence.

Where is the GPT48-X weaker than the alternatives?

Three places, better heard from us. Ingress protection is IP65 — sealed against weather and water jets, not immersion or high-pressure wash-down, where several competitors are IP67. The operating floor is −20 °C where some units reach −30 °C. And the cell carries roughly half the energy density of the bobbin Li–SOCl₂ most of this industry fits — capacity we trade away to keep the transmit burst intact in year four. What wins is the combination: one part number, 130 g, a sixty-second fit.

Why is it called GPT48-X — is that related to the AI?

No. GPT is the Eelink prefix for a range of battery-powered asset trackers — GPT12-X Ultra, GPT29, GPT48-X and GPT50 — and the naming predates the machine-learning use of those three letters. If a search returns language models instead of trackers, add “Eelink” or “asset tracker” to the query. We describe the device itself as a custody-grade asset recorder: Eelink’s category term for a device whose job is to produce a location and custody record that survives a handover, as distinct from our evidence-grade devices, which record cargo condition.

Elsewhere in the range

Similar Devices

If the Eelink GPT48-X is not the right fit, another device in the Eelink range will be. The first split is the one that matters: custody-grade devices answer where an asset is and where it has been; evidence-grade devices answer what happened to the goods inside. We would rather sell you the correct one than the one that happens to be on this page.

Eelink battery-powered asset trackers compared: GPT48-X, GPT12-X Ultra and GPT50
 GPT48-X — this pageGPT12-X UltraGPT50
Deployment styleMagnetic, tool-free, redeployable; screw bossesSlim concealed — adhesive / screwPallet and fixed mount
Battery8000 mAh Li-MnO₂ primary5000 mAh primary24,000 mAh primary
NetworkLTE-M / NB-IoT (nRF9160)LTE-M / NB-IoT4G LTE Cat-1
IngressIP65IP67IPX7

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