Low Battery Life

[Antares]

Hi there.

I own a WH1080 (National Geographic 265NE). The problem is that the outside unit needs a battery replacement every month!
This situation was gradualy worsening. At first, the replacement occured every 4 months, then 2 months etc.

Batteries are always checked and are looking fine.

I wonder if I could do something with the problem. Thank you.


PS
I am good at soldering and I am able to replace parts from the internals of the outside unit...

[AllyCat]

Hi,

I wonder if the Radio Controlled Clock is struggling to receive a signal, does it set the time quickly (e.g. after changing the battery)?

Do you have any equipment to measure the battery current? It's a difficult measurement because the basic current is (should be) VERY low (mainly tens of uA through the wind sensors), but the A/D converter takes a 1mA pulse (for up to 1 second) and the radio transmitter 25mA (for 50ms).

Unless you can identify a faulty component, I'd suggest adding cheap (home made) solar charging, as you're in Greece. Can you buy very cheap (a few Euros) "solar garden lights" over there?

Cheers, Alan.

[Antares]

Well I will try checking the current of both the transmitter and the receiver.

I also want to mention that
a. the distance between the two is almost 6 meters.
b. wind and rain gause are not connected.

As for the time it takes to set the clock, I really don't know. It certainly doesn't set it instantly after changing the battery. But other data, such as outside humidity or temperature, are available within a minute.

[Matt.j5b]

Hi

Make sure that you are using good quality batteries but if they are fine then it is likely is not a batteries but something else causing it. And you say "Batteries are always checked and are looking fine''. How are you doing that, are you testing them, checking them are good quality or something else.
Thanks

[AllyCat]

Hi,

The RCC normally takes a few minutes to update the time, but otherwise should do it overnight at 1.00 am or maybe 2.00 am.

I forgot to ask, does the "low TX battery" icon display on the console LCD?

Here is an old thread where I explained more about how to test the transmitter power consumption.

Cheers, Alan.

[Matt.j5b]

Hi
Are you using fresh batteries that have a good expiry date because if not that may cause trouble.

[Antares]

Well, there is a "BEST BEFORE 2017" on the packaging, so I believe that there is not a problem with the batteries.
(alkaline Duracell plus, by the way). And, in my humble opinion, the possibility of, at least, 6 expired pairs of batteries, is extremely low.

And yes, the "low TX battery" was flashing yesterday. Now it is fixed and I believe that it has 1 or 2 more days.

I strongly believe that there is a problem with the trasmitter/outside unit, surely high power consumption. What tweaks can I do? What to check inside? Is there any guide?

[AllyCat]

Hi,

So it's presumably draining a few milliamps continuously out of the batteries? This should be fairly easy to verify with a multimeter using the method in the thread I linked to above. Sadly the OP didn't return to explain the cause of his particular issue.

The microcontroller is mounted directly onto the circuit board, under one of the blobs of compound, so there's not much that can be done. All you can really do is compare the board with the pictures in the sticky thread photos of the insides ... and look for any blobs/bridges of solder or incorrect components. But if the problem is becoming progressively worse then it's probably a component which is gradually failing.

Cheers, Alan.

[brookvale0]

Hi Everybody

I have a WH3081 with everyting working except the outside transmitter is eating batteries! Average battery life is 1 week if I'm lucky! Just put a brand new pair of Duracell - Plus Power in this morning when the UV/Solar reading failed.

My experience is that the TX -Low battery indicator on the base unit lights after 2 days then the the UV/Solar reading fails 5 days later, quickly followed by the rest of the outside readouts.

If you take the base unit closer to the outside transmitter the readouts re-appear but the range is minimal.

Distance from Transmitter to Base station is 20 metres maximum with direct line of sight but it does have a double glazed window as interference.

Any ideas?

Reagrds

Howard

[AllyCat]

Hi Howard,

If you're using the recommended battery installation/reset procedure then I think we have to assume that your transmitter (or more probably the solar head) is faulty. If you were using NiMH (rechargeable) cells then the Low battery indicator might come on quite soon, but it should take a long time for fresh Alkalines to discharge to the (approximately) 2.5 volts when the icon typically appears.

I have a similar problem in that the original (rechargeable alkaline) cells (and now the replacements) have discharged in no more than 3 months, so I will be contacting the seller (for a replacement) when I have analysed in more detail what might be the cause. I'm fairly sure that my unit is not rechaging the batteries from the PV cell, but it's doubtful if that is sufficient to explain a 3 months battery life and certainly NOT only one week's.

These units achieve their (intended) long battery life by making the microcontroller "sleep" (or hibernate) for most of the time. Either your unit is not sleeping properly or there is a faulty component which is draining the battery continuosuly, so I think a replacement is necessary. Double-glazed windows are unlikely to significantly affect the wireless range unless they have a metal-film coating/tint to exclude infra-red (heat) solar radiation.

Cheers, Alan.

[iceberg]

Make sure you are using (Lithium batteries) and then i think it should solve your problem.

[MartinHJ]

Hi Howard,

If you're using the recommended battery installation/reset procedure then I think we have to assume that your transmitter (or more probably the solar head) is faulty. If you were using NiMH (rechargeable) cells then the Low battery indicator might come on quite soon, but it should take a long time for fresh Alkalines to discharge to the (approximately) 2.5 volts when the icon typically appears.

I have a similar problem in that the original (rechargeable alkaline) cells (and now the replacements) have discharged in no more than 3 months, so I will be contacting the seller (for a replacement) when I have analysed in more detail what might be the cause. I'm fairly sure that my unit is not rechaging the batteries from the PV cell, but it's doubtful if that is sufficient to explain a 3 months battery life and certainly NOT only one week's.

These units achieve their (intended) long battery life by making the microcontroller "sleep" (or hibernate) for most of the time. Either your unit is not sleeping properly or there is a faulty component which is draining the battery continuosuly, so I think a replacement is necessary. Double-glazed windows are unlikely to significantly affect the wireless range unless they have a metal-film coating/tint to exclude infra-red (heat) solar radiation.

Cheers, Alan.

I bought the WH3080 from Signatrol just before Christmas and almost immediately the battery low indicator came on. First off I put this down to dull weather and batteries living on the shelf but several very bright days did nothing. Finally the sensors started to stop reading (dead giveaway when the outside temp was recording 9.8 deg for 24 hours!). Contacted Signatrol who were very helpful and said there are some quality issues with the solar head and put a new one in the post for me that day. When it arrives I shall swap it out and hopefully it should resolve the problem.

Martin

[colinpb]

Hi Howard

From all the posts re solar sensor and battery failure the impression is get is that the first version of the solar sensor is prone to intermittent failure, and whilst trying to get restarted really sucks the life out of the batteries. There are a number of ideas as to what’s causing it, and FO is aware of the situation and there’s a modified version that apparently rectifies the problem. This continuous failure/drain seems to vary in duration, but seems to leave the solar charger unable to cope. Severity of the problem varies from sensor to sensor. Some like mine struggle on for a few months others are a total failure from the start, flattening batteries in a few a few days. My solar sensor has failed for 45/60 minutes at random times every 2 to 3 days since I got it in November 2011. However a couple weeks back it went offline for 12 hours. That really drained the batteries, and now if they got any weaker the console would have to be in the garden under the transmitter! However despite poor reception no Tx icon. I have a new unit on its way, and meantime I’ve blanked of the solar panel to stop all attempts to recharge, and installed Duracell Ultra Power. They’ve have been in a week, sensor still failing every other day but now only for 15 minutes, so far no Tx icon.

Colin

[colinpb]

Spoke to soon. It's now exactly a week and the Duracell’s have been drained to the point where the reception is as poor as the original batteries. This leads to the following conclusions

1 The solar charger on the unit is working. It enabled the original batteries to keep going for nearly two months. It was the 12 hour failure that drained them to such a low level.

2 One of the ideas put forward is that the solar processor locks up and drains the batteries. This seems borne out by the failure of my Duracell’s. I’ve had about 2 hours of sensor failure over a week, and it's drained the batteries to the same level as the originals.

3 With my result it's not surprising people are having so many battery problems. Even if the solar chargers working, frequent/long periods of sensor failure means even if there's enough sun its doubtful the charger can ever keep up. It does make me wonder where on earth all the power is going.

Off shortly to replace the Duracell’s with Energizer Lithium’s. Hopefully these will last till next weekend, by which time the replacement should have arrived.

Colin

[brookvale0]

Hello everybody

Low Battery light appeared after 4 days.... Will change batteries again tomorrow - Sunday. Good job Duracell are on a BOGOFF offer at present. I have already had a replacement outside transmitter from Signatrol which included a replacement solar cell as a good will gesture. Will fit this tomorrow with the new batteries.

Once all BOGOFF batteries exhausted I will try the Lithium type as suggested by previous contributers to this thread. (Wife went giddy on Bury market so may be a while!)

Thanks to everybody!

Howard