intermittant radio failure

[HansR]

My Davis Vantage Pro 2+ has recently developed the unpleasant habit of stopping sending data to the base station. The base station indicates R and data are not displayed so I assume there is no radio connection. It usually starts around sunset and (sometimes) restarts transmitting around sunrise. So thinking it is the battery seems logical.

I renewed the battery. That did not help but sometimes it starts sending for about an hour or so during the night.
Could be a bad battery, I'll change again, BUT there is no indication of bad battery by the Davis itself (when it is transmitting).

In the meantime: does this sound familiar to anybody?
Could it be a transmitter hardware issue and is it repairable?

[mcrossley]

I'd check your ISS capacitor, they can fail in lots of ways, some of which can drag your battery voltage down so you are effectively running on solar only. If it visually looks OK (often a blown cap is obvious), and you are ok with soldering, then you could cut one of the leads, and try running it on fresh battery which should run it for months. If that works overnight (or with the solar panel disconnected), then its time to replace the capacitor.

When you replace the cap, or re-solder a cut lead together, give the leads and end of capacitor a protective coating again to prevent corrosion.

[freddie]

In the meantime: does this sound familiar to anybody?

Yes, I have a similar problem with my anemometer transmitter, which is pretty much the same as the ISS transmitter.

[HansR]

Yes that must be it, knew I had read it somewhere
Going to do that. Thanks both.

[laulau]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17928&hilit=battery

[HansR]

@laulaau: Yes that was the post. More recent than I thought.

Anyway, Here's the evidence of my repair. And see the site that it's actually working

[Phil23]

Out of curiosity, what date did you purchase it?

Mine was Sept 2016, so I do wonder when I should give it a new battery and/of Cap as a matter of routine.

[HansR]

Out of curiosity, what date did you purchase it?

Mine was Sept 2016, so I do wonder when I should give it a new battery and/of Cap as a matter of routine.

Bought it in may 2008 and stored it temporarily in oct 2013. Reinstalled in june last year with new batteries.
First install was in South of France, very dry conditions. Seems to lengthen life: hardly any maintenance.
Now it's installed in marshy moist, cold weather environment: seems to drain life out of it.

So: dont start changing hardware as long as there are no indications. Just keep a spare battery and a spare capacitor