Cumulus Support

Guys, I think paranoia is setting in. The approximate life of the battery is 8-9 months depending on the conditions. Some report it doing less, but also some report 2 years+. Any where between this length of time is also normal.

To certify if the battery is 'ok' or needs replacing, a 'multimeter' must be used to accurately determine the voltage. This will then tell you if the warning from the station is true or not. A battery tester that simply illuminates light or says 'good/bad' is not good enough for this test. You also need to know the 'trigger' voltage for the low battery alarm.

If your battery has been in use for the above mentioned time frame, simply replace the battery and stop worrying. After all, a branded lithium is just a few quid!

duke wrote:Guys, I think paranoia is setting in. The approximate life of the battery is 8-9 months depending on the conditions. Some report it doing less, but also some report 2 years+. Any where between this length of time is also normal.

To certify if the battery is 'ok' or needs replacing, a 'multimeter' must be used to accurately determine the voltage. This will then tell you if the warning from the station is true or not. A battery tester that simply illuminates light or says 'good/bad' is not good enough for this test. You also need to know the 'trigger' voltage for the low battery alarm.

If your battery has been in use for the above mentioned time frame, simply replace the battery and stop worrying. After all, a branded lithium is just a few quid!

Thank you, Duke! I think my battery life was about 13 months so that's ok.

duke wrote:
To certify if the battery is 'ok' or needs replacing, a 'multimeter' must be used to accurately determine the voltage. This will then tell you if the warning from the station is true or not. A battery tester that simply illuminates light or says 'good/bad' is not good enough for this test. You also need to know the 'trigger' voltage for the low battery alarm.

Sorry, but that's simply not true. The battery is absolutely fine whether you think so or not. The evidence in this thread and other sites shows that there's a problem with many Vantage Vue ISS's. I already stated myself, it goes the whole Winter without bringing the message up, then on one sunny day it's back. It's gone again today as it's pretty cloudy. I don't think people are realising, the transmitter low message displays in the opposite conditions. IE; If the battery was faulty, the message would be showing all through Winter/Cloudy conditions, it doesn't.

Just saying 'replace the battery' is a poor answer, there's obviously a problem regarding many Vue's ISS.
I could imagine you being a doctor, "I've got a fungal nail infection on my big toe" "Best thing to do is amputate the leg from the knee down"

duke wrote:Guys, I think paranoia is setting in. The approximate life of the battery is 8-9 months depending on the conditions. Some report it doing less, but also some report 2 years+. Any where between this length of time is also

Just to add to this, the manual from Davis for the Vue says battery life is 8 months without sunlight and greater than two years depending on solar charging hope this helps...

tomcatuk wrote:

duke wrote:Guys, I think paranoia is setting in. The approximate life of the battery is 8-9 months depending on the conditions. Some report it doing less, but also some report 2 years+. Any where between this length of time is also

Just to add to this, the manual from Davis for the Vue says battery life is 8 months without sunlight and greater than two years depending on solar charging hope this helps...

Christ! It must have been near complete darkness here at Newton Poppleford, Devon, UK, then!

Mapantz wrote:I could imagine you being a doctor, "I've got a fungal nail infection on my big toe" "Best thing to do is amputate the leg from the knee down"

What's that got to do with this? This is totally inappropriate and non-related to this thread. Steve?

William Grimsley wrote:

Mapantz wrote:I could imagine you being a doctor, "I've got a fungal nail infection on my big toe" "Best thing to do is amputate the leg from the knee down"

What's that got to do with this? This is totally inappropriate and non-related to this thread. Steve?

It's not inappropriate at all. It's comparable to the comment saying "simply replace the battery and stop worrying. After all, a branded lithium is just a few quid!"

I hate comments like that..
I don't need a new battery, the battery is fine, it's a problem with the ISS.

Mapantz wrote:

William Grimsley wrote:

Mapantz wrote:I could imagine you being a doctor, "I've got a fungal nail infection on my big toe" "Best thing to do is amputate the leg from the knee down"

What's that got to do with this? This is totally inappropriate and non-related to this thread. Steve?

It's not inappropriate at all. It's comparable to the comment saying "simply replace the battery and stop worrying. After all, a branded lithium is just a few quid!"

I hate comments like that..
I don't need a new battery, the battery is fine, it's a problem with the ISS.

Oh, well!

To confirm everything i said, i gave my station a service last week, i replaced the battery with a new energizer lithium but i also kept the old one. What's happened today? 'Low Battery Transmitter 1' has appeared again.

Mapantz wrote:To confirm everything i said, i gave my station a service last week, i replaced the battery with a new energizer lithium but i also kept the old one. What's happened today? 'Low Battery Transmitter 1' has appeared again.

Yes, yes, yes. Don't know! 'What a shame' well it didn't with me.

I have gone through this problem a few times now and everytime the answer has been " insects " . Not a low battery... I have had ants and spiders set up home inside the vantage vue and once they do, you will get the " LOW BATTERY TRANSMITTER 1" message. Spiders tend to build thick webs to lay eggs in around the temp sensor. THIS WILL CAUSE the message to appear on your console. Another time I took out the battery and found a large colony of ants had set up a small city around the battery itself. Once these critters are cleaned out, re insert the battery and press the reset button. Then go inside and go though the " SET UP " of the console. You dont need to actully change anything there, just keep hitting the " done " button to cycle through all the options and then press and HOLD the done button to activate the main screen again... and all will be well...

My 8 month old system started displaying this message yesterday. I replaced the 123 battery as I have them for my Surefire flashlights. Did not seem to make a difference though.

I do have to say that spiders definitely create problems. My rain gauge and wind speed stopped working last week. Upon further inspection it was clogged up with spider eggs. The rain gauge is working but still no wind speed, I do have direction though??

I am pretty disappointed in the Vue to say the least. I had a Vantage Pro for over 10 years without ever having 1 issue with it. My painters accidentally wiped it out with a ladder last year...

DAM.... 'low battery transmitter' message been like this for two weeks now, I've finally got round to getting some new batteries, needed a couple for my small torch as was getting dim and of course the vue.

I seem to remember last time I changed it I tested it on a multimeter and reported 3v this new one reports 3.23v, old ones from the torch showed 2.6v.... now just need to get up the ladder....

EDIT: ok done that, and cleaned the leaves out the guttering.... old battery showed 2.72v so was low.

Colin2151 wrote:I have gone through this problem a few times now and everytime the answer has been " insects " . Not a low battery... I have had ants and spiders set up home inside the vantage vue and once they do, you will get the " LOW BATTERY TRANSMITTER 1" message. Spiders tend to build thick webs to lay eggs in around the temp sensor. THIS WILL CAUSE the message to appear on your console. Another time I took out the battery and found a large colony of ants had set up a small city around the battery itself. Once these critters are cleaned out, re insert the battery and press the reset button. Then go inside and go though the " SET UP " of the console. You dont need to actully change anything there, just keep hitting the " done " button to cycle through all the options and then press and HOLD the done button to activate the main screen again... and all will be well...

I'm on vacation at the moment and renewing my interest in all things weather. Having read the above post, along with all the rest, perhaps Davis Instruments should add a sense of humour to the Vue and add the message "Low battery warning or high likelihood of insect invasion in ISS - Maintenance suggested".

Sort of related to the insect part of this topic.

I have heard people having varying degrees of success attaching cat flea collar on the mounting post under the ISS of both Vue and Pro weather stations to deter insects from climbing up and into the equipment. They attach them high enough to give some shelter from the rain, but no too high as so the insects cab bypass them,

May be worth a go for ants, sone small spiders may be more of a problem as they travel by silk threads acting as a parachute.