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Battery life

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
hills
Posts: 690
Joined: Sat 26 Dec 2009 8:52 am
Weather Station: Fine Offset WH1091
Operating System: Raspbian Buster
Location: Crafers, South Australia
Contact:

Re: Battery life

Post by hills »

burgla wrote:How often do you TX at 433 mhz ??

:lol: :lol:
Every 48 seconds...






from his weather station... ;) :lol:
philcdav
Posts: 244
Joined: Tue 24 Jun 2008 9:43 pm
Weather Station: MyDEL WX2008 Mk2 Fine Offset
Operating System: XP and W7
Location: Maghull, nr Liverpool, UK
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Re: Battery life

Post by philcdav »

Hi burgla.

433 MHz or 70 cm band is normal for ham radio ops.

My 'local' repeaters are on 433.250 (Liverpool) and 433.150 (Chester)

Take it your not licensed?
Phil - G0DOR
User avatar
burgla
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 01 Apr 2010 8:39 pm
Weather Station: WH1081
Operating System: XP SP3
Location: Blenheim NZ

Re: Battery life

Post by burgla »

CB only 27mhz in NZ
Image
andrewinpopayan
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri 19 Mar 2010 10:03 pm
Weather Station: N96GY
Operating System: Suse Linux 11.2
Location: Wyke, Bradford BD12, UK

Re: Battery life

Post by andrewinpopayan »

burgla wrote:CB only 27mhz in NZ

Chat around the world on 27MHz :D
christer
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:15 pm
Weather Station: Jenkinsbird Weather Pro = FineOf
Operating System: Windows XP
Location: Luleå, Sweden

Re: Battery life

Post by christer »

Hello again. I still have problems with "Lost sensor contact" from time to time. So today I checked the batteries in the sensor. They showed 3.45V after more than 8 month including vinter season. Since batteries are OK there must be some other reason for the Lost sensor contact.

Regards
Christer
Charlie
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu 04 Feb 2010 12:22 pm
Weather Station: 1wire-Cumulus & Fine Offset
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Re: Battery life

Post by Charlie »

Hi Christer - what sort of batteries are you using? I'm not aware of any type that would fit and be higher than about 3.2 V.
christer
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:15 pm
Weather Station: Jenkinsbird Weather Pro = FineOf
Operating System: Windows XP
Location: Luleå, Sweden

Re: Battery life

Post by christer »

Charlie wrote:Hi Christer - what sort of batteries are you using? I'm not aware of any type that would fit and be higher than about 3.2 V.
Hi, I´m using Energizer Ultimate Lithium. They will hold 1.8 V new and are specified dovn to -40 celcius.

//Christer
tjaliwalpa
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun 18 Apr 2010 9:47 am
Weather Station: Davis VP2
Operating System: Linux Lite Ubuntu 16.04
Location: Karoonda, SA
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Re: Battery life

Post by tjaliwalpa »

Charlie wrote:Hi Christer - what sort of batteries are you using? I'm not aware of any type that would fit and be higher than about 3.2 V.

Oh, believe you me there are. I've got some AA rechargable lithium batteries that 3.6v each and are 4.2v fully charged and 2.75v empty. I use them with a dummy battery (an aluminium rod) in some equipment. I'd nevery use them in my weather station.

Bob
Bob
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Battery life

Post by Gina »

tjaliwalpa wrote:
Charlie wrote:Hi Christer - what sort of batteries are you using? I'm not aware of any type that would fit and be higher than about 3.2 V.
Oh, believe you me there are. I've got some AA rechargable lithium batteries that 3.6v each and are 4.2v fully charged and 2.75v empty. I use them with a dummy battery (an aluminium rod) in some equipment. I'd nevery use them in my weather station.
Ah I see! The batteries consist of 3 lithium-ion cells each of 1.2v nominal. The 3 cells in series gives 3.6v. If you use these with a shorting bar in place of two AA cells, make sure the device you're putting them in will take 3.6v (or indeed 4.2v). Most are designed for 3v i.e. 2x1.5v or 2x1.2v rechargeable.

Unfortunately, it is common usage to use the word "battery" to mean "cell". A cell being one electro/chemical unit and the true/original meaning of "battery" is a collection of cells, usually in series.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
Charlie
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu 04 Feb 2010 12:22 pm
Weather Station: 1wire-Cumulus & Fine Offset
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Re: Battery life

Post by Charlie »

Hi Christer - If I'm reading your posts correctly, you started out with 3.60 V approximately 8 months ago, and your most recent measurement is 3.45 V. Given the transmitter range seems to be directly proportional to voltage, then if your transmitter was close to the maximum distance with a 3.6 V supply, it could well be "out of range" at 3.45 V.

Another possibility, depending on your model, is the time signal syncronized clock. My model has this feature, and I am near the extreme edge of the transmitted time signal range. Most of the time, everything works normally. But when conditions interfere with reception of the time signal, the station will try to find the signal for up to 5 minutes before it finally gives up. During this interval, I get "lost sensor contact" messages. After conditions improve, I'll go weeks without seeing the message.
christer
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:15 pm
Weather Station: Jenkinsbird Weather Pro = FineOf
Operating System: Windows XP
Location: Luleå, Sweden

Re: Battery life

Post by christer »

Charlie wrote:Hi Christer - If I'm reading your posts correctly, you started out with 3.60 V approximately 8 months ago, and your most recent measurement is 3.45 V. Given the transmitter range seems to be directly proportional to voltage, then if your transmitter was close to the maximum distance with a 3.6 V supply, it could well be "out of range" at 3.45 V.

Another possibility, depending on your model, is the time signal syncronized clock. My model has this feature, and I am near the extreme edge of the transmitted time signal range. Most of the time, everything works normally. But when conditions interfere with reception of the time signal, the station will try to find the signal for up to 5 minutes before it finally gives up. During this interval, I get "lost sensor contact" messages. After conditions improve, I'll go weeks without seeing the message.
This was an interesting observation! This may be the reason because my station is placed in Luleå in the north of Sweden. However, the manual says that there is an internal clock in the console and that the best receiving time of the DCF early in the morning. And my console shows DCF sync. Due to the clock in the console it´s not nessary to sync to DCF so often.

Edit: About the batteries. Nominal voltage is 1.5V for this AA is printed on the package.

Regards
Christer
GlynH
Posts: 102
Joined: Wed 25 Feb 2009 3:47 am
Weather Station: Davis VP2+
Operating System: Pi 4B Buster
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Battery life

Post by GlynH »

Well for what it's worth I installed my Maplin/Fine Offset 2nd March 2009 and the initial set of Duracell Ultra batteries were replaced just a few eeeks ago.

Not too shabby... ;)

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
stuartp
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 03 Mar 2009 2:56 pm
Weather Station: WH-1081PC
Operating System: Raspbian bullseye
Location: Hampshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Battery life

Post by stuartp »

GlynH wrote:Well for what it's worth I installed my Maplin/Fine Offset 2nd March 2009 and the initial set of Duracell Ultra batteries were replaced just a few eeeks ago.

Not too shabby... ;)
-=Glyn=-

Installed mine 1 March 2009 using Sainsburys "Extra Long Life" cells - still going strong! :D

Stuart

Hampshire, UK
User avatar
Super-T
Posts: 890
Joined: Tue 09 Sep 2008 3:37 am
Weather Station: wh-1081
Operating System: Weather Laptop - Windows 10 Pro
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Re: Battery life

Post by Super-T »

I've just done my yearly battery replacement on my Fine Offset Transmitter.
The batteries were Panasonic Alkaline and still show just over 1.4 volts and no sign of any leakage.
I'm happy with that and always follow the yearly replacement scenario.
Console batteries are checked as well, just for any sign of leakage, but are not needing replacement as they are in "standby" mode due to the console being permanently powered from the computer USB port.
I guess that Auckland's climate helps battery life as we rarely go below 0C and that would be only for a very short time.
GlynH
Posts: 102
Joined: Wed 25 Feb 2009 3:47 am
Weather Station: Davis VP2+
Operating System: Pi 4B Buster
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Battery life

Post by GlynH »

GlynH wrote:Well for what it's worth I installed my Maplin/Fine Offset 2nd March 2009 and the initial set of Duracell Ultra batteries were replaced just a few eeeks ago.

Not too shabby... ;)

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

And the second set of Duracell Ultra batteries I replaced them with only lasted a matter of weeks before they died sometime in August :shock: :evil:

Never bothered to hire a roof ladder to get back up to sort it out...hasn't been working since :(

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
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