Topic: Battery failures on Vantage Vue?

[dalecoy]

..., but if it starts having many problems with batteries, transmitters, or super caps....

Does anyone know if the VP2's are better for maintenance?

There's a cabled version of the VP2 that doesn't have a battery or supercap in the ISS (and is cheaper than the wireless version).  Of course, you have to run a cable from outside the house to inside.  It's the "no free lunch" rule.

[arrowspace90]

Right.  If I have a problem every 18/24 months, I will just call the antenna install people back to do it.  It's worth $80 to not fall and die.

However, because of the street on one side and tall trees and houses on the other, my rain gauge can't be down at 6ft. where I would like to have it.  It would be "shadowed" and even less accurate.

I just would not want to be in the position of needing repeated trips up there to troubleshoot problems.

[Bushman]

Be aware that the removing the potential for the supercap to fail might be a good thing in your situation  Use external power or a wired version.

[arrowspace90]

Hmmmm....how about nuclear fusion?

[Jace]

Add me to the list of battery failures.

Bought the Vue new from Amazon.co.uk, started using it 30th Jan this year. Low transmitter battery warning and battery changed for a new Duracell Ultra late March. Low transmitter battery warning and new Duracell Ultra battery change today.

The contacts have some grease on them from factory install, no idea what firmware the ISS has. The ISS is pointing South, the solar panel is not obstructed and is clean and being summer I am getting an average of 16 hours daylight a day.

Contacted Davis, but being a UK customer I'm not holding my breath. I suppose I could contact Amazon and request a replacement as it's within warrenty, but will give Davis a chance first.

John

[4wd]

I would wager it isn't a real low battery but a false sensor reading.
However since it's under warranty you may as well pursue it that way.
With mine I noticed it seemed to show the warning for short periods when it was extremely damp - as it is now.

[killwilly]

I wouldn't hold your breath for getting a new one. I had the same problem after 7 months and contacted the vendor, who said they would not replace it, but they would get it repaired and I would have to return it to them at my cost for postage. They also said that they couldn't tell me how long it would be away and no, they wouldn't loan me one whilst mine was away, which was completely unacceptable to me.

After lots of emails back and forth to Davis they did agree to send me a replacement battery compartment, which they thought was causing the problem and it did cure the issue. The replacement part was supplied by Mcmurdo, who I believe to be the UK importer for Davis products.

I wish you the best of luck with your dealings with Davis and will be very interested to see the outcome.

It's a great shame that Davis don't adopt the same attitude as Oregon Scientific to their UK clients, OS are brilliant with their after-sales service here in the UK.

As you purchased your station in January this year, it is likely that your firmware will be up to date, but it is worth checking the Davis site for the most recent updates. I have updated mine twice since December 2009.

[Jace]

Thanks gents, both occasions the batteries have failed I've had periods of warm almost hot weather followed by downpours.

A friend is searching for his multimeter, so once I get that I'll test the batteries both the one insitu in the ISS and the one i just took out. I wonder if the faulty sensor is part of the battery assembly and changing that cured Alan's problem.

I'll give it a few more days, and chase Davis up again as so far, not even a acknowledgement to my 1st email.

I've found Mcmurdo Alan and given them a email, thanks.

Will update as and when things happens.

Cheers

JC

[ArmySlowRdr]

So it seems Davis DOES have some of the shortcomings that OS has....    downpours cause battery issues.

[Jace]

Well got a email from Davis USA - basically bugger off nothing to do with us. 

Got a reply from McMurdo this morning, after I emailed them yesterday, their customer service tech reckons it's

an indication that the software version in the transmitter module within the ISS unit is old. This will need to be updated. This repair is normally covered under warrenty

Sounds a wee bit like 4wd's idea on faulty sensor readings perhaps ?

Awaiting a returns number, looks like I'm losing the ISS for a few days 

At least I've got a Met Office 5" rain gauge, shame I've not got any other back-up equipment.

JC

[bayu]

 have the same problem, an empty battery very quickly (rapidly discharge). only able to survive for 3 days, then I put one extra solar panels to connect parallel, the battery can last four months 

[dalecoy]

have the same problem, an empty battery very quickly (rapidly discharge). only able to survive for 3 days, then I put one extra solar panels to connect parallel, the battery can last four months 

I thought you had a VP2.  Do you have a Vue, like the others in this discussion?

[P Corbett]

Hello everyone

New member from Birmingham England here.

I have just purchased a Vantage Vue from pro data systems here in the UK but before I put it up I must say that this thread has me seriously worried before I even start!!

How common does this fault seem to be? Is there a certain batch with the same problem ? I have the 2012 version of weatherlink software and so am presuming if Davis know of these problems they might have improved on them and was wondering if this is the case or as most of you describe could it be down to pot luck?

Nice being part of this community on here it seems to be most helpful from what  I have read so far.

[killwilly]

Hello everyone

New member from Birmingham England here.

I have just purchased a Vantage Vue from pro data systems here in the UK but before I put it up I must say that this thread has me seriously worried before I even start!!

How common does this fault seem to be? Is there a certain batch with the same problem ? I have the 2012 version of weatherlink software and so am presuming if Davis know of these problems they might have improved on them and was wondering if this is the case or as most of you describe could it be down to pot luck?

Nice being part of this community on here it seems to be most helpful from what  I have read so far.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Johnd, the proprietor of Prodata Weather Systems is a regular contributor to this forum and indeed to this thread. Perhaps he will comment on your query.

[johnd]

Answered offline.

[Jace]

Thought I'd better update my battery problem.

I contacted JohnD at Prodata, he had not heard of a SIM F/W update for the Vue but contacted Brett Lane the Davis Technical Manager about the problem.

Apparently Davis carried out a Firmware modification for the SIM in Oct 2011, which lowered the threshold for the battery warning from 2.8v to 2.0v. This update cannot be carried out in the field, which means it's a factory update only.

My Vue had a Manufacturing date of E110412A060 which meant it was a 'E' Vue built on the 12th May 2011, and it had a SIM F/W version of 2.1.51, so it was built before the Oct 2011 upgrade.

Latest SIM F/W that JohnD has seen is Version 2.5.56

McMurdo when contacted about this told me to contact my dealer (Amazon.co.uk), when I e-mailed Davis in the USA, same response, so I did , was told I was entitled to a full refund, no quibbles. Which I did.

Bought a new station from my local dealer  - Prodata which is what I should have done in the first place.

John

[mickopla]

Got the dreaded LOW TRANSMITTER BATTERY 1 message this morning. Have my Vue since October 2010 and changed the battery for the first time 2 months ago. I'm wondering if it is a low battery how long would you normally get before the ISS stops transmitting??

Mike

[4wd]

It should keep going for at least a month.
I wouldn't be surprised if the message goes away at the midnight reset or you could do that manually now by going into setup mode then press 'done' to exit (allow a minute or two for everything to reconnect)

[mickopla]

It should keep going for at least a month.
I wouldn't be surprised if the message goes away at the midnight reset or you could do that manually now by going into setup mode then press 'done' to exit (allow a minute or two for everything to reconnect)

Tried the setup and done but still have the message. If the battery is really gone at least i have some time before i need to change it. Cheers

Mike

Edit: Actually the message did clear a while after doing the set up/ done procedure and has not shown up since. Hopefully it stays that way.

[jonzeeboy]

Thanks for keeping the forum updated on this issue.  The information is very valuable for future users.

Hi ,I'm Trevor,Mine was working great for a year then we had a strong wind guess what,Yes I got the same error?I tried about 4 battery's in it after 5 days the error would come back,So I took it off the roof and pulled it to peaces What I found was one of the wires to the sun panel were only holding on by a couple of treads of wire,I striped the wires and re-solder them back on I had no trouble since,now with battery out and I put the meter on the + and - it has full charging power to the battery.Cheers jonzeeboy

[solman06]

Hello Everyone
I am a newbie to the forum. I know that this topic has not been posted to in awhile but I did not want to start a new thread. My Vantage Vue has been giving me the low battery message for awhile now. I checked the battery and the voltage is good 3.1. I also tried a new battery and voltage is good also but I keep getting the low battery message. It seems to be a nuisance thing as the console still reports all the readings. I contacted Davis suppport and they sent me a new transmitter to replace the original (something I had not seen in this thread). I installed the new transmitter and still got the low battery message so I removed the ISS battery, applied di electric grease to the gold terminals inside as per instructions in this thread. I left the battery out overnight and reinstalled the next morning and reset the ISS and the console. So far the low battery message has not returned. Has anyone had Davis send them a new transmitter for this problem? Also does anyone know how low the battery voltage has to drop in order to trigger the message if the battery is actully reaching the end of its life span. I also noticed in another thread that Davis had a firmware update to help solve this problem among other things. Is  weatherlink  software the only way to connect the Vue to a PC and download this update? If it is which software would you recommend - weatherlink USB for windows or weatherlinkIP?

[Ranger4]

It seems that the general thought here it that the solar panel charges the battery. It doesn't as the lithium battery used is not rechargeable. The solar panel charges a capacitor which powers the unit during the night. When the capacitor discharges the battery takes over, which occurs when there are prolonged periods of cloudy weather or very low levels of sunlight. So in most sunny areas the battery will hardly be used at all. Even if the sun didn't shine at all the lithium battery is quoted as lasting for 8 months.
Hope this helps understand the units operation.

[capecove]

Hello folks...

My birthday is approaching, and my wife just informed me that my birthday present shall be the lovely Davis Vantage Vue. Yes, I have read this thread, and I do have something to share which will potentially help some who are confused about their battery life.

THE BRAND/QUALITY/CAPACITY OF THE BATTERY DOES MATTER. There was a post somewhere back some time ago claiming that the brand or quality of battery really does not matter. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Simple explanation follows:

1) Not all battery quality is the same. Yes, many consumer battery brands are labeled differently and may have the same original manufacturer. HOWEVER, each branding company does provide their own specifications. Some battery issues are a direct result of poor QC by the manufacturer, brought about by either just poor manufacturing, or the branding company desiring to keep production costs low. This fact plays a real role in internal battery component quality and will influence battery life/functionality.

2) mAh PLAYS A PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE DISCUSSION. It is simple electrical science that a 1500 mAh battery will provide substantially longer life than a 1000 mAh battery (assuming the same voltage supplied and same rate of drain). In my local grocery store there are CR123 batteries that show 650 mAh capacity on the package, and these are lithium, non-rechargeable cells! In this scenario, a grocery store branded cell would provide roughly 1/3 of the service time of another high capacity brand given that each were well QC checked and fully functional.

3) As referenced above, the solar panel does not recharge the CR123, it simply powers the ISS unit and recharges a super capacitor within said ISS. The replaceable CR123 is designed to operate the ISS during periods when the solar panel/super capacitor combination cannot power the ISS alone. This would include overnight periods or potentially days with little or no direct sunlight.

When it comes to batteries, make sure the size is correct, the voltage is correct and that you are getting the best mAh per penny you possibly can get. Then, make sure you have a plan in place to maintain your weather station setup.

Hope this helps, YMMV...

[mike67ld]

I've had a Vue for about 3 years now so it's presumably got the older firmware.  The ISS is easy to get at (hop out of the skylight onto the roof) so battery changes are not a big problem.  However, I got fed up of this, and as the removed battery was still around 3.1 volts on my DVM, I decided to do a test - leave the damn thing up there bleating its little 'Low Battery Transmitter 1' warning til it stopped! 

I've ignored the warning for about a year now and not lost any data yet.  It seems that the voltage trigger to send the message is set too high and therefore after only a slight amount of use, the message is triggered.  Come the warmer months I'll go up and measure the voltage in situ again.   At some point I guess I'll not get any data during the night - that'll be the time to renew the battery then! 

I hope this relieves some of the frustration.

M

[Jays200]

Like Mike, I've had my Vue about three years. After about 12 months the low transmitter battery warning came up so I replaced the ISS battery with a fresh one. 12 months or so later (July'ish 2013) the same message appeared. After reading about others having the same problem I decided to contact the Australian distributor www.davisinstruments.com.au for a solution. Of course, by this time, my Vue was technically out of warranty. Also, in Australia, we need to purchase locally as the transmit frequency needs to be modified locally to comply with Australian spectrum laws.

Davis (Aus) suggested I upgrade the console firmware to "correct" the low battery voltage level and apply dielectric grease to the exposed data terminals inside the battery compartment. This required purchasing the $180 logger. Updated firmware and problem persisted. Contacted Davis (Asu) once more and they sent me a new ISS main board and battery/rain sensor board. After replacement the low battery warning disappeared, however, I now got ghost rainfall figures daily even though the skies were blue . After numerous calls back and forth to Davis (Aust), and them to Davis (US) I recently got sent a new ISS main board with a newbattery/rain and temp/humidity sensor. The new sensors are now hard wired to the main board, instead of using the gold pin/rubber plug connection, and the ribbon cables are quite a bit shorter.

Anyway, problem seems to be fixed, although I'll let you know for sure in about a year . I'm now using my logger via Cumulus to upload to wunderground and all is great.

Although the solution took six months to resolve and my console was technically out of warranty, Davis (Aus) was very good and the only cost to me, apart from the logger, was the return postage on the replaced parts.

So, there is a fix, I can't tell you what it is inside the ISS main board that makes it possible, but I'm another happy Davis customer.