Author Topic: New User and weather station  (Read 2004 times)

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Offline chuckperry

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New User and weather station
« on: January 27, 2016, 08:32:24 PM »
Hey everyone. I'm a new user with a newly installed WS-1001. Can anyone who has been running one of these for a while tell me approx how much solar radiation per day I need to keep the batteries charged?  Also- is there a 'battery charged status' read out anywhere on or in the display unit? I haven't been able to find one and it seems like there should be.. Thanks  chuck

Offline Arktikos

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2016, 09:03:16 PM »
Hi Chuck, I don't have your model, mine's the 1400IP but I can give you an idea how much sun it takes and how long without sun it will go before it dies. I live on the north side of a hill with tall trees to the south. I am on the 59th parallel and it is most often very heavily overcast skies. The direct sunlight doesn't get to the station for at least 2 months, probably more. Mine ran at least a month without sun and usually about 30 watts pm Sq at its peak for a few hours. Go to my station and you can look through the history data for yourself. The batts that were in there crashed about Dec sometime so I put regular Duracells in it to get it back online and then ordered a alkaline battery charger and extra aa's rechargeables. Now I can swap them if they die. These new rechargeables have been in there several weeks now with extremely low light for charging. Hope this helps!
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Offline chuckperry

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2016, 09:20:32 PM »
Sure does.. thanks

Offline mikemm

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2016, 09:28:48 PM »
I have the WS1200-Airbridge/Wifi version.  Same sensor module as yours.  There is a "low battery" indicator on your console that will be to the lower left of the circular wind direction display.

I had a different experience with battery charging.  I have only had my system for a month, and we had a lot of overcast days.  Then we had 4 solid days of rain with no sun, and my sensor unit died out with "no power" on the 4th day in the middle of a storm.  I had to bring it inside and begin recharging the unit with interior lights.  I then decided to temporarily swap in some non-rechargable batteries until the storms cleared up.

So if your unit is fairly new, and the recharagable AA batteries that came with the unit have been sitting "idle" for some time on-the-shelf, they may not have had sufficient time to soak up a full sustained charge if you get do not get a lot of good-solar days in the beginning.

As Arktikos mentioned, getting some spare rechargable batteries and a charger is a good fallback.  I've also determined that the sensor can be powered with an appropriate AC adapter and *long* power cord, which I'm thinking of implementing.

You may also find that if your system goes for quite a few days without decent sunlight you might start getting missing sensor updates (that happen normally every 16 seconds).  I've been able to watch the signal strength of my sensor's RF transmitter (which the "AirBridge/ WeatherBridge" unit provides), and that signal strength does decline quite a bit as the batteries weaken if they do not get sufficient recharging sunlight over several days.
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Offline chuckperry

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2016, 12:00:26 AM »
Thanks for the great info.. I've only had 1-2 cloudy days since installation(a week ago)  so hopefully the batteries are getting enough charge.. Seems like they should have included a battery charge status indicator though... Kinda of like having a car with no gas gage.. just a "low fuel' light..  8-)

Offline Dennis Rogers

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2016, 04:26:15 AM »
That is so strange. Got an Ambient clone, no batteries included and says nothing about using alkaline rechargeable batteries at all.

All it says is install 3 AA batteries and nothing about using rechargeable batteries, so wonder if now instead of charging the batteries it only uses batteries at night; or cloudy days and solar power during the day. That is how the Davis weather station works.


Offline Mapantz

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2016, 06:42:38 AM »
When I first got my Aercus/Ambient Weather 1001 clone, it didn't come with any batteries, so I put in three lithium energizers. And like you said, there's no information about using rechargeable batteries.
However, when I had the issues with the rain gauge, and I was sent another array, they sent three rechargeable batteries with it, and so I installed those. Sunshine hours have been low, but I haven't had any problems. Even on an overcast day, there should still be energy trickling in to those batteries. :)


Offline Stratocaster

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Re: New User and weather station
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2017, 11:36:20 AM »
Not sure if it's due to battery issues, but it appears that AW has implemented a different concept for onboard power:

From AW's website:
"The WS-1002-WiFi replaces the WS-1001-WiFi. The WS-1001-WiFi uses rechargeable batteries that are charged by a solar collector. The WS-1002-WiFi uses a super capacitor for energy storage, and is charged by the solar collector in the day, and non-rechargeable batteries at night".
Mike
WU Station ID INEWPROV18
Nassau, Bahamas

 

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