Topic: Vantage Vue ISS power

[rv1cj]

I have a Vantage Vue station at my country house.
I rarely go there and want to connect this to the power source in the house so as not to use the CR123 battery, because it discharges at the most inopportune moment.
What can you recommend for this?

[johnd]

On a VP2 ISS it would be easy, but not quite so straightforward on a Vue ISS. But I guess you would need to run a 3v DC supply out to the ISS and find a way of attaching (with the correct polarity obviously) to the battery terminals or to some other accessible DC supply points like the solar panel connections. I can't recall ever seeing anyone else try this, but maybe someone else has some tried-and-tested step by step instructions.

[92merc]

For starters, your battery isn't typically used.  There is a capacitor on the board that does most of the powering.  Solar panel charges this, not the battery.  Only when the capacitor is drained, does it switch to battery.

[rv1cj]

For starters, your battery isn't typically used.  There is a capacitor on the board that does most of the powering.  Solar panel charges this, not the battery.  Only when the capacitor is drained, does it switch to battery.

This works well where there is a lot of sun and little snow. In winter we have very short days and the sun is rare.
The supercapacitor does not have time to charge and the battery is discharged in 1.5-2 months.
In winter, I can’t always get to a country house by car; for this I need a snowmobile.

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[johnd]

Maybe something like this might work (presumably with a spliced-in longer wire):

https://batteryeliminatorstore.com/en-gb/collections/cr123a-battery-eliminators

Warning: this is just a thought from a quick web search. I've never tried it myself and really not sure how suitable it is, how good (or not) the product is or how easy to implement. As a minimum you would have to engineer a way to get the wire through the Vue ISS case (but that should be pretty easy).

[rv1cj]

Maybe something like this might work (presumably with a spliced-in longer wire):

https://batteryeliminatorstore.com/en-gb/collections/cr123a-battery-eliminators

Warning: this is just a thought from a quick web search. I've never tried it myself and really not sure how suitable it is, how good (or not) the product is or how easy to implement. As a minimum you would have to engineer a way to get the wire through the Vue ISS case (but that should be pretty easy).

This is an interesting option to solve the problem. Thanks, I'll think about how to implement this.

[Supersonic]

I've been given a Vantage Vue, which I have managed to get working, and it is sending data to the console.
I am concerned about how much power the ISS uses.  The super capacitor charges up to 2.481volts, and maintains that voltage with input power coming in on the solar connection.
When solar connection is disconnected, this super cap voltage drops within minutes to about 0.8v, then the CR123 battery starts supplying power.  My initial thought was the super cap was faulty.

However, when the 3volt CR123 battery is supplying power, it is at 52mA.  At this discharge rate, it will only last a few days, as it's rating is 1500mAH.
I then dug out the super cap from the ISS, and replaced it with a bench variable power supply, which allowed me to measure the volts and amps that the super cap would supply when the solar stops.
Again, the load required by the ISS seems far too high at 2.10volts and 50mA.
Google tells me that a 10F capacitor with a drain of 50mA will last 200 seconds.

Does anybody have any info on what the ISS power usage should be, or any experience with a similar problem?

Thanks,
Sid.
Cairns, Australia.

[Mattk]

There is something gone astray with that power consumption? A Vue ISS with blown solar typically runs on the CR123 for quite some time, something like 4-6 months. The VP2 & Vue ISS spec running a CR123 without sunlight is like 8 months. Vue ISS average current draw is something 0.2mA