Topic: Recent Davis to Ambient conversion

[Stormtracker]

After decades, I took the Ambient bait and replaced my Davis.  My question is, how long are your sensor batteries supposed to last?   Mine seem to be played out after six months.  Why did they not utilize rechargeable power?

[BoDuke]

What type(s) and model(s) of sensor(s) do you have?  I have WH31E and WH31P sensors that are still on the same battery after 1.5+ years as far as I can remember.  Of course, I also use Energizer Ultimate Lithium because they last a very long time, are the best for cold or hot areas, have a long shelf life, and don't leak and corrode battery terminals.

I do have one WH31L sensor with eneloop rechargeable batteries that is still working well after over 6 months of use.  The rechargeable batteries are not ideally suited because the voltage is lower than the sensor expects but they seem to be working ok; I just can't trust the sensor to report accurately how much battery life is left.  On the plus side, I've never seen eneloops leak and corrode anything, either.

[alanb]

I have an Ambient WS-2000, a WH31L lightning detector, and 4 WH31E temp/humidity sensors. All sensors have Energizer Lithium Ultimate batteries installed in Aug. 2021 ... still going strong after 18 months.

[Stormtracker]

After decades, I took the Ambient bait and replaced my Davis.  My question is, how long are your sensor batteries supposed to last?   Mine seem to be played out after six months.  Why did they not utilize rechargeable power?

Thanks for the battery recommendation.   I have the WS200

[Gyvate]

I guess WS200 was a typo - and you meant a WS-2000.
As a WS-2000 station consists of the WS-2000/WS-5000 console and the WH65 outdoor array which itself has a solar panel and an inbuilt supercapacitor, the battery lifetime question should not arise unless your location has extreme conditions (extreme cold, very little sunlight for a longer period or only very short time solar exposure - or no sunlight at all e.g. polar nights at high latitudes).
Normally the supercapacitor gets charged enough to make the outdoor array run over night and longer without using the batteries.
The batteries of these arrays are only needed for start-up with an uncharged supercapacitor or as a backup in extreme conditions (see above).