Topic: WH43 with a battery bank

[Bart]

Has anyone tried powering a WH43 (indoor-only PM2.5) using a portable battery bank connected via USB? If so, how were the results? Did you still get 1 minute updates since it's connected to the USB port (as opposed to using internal AA batteries)?

I'm in processing of changing all my weather stuff to Ecowitt, and a PM2.5 is on my to-get list. But placing one near an outlet AND being able to get 1 minute updates could be "problematic". Since it states that you get 1 minute updates when powered via USB (10 minutes when powered with batteries), was just curious if connected to a battery bank via USB would still net the 1 minute interval result.

Thank you!

[KC5JIM]

The USB port has no idea if it's plugged into a wall outlet or a battery pack, so you would get the same updates with a battery pack that you would get plugged into a wall outlet.

[Bart]

Yeah, that was pretty much my thoughts, too.

A problem I might run into is with the battery pack itself. Many of them have a low power consumption cut-off, so the device needing power (WH43) has to be needing a certain amount of power before the battery pack will send power to the device. And if it detects power being drawn but drops below that threshold (for a small amount of time...say like 30 seconds to a couple minutes or something), the battery pack will turn itself off. From the reading I've done, this threshold is typically around 100mA. That's why I was just wondering if anyone had tried this themselves to see if it even works.

[Bart]

I did find some battery banks that have an "always on" feature. A bit more expensive than a typical bank, but hey...it's only money, right? hehehehee