Topic: WS-2080 Battery Life

[Stetson1]

Picked up my Ambient WS-2080 on May 12th. Put in a new (tested on my multimeter) lithium batteries. 4-5 weeks later, I see my temp is not updating, look at the console and see the TX and battery indicator showing almost no life left. I am like WTH, so I go pull the batteries, insert another fresh set (again tested) and it starts working again. Go inside, put the batteries on my multimeter and one is fine, the other is basically shot. Mark that down and very odd and move on. Last night around midnight the same thing happened (roughly 4 weeks after the last one). I see the TX lit up again and am pissed. Pull the batteries and test, sure enough one is shot the other fine. Put the two good batteries in again and call Ambient and had to leave a voicemail. Waited an hour, called in and got someone. He had me factory reset the console and finally after 2-3 tries it started receiving signal again. He'd not seen this issue before and told me to go to their site and request RMA which I have done.

Anyone else have an issue with battery life and the Ambient systems (specifically the WS-2080)? I had the WH-1080 for 5+ years and replaced the batteries annually but never more often than that which is why I am so surprised by this behavior.

[btcompute]

I've had a WS-1001 with a pair of lithium batteries since Feb and no problem yet.
Certainly sound like the odd behavior you are seeing says its time to get the unit replaced.

[Stetson1]

Well I received an email from the Ambient RMA department. They are sending me a new sensor, no word on if they've seen this before. I suspect it's just easier to send out a new sensor than troubleshoot the problem. Hopefully the new unit gets here soon and works!

[Stetson1]

Happily surprised that I received my replacement sensor today. Hoping that this sensor does not have the same issue as the last, only time will tell. Now I am off to get some more lithium batteries.

[Stetson1]

Well another two sets of batteries and I am ready to give up. Ambient Weather wants to replace the transmitter again and hope this one works. I am asking them to provide a replacement system at this point since this one is a lemon. Lesson learned the hard way, I am so disappointed in Ambient Weather that I don't know what to do next.

If they send a new transmitter and it fails in a month I am done. At this point I get 3.5 weeks out of a fresh set of batteries, the wind direction only says North and no rain is measured. After 5+ years of my 1080 working perfectly I am stunned this 2080 is such a pile of crap.

[Blugga]

Seems like their quality control is lacking. I've had my WS-2080 for nearly 2.5 years. For these 2.5 years it's been running on the same batteries. The station has been through extremes which does surprise me that not even the low battery warning has popped up.

[Stetson1]

I was very surprised. They did send me another "verified" transmitter so I'll wait and see if this fixes the problem. I am not happy with this system so far and it will take a lot for me to not trash it and get a much better unit.