Topic: WS90 low battery?

[ASword]

I've had my EcoWitt WS90 installed for about 2.5 months now, and this morning I noticed that it is warning me that battery voltage is low (2.25v).  It says the capacitor is good at 2.5v, and I have the 12v heater circuit wired in as well (is that used to power the unit too?).  How fast does this thing eat batteries?

[MonsterDog6]

2.5 months you surely don't have energizer ultimate lithium batteries?

[ASword]

Nope, don't have those.  I take it that's recommended?  What kind of operational life can I expect if using those?

[MonsterDog6]

Yes recommended ,about 1 year and a half with it's batteries for me

[Gyvate]

a) with sufficient sun exposure of the solar panel the super-capacitor should be sufficiently if not fully charged to cover for the nights (absence of solar radiation) and no batteries should be needed nor used
b) with the external power supply connected, the unit should completely run on the DC provided and no impact on the batteries should occur either.
The solar panel would load the super-capacitor fully but not use it as long as the DC power supply is active.

Therefore the Lithium battery discussion is sort of off-topic.

If really the batteries get depleted, then the external power supply likely doesn't work and the unit is defective.

Did you try to reset the WS90 ?
Warm (reset button) and, if nothing changes, a cold reset (remove batteries, disconnect from power supply, cover the top [=solar panel]with dark tape until the LED stops blinking - and then re-insert the batteries for startup.
And see what it gives.

[ASword]

Ah, I acted too quickly then -- I swapped out the batteries for another pair (of standard AA).  I guess we'll see if they drain in the next 2.5 months (or less, now that fall/winter weather is here).

Two interesting points of note:
1) when I replaced the batteries the battery indicator on the gateway's website showed "two bars"... then the some came out and now it shows "four bars".
2) The past 2 days are the first real rain we've had since I installed the unit.

Next time I replace the batteries I will (a) use the lithiums, and (b) try to diagnose what is going on as described (including a voltmeter to check my 12v supply).

[Rover1822]

If your charging sources (solar or aux)  are totally not working, the Lithium batteries will provide enough power for about 10 - 15 days. I know this because at one point the solar charging source on mine failed, (I did not have 12V supply, relying solely on solar).

With solar alone, and working , my cap levels at max are about ~ 4.5 - 5V , and rarely dip below the battery voltage. My battery voltage right now is ~ 3.28 V

Of course this only applies to the solar on the unit charging the cap, I don't have values for when the 12V external power is used as I don't have one.

[ASword]

Well the situation has continued to develop.  After only two days the unit is now telling me that the WS90 battery is down to 0.8v!  These may not have been the freshest batteries ever, but two days seems a bit ridiculous.

The app says that the capacitor is at 1.0v (a few hours later it is 0.9v), and I just checked (with a voltmeter) that I am feeding 12v (fused at 2A, IIRC) to the wired input.  Since we've been having a lot of rain, I'm not keen to traipse out onto the roof to take the unit down examine it.  I suppose I will just let some time pass and see if it continues to operate, presumably drawing power from the solar and/or heater circuit.  If it fails, those feeds obviously aren't working.  The next time I can get out there and access the unit directly, if it is working I guess I'll just remove the batteries.  If it stops working, I'll contact EcoWitt.

Any other suggestions/observations?

[ASword]

Well, EcoWitt is sending me a replacement.

[Rover1822]

Cool.
They made me take off the top and look for water ingress and other things, but then did send me a new one as well when I had my issue.

[MonsterDog6]

Same thing here for my first ws90 i had a replacement without problem, ecowitt have very good customer service 👍

[Rover1822]

ASword,

When the new one arrives, do not toss out the old one. My WS90 setup , is parts from 2 units, as the 2nd unit had issues as well. They had me swap parts from one unit to the other. The good news, is that it works now .

[ASword]

I hope their quality is being improved over time, if there are this many issues.

[Rover1822]

I look at it this way, the initial Beta units went out fast, with limited testing time (I do not have a Beta), then the Kickstarters also went out relatively quickly , after a few modifications based on Beta tester data. Those of us that have had issues, have done exactly what you are doing, contacting them , letting them know the issue , and they are responding. I also feel they are studying the reported issues, as any good manufacturer would. I know they were appreciative when I described that a ribbon cable connection was sloppy put in place, which more than likely resulted in the issues with my 2nd unit.  However, sometimes I do feel like I'm paying to be a product tester.

[ASword]

Well my replacement WS90 arrived, but the original unit has been reliably reporting data despite telling me that it’s voltage levels are “in the red”.  With the cold weather and frost I don’t feel like climbing out on the roof, so I’m just going to leave it in place for the now to see if it keeps working.  Perhaps the voltage from the heater circuit isn’t reflected in the status of the battery and capacitor?  That’s a bit odd, as I would have thought at least the capacitor would charge from it.

[Rover1822]

Perhaps the voltage from the heater circuit isn’t reflected in the status of the battery and capacitor?

I'm willing to bet, with your charging and voltage reporting issues, that the area used for charging the cap, or the cap itself , is defective, leading to the low readings on the cap, and the rapid demise of the batteries. (In my use the cap voltage is rarely the same or lower than the battery voltage , it is usually higher by quite a bit , unless there is string of overcast days).

If you had another console , like a GW1000/1100/2000 , you could verify this with the new WS90.  Or just wait and see what happens when you do the unit replacement

[wsNoordbergum]

Well the situation has continued to develop.  After only two days the unit is now telling me that the WS90 battery is down to 0.8v!  These may not have been the freshest batteries ever, but two days seems a bit ridiculous.

The app says that the capacitor is at 1.0v (a few hours later it is 0.9v), and I just checked (with a voltmeter) that I am feeding 12v (fused at 2A, IIRC) to the wired input.  Since we've been having a lot of rain, I'm not keen to traipse out onto the roof to take the unit down examine it.  I suppose I will just let some time pass and see if it continues to operate, presumably drawing power from the solar and/or heater circuit.  If it fails, those feeds obviously aren't working.  The next time I can get out there and access the unit directly, if it is working I guess I'll just remove the batteries.  If it stops working, I'll contact EcoWitt.

Any other suggestions/observations?

I noticed that the external power source that I used seems to drain the batteries somehow.
I disconnected the external power cable and use only battery power now.
Seems to me that when external power supply is used, it is better to remove the batteries
Some strange things going on with voltages with inserted batteries and connected external power.
Normal would be, same battery level with external power connected, no draining of batteries, supercap should charge normally with the solar panel
Screenshot shows battery voltage dropping from 3.2 to 2.8 volt, few times on the graph everytime I used external power supply

[olicat]

Hi!

I noticed that the external power source that I used seems to drain the batteries somehow.

No, this is "only" a design flaw. When the external power supply is active, the display of the battery value gives nonsensical values.
The behaviour has been confirmed by Ecowitt and will probably only be fixed with a new hardware revision, I'm afraid.

Oliver

[Arkadiusz_w]

That's exactly what it is. The batteries and capacitor are intact. On the other hand, it shows erroneous voltage readings in the batteries and capacitor. The current is definitely flowing from the grid after the heater and not discharging the batteries and capacitor. Checked on 2 independent units, confirmed by Ecowitt and batteries measured with an instrument after the error appeared.... Completely different should be solved here, because it is confusing and I hope Ecowitt will change it. Sometimes I get the feeling that their engineers are learning all the time.

[olicat]

Hi!

Sometimes I get the feeling that their engineers are learning all the time.

We should all do that ...
But yes: there are quite a few inexplicable mistakes and design decisions. Some are certainly made for reasons of (too) fast market introduction, insufficient beta testing or the necessary price minimisation. We know this from our own environment, the technician says: we must - we need - we have to and the finance department says: you just get.

But the good thing is that Ecowitt is willing and able to learn from mistakes.

Oliver