Topic: ISS 3 Volt Battery

[Spud67]

Hello, about three weeks ago I bought my first Vantage Pro 2 and other than the Lithium battery in the ISS I am very impressed with this weather station.
I had a La Crosse wireless solar powered weather station for approximately 20 years and sensors are beginning to fail so it is time for an upgrade.
We setup the station shortly after getting it 3 weeks ago and during a very cold couple days last week the console lost connection to the ISS overnight. During the day the skies were clear and bright sun shine so the super capacitor should be receiving a good charge. Overnight temperature for a couple night were -35 to -37 Celsius. I assumed the 3 volt lithium battery would have kept everything working overnight.
The factory installed ‘Tenergy’ appears to be a very in-expensive battery and it could not keep the ISS working overnight. With the higher cost of these weather stations you would think Davis could install a better quality battery. Today I bought and installed a new Energizer battery and recycled the in-expensive factory battery.
I am looking forward to years of service from the VP2 but I hope this new ISS battery last much longer than the factory installed one. How often are others changing the ISS battery and what battery are you using?

[CW2274]

Although I live in one of the sunniest places on the planet, I got 12 years out of my original Duracell.

Enjoy your VP2.

[PaulMy]

I replaced the VP2 original Duracell 1-2-3 after 4 years also Duracell, just because I thought I should.  Six years later I replaced the ISS with a new Plus and the battery was still fine.  The new ISS Plus Duracell battery is now going on 4 years. 


Must be a recent change in the battery they now include.  I suggest you call or email Davis as there may be some other issue with your new station.




Enjoy,
Paul

[Bashy]

Mine came with Duracell too, 2 months off 3 or it could be 4 years (cant remember now), not sure why yours came with a mickey mouse battery :/

[jcookjr82]

In about 2 weeks, it will be 4 years since installing my Vue and still using the original battery it came with - a Duracell. I actually just bought a 6-pack of the 123 batteries, with a date of 12/2031, to use on my Vue at home and the one at our cabin. I will just wait until the console tells me it needs to be changed.

[rpegg]

Must have been a combination of a basic battery and the extreme cold.   I just replaced my battery a few days ago, and I'm thinking it was also a Tenergy.   It was an off brand, but not going to dig through the trash to find out.  I replaced it just because it had been exactly 3 years and I was relocating the station.   Have never lost data overnight.   A new name brand battery shows about 3.25V and the Tenergy was reading 3.0V when I removed it.   The coldest it's been here is -22C in 15 years.   Your temps are quite a bit chillier.

[Spud67]

New Energizer battery is doing great. Our temperatures for the last couples days have been in the -30 Celsius range with wind chill at night at -45 Celsius or colder. We have not lost signal from the ISS at all.
Everything is working perfect. Why Davis factory installed cheap, off brand name batteries doesn’t make sense. If you receive a new weather station with a Tenergy battery installed in the ISS, you will need a replacement battery pretty quick.

[Phil23]

Just replaced mine on Jan 1 after 5 & a bit years.
An Energizer was what was available locally.

What was slightly interesting was the small amount of corrosion on the Negative end contact point.
Don't think it was enough for concern in my case, but could be for others.

Two slightly different metals & current flowing, could be more of an issue in areas of higher humidity.

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[johnd]

Worth just commenting perhaps that Davis have stopped shipping stations with the CR123 for export orders (because of issues with airfreight companies not wanting to deal with lithium batteries, even a single CR123 (!), or at least not without significant hassle). In-country dealers may or may not add one before delivery to end-users.

[Spud67]

Worth just commenting perhaps that Davis have stopped shipping stations with the CR123 for export orders (because of issues with airfreight companies not wanting to deal with lithium batteries, even a single CR123 (!), or at least not without significant hassle). In-country dealers may or may not add one before delivery to end-users.

The VP2 I have was ordered on Amazon and was shipped by Canada Post from Ontario so there was no export from the US involve to get it to me. The unit arrived with a Lithium battery installed I have never heard of. Most other comments indicated that the factory installed were Duracell batteries and this one had a Tenergy battery.
As I commented earlier, since installing the Energizer lithium, we have not lost signal from the ISS in very similar sun and cold weather conditions.

Thanks for your comment.

[johnd]

The VP2 I have was ordered on Amazon and was shipped by Canada Post from Ontario so there was no export from the US involve to get it to me. The unit arrived with a Lithium battery installed I have never heard of.

When you say 'installed' then do you mean literally preinstalled in the ISS? If so, that may have been inserted by your supplier - the factory CR123 always used to come separately in the sundries bag. Of course, factory procedures are liable to change and, to be clear, it's the airfreight step that's been causing issues, which may conceivably be region-specific. But I'm guessing that international airfreight was probably (?) involved at some stage in getting the station to you? But certainly here in Europe CR123's are no longer shipped in the station box from Davis.

All in all it's not a big deal, but just be aware that in some territories the CR123 may not be Davis supplied or even there at all.

[davidmc36]

Mine was installed with paper strip under positive end.

[Mattk]

So is the Tenergy battery Lithium?

[Spud67]

The VP2 I have was ordered on Amazon and was shipped by Canada Post from Ontario so there was no export from the US involve to get it to me. The unit arrived with a Lithium battery installed I have never heard of.

When you say 'installed' then do you mean literally preinstalled in the ISS? If so, that may have been inserted by your supplier - the factory CR123 always used to come separately in the sundries bag. Of course, factory procedures are liable to change and, to be clear, it's the airfreight step that's been causing issues, which may conceivably be region-specific. But I'm guessing that international airfreight was probably (?) involved at some stage in getting the station to you? But certainly here in Europe CR123's are no longer shipped in the station box from Davis.

All in all it's not a big deal, but just be aware that in some territories the CR123 may not be Davis supplied or even there at all.

The battery was physically installed in the ISS with a small strip of plastic in between the positive post of the battery and the connector so the ISS is not powered on. Once the unit is installed and ready, the strip is removed to apply power to the ISS.

[Spud67]

So is the Tenergy battery Lithium?

Yes the Tenergy battery is a Lithium non-rechargeable 3 volt battery, CR123A.

[Spud67]

Picture of the brand new Tenergy Lithium 3V CR123A battery that only lasted a couple weeks in extreme cold temperatures overnight for a few nights in a brand new ISS VP2. The ISS stopped transmitting overnight for two nights while the temperature was -35 to -37 Celsius.

[Mattk]

So is the Tenergy battery Lithium?

Yes the Tenergy battery is a Lithium non-rechargeable 3 volt battery, CR123A.

Then that blows the thinking re freight and Lithium! A Lithium battery is a Lithium battery regardless of who makes it

[Jim_49]

Just looked up the operating and storage temperature ranges for Duracell and Energizer 123 lithium batteries.

Energizer (123)
     Storage temperature range - -40C to 60C
     Operating temperature range - -40C to 60C

Duracell (123A)
     Storage temperature range (recommended) - -5C to 30C
     Operating temperature range - -20C to 75C

Couldn't find the temperature spec for the Tenergy 123 on their web site.  I'll send them the question and report back when I hear from them.

[Spud67]

Just looked up the operating and storage temperature ranges for Duracell and Energizer 123 lithium batteries.

Energizer (123)
     Storage temperature range - -40C to 60C
     Operating temperature range - -40C to 60C

Duracell (123A)
     Storage temperature range (recommended) - -5C to 30C
     Operating temperature range - -20C to 75C

Couldn't find the temperature spec for the Tenergy 123 on their web site.  I'll send them the question and report back when I hear from them.

Thanks, it is nice to see that Energizer has a lower storage and operating temperature. I am glad I installed an Energizer.

[Jim_49]

Here is the reply I got from Tenergy Support with regard to their CR123A battery temperature ranges.

Maximum Operating Temperature Range - -40C to +70C
Recommended Continuous Operating Temperature Range - -10C to +40C
Recommended Storage Conditions - +5C to +35C at relative humidity less than 70%

Tenergy started up in 2004 in Silicon Valley.  Their headquarters are in Fremont, CA, which is close to Davis Instruments in Hayward, CA.

The Energizer 123 is rated at 1500 mAH
The Duracell CR123A is rated at 1550 mAH
The Tenergy CR123A is rated at 1400 mAH

The current ratings aren't actually that simple.  You need to look at the load curves in the data sheets.

Energizer 123 data sheet - https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/123.pdf
Duracell CR123A data sheet - https://www.duracell.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CR123_US.pdf
I couldn't find a data sheet for the Tenergy CR123A.

[Aardvark]

I am guessing why we don't see a lot of need to replace the ISS battery is that the supercap is working and not pulling off power.  However, I replace it twice a year due to the fact that heat and cold are murder on batteries.  PLUS, we have 10 inches of snow out at the ISS right now.  It was a pain in the hiney to go out in the blizzard to tap the wind unit free of the ice that happened earlier as the temperature dropped below freezing.   I would have hated to have to replace the ISS battery in that mess and let all sorts of snow in around the inside of the ISS.     Not too bad, I had my 3000 lumen flashlight to light up the night.

Don't be a cheap person, replace the battery before you need to.