This morning, I received this email:
WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Fail.
Transmitter 2 - Good.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Good.
WeatherCat TimeStamp: 08:47:41 02-Dec-14
When I checked my ISS unit I discovered that a friend who helped me move my anemometer last July, failed to connect the solar panel when he put the cover back in place. So now I know that a battery lasts at least 5 months running without the capacitor helping out.
Three hours later, I got around to changing the battery. I restarted WeatherCat (to clear 28,000 sensor errors) and saw in the log that the startup battery test failed.
A few seconds later I received this email:
WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Fail.
Transmitter 2 - Good.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Good.
WeatherCat TimeStamp: 12:03:55 02-Dec-14
I tested the battery before I installed it and it showed 3.12 v. As it is the only battery I have (I don't buy them by the truck load like Edouard and Herb), I used it.
I assume that under load, its voltage is low enough to fail the WeatherCat battery test. Can someone confirm this theory? I hope I am not starting down the same road Edouard is traveling with ISS batteries.