Vantage Vue battery life

[jace]

Hey ho.

Bought my Vantage Vue late January this year, one of the reasons I went for the Vue was it was solar powered, with a long life back up battery, recommended change period of 9 months. The Oregon Scientific WMR 200 which was my other choice uses lots of AA batteries for the sensors.

So far I'm on my third ISS back-up battery, the battery supplied died in April, the long life Duracell Ultra replacement I installed died today, and it's been replaced with another Duracell Ultra, both the Duracell Ultras have best before dates of March 2021.

As it's summer   here and I'm getting an average of 14 -16 hours per day sunlight, I assumed the solar panel should have been powering the ISS and charging the capacitors, so the back-up battery should have minimal use.

I see on WXForum that's it was a common failure with the Vue on it's first release, but one would have hoped it was sorted out now after 3 or so years.

I've emailed Davis this afternoon, I await their reply with bated breath.

John.

[WCDev]

Hi John,
The Vantage here manages about 8 to 10 months between changes and I'm sure you get more sun than we do    
We're also using Duracell. Is your solar panel facing south?

[jace]

Hi Stu It's pointing south.

I've been reading thorough the posts about the Vue's battery problems in WxForum. Found a interesting and cheap solution to try out, apparently there are programing contacts in the battery compartment, if dielectric grease is applied over these it may resolve the problem... Perhaps...

Otherwise the solar panel/ supercaps are stuffed.

One lad in the UK was waiting weeks for Davis to reply to his emails. I'll see what happens

[jace]

Just had a look the connectors have been greased at the factory, and the transmitter light is not on continuously, so it's not that draining the battery. Some people think it's a fault in the circuit board that thinks the battery is low and issuing a transmitter battery low warning.

Oh Stu. On both occasions  about three days before I get a transmitter battery low warning via the Davis console, WeatherCat has been issuing email warnings about ISS power faults !    

JC

[WCDev]

Hi Stu It's pointing south.

Had to check - sometimes it's the simple things   

Just had a look the connectors have been greased at the factory, and the transmitter light is not on continuously, so it's not that draining the battery. Some people think it's a fault in the circuit board that thinks the battery is low and issuing a transmitter battery low warning.

Have to wait see what Davis say - certainly seems like somethings wrong on the hardware front; I would think the batteries would last longer than that.

Oh Stu. On both occasions  about three days before I get a transmitter battery low warning via the Davis console, WeatherCat has been issuing email warnings about ISS power faults !    

JC

In my experience, after the warning from WeatherCat, you have 7 to 10 days before it dies completely - ask me how I know 

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

[elagache]

Howdy JC and WeatherCat fans,

So far I'm on my third ISS back-up battery

. . . .

As it's summer   here and I'm getting an average of 14 -16 hours per day sunlight

Funny, I never have problems with my ISS battery . . . . maybe you should move to sunny California!! 

Or while your at it, go for broke and move to Phoenix, Arizona.  The daytime high tomorrow will be 113˚ F (45˚ C)  and the overnight low will be . . 91˚ F (32.8˚ C)  With a chance of thunderstorms!!! 

Couldn't find the humidity levels but . . . doesn't look like fun to me!! 

  Now after all that . . . doesn't just buying a warehouse pack of batteries seem like a good idea? 

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S.  I know . . . with friends like this you don't need enemies!! 

[jace]

Well got a reply this morning from Davis USA - basically bugger off nothing to do with us.   

Got a reply from McMurdo this morning, after I emailed them yesterday,    their customer service tech reckons it's

an indication that the software version in the transmitter module within the ISS unit is old. This will need to be updated. This repair is normally covered under warrenty

Awaiting a returns number, looks like I'm losing the ISS for a few days 

At least I've got a Met Office 5" rain gauge, shame I've not got any other back-up equipment, for manual recordings of temperature.....

JC

Edit. I've done a bit more digging about on WXforum. Somebody named John who works for Prodata ( big weather shopin UK) posted the following about the battery problems back in Oct '10

The second and quite separate type are spurious low ISS battery warnings. When the ISS battery voltage is checked on these, the battery is still found to be in good condition and so the warning of low voltage is inaccurate. This type of fault will often clear itself along with other system resets and clear operations at midnight each night. So this type of fault is a minor operational nuisance but nothing more. I haven't seen a detailed write-up of the cause but it seems likely to me that the microcode monitoring the ISS battery is a little oversensitive on a minority of systems, which is presumably also something that can readily be fixed in production. I understand that a new console firmware update to counter this spurious low battery problem is in testing.

I checked Davis download page, the last firmware was 20 Dec 2010 ver: 2.14. Checked my console I have version 2.14. Dunno who they want my ISS if the formware update is in the console. Another email to send methinks.

Oh and if you have WeatherLink for Mac OSX it does not support the newer Direct PC firmware download format. You have to buy a Serial cable and box at $155 to upgrade your Vue and Vantage Pro2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WCDev]

Hmm, that's bad luck. Don't suppose they can send you a replacement and then you send the old one back?

[jace]

Hmm, that's bad luck. Don't suppose they can send you a replacement and then you send the old one back?

I was in the process of updating my post when you replied Stu, I've asked about a replacement, even a temp one if mine has to go in, but the software is held in the console not the ISS, so I need to ring them tomorrow.

From the Davis download page.

Firmware version 2.14
1.   Solved problem of inadvertent low transmitter battery message. It was displaying as soon as a low voltage was detected, now it will not display unless a low battery has been detected for a full 2 minutes.
2.   Outside humidity no longer displays 0%.
3.   Modified heat index table to match the algorithm used by the WeatherLink software.

I have this version on the console.

JC

[elagache]

Howdy JC, Stu, and WeatherCat fans,

Got a reply from McMurdo this morning, after I emailed them yesterday,    their customer service tech reckons it's

an indication that the software version in the transmitter module within the ISS unit is old. This will need to be updated. This repair is normally covered under warrenty

It is possible that your ISS firmware would be out of date while the firmware on your console would be current.  However, that begs the question: when was the last firmware update to the ISS for the Vantage Vue?

It is possible that Davis was a little "hasty" in getting the Vue out of the door and has been patching the firmware repeatedly in order to get it to work properly.  Does someone (perhaps on WXForum) know how to get the firmware version on the ISS (not merely the console.)

Bummer dude!    That isn't fair for the folks who trusted Davis to make the Vue every bit as tough as the Vantage Pro line. 

Cheers, Edouard 

[jace]

Hi Edouard

There appear to be two separate battery problems with the Vue. One is the one I previously posted about the spurious low ISS battery alarms, which according to the Davis site was fixed by having the console software upgraded to version 2.14.

The other is moisture on a set of PROGRAMMING contacts in the battery compartment. The official fix is to smear about 3 to 6 mm (1/8" to 1/4") of Dielectric grease over the contacts. This prevents shorting out over the contacts which causes the system to turn on the LED and draining the battery. There was some discussion about the programming contacts but even people who work on Davis systems for other companies don't know what there for. (Pic borrowed from WX Forum ). There appears to be grease on the contacts of my ISS.

JC

[elagache]

Hi JC and WeatherCat fans,

Sorry to be pedantic, but as the old saying goes . . . the devil is in the details . .

There appear to be two separate battery problems with the Vue. One is the one I previously posted about the spurious low ISS battery alarms, which according to the Davis site was fixed by having the console software upgraded to version 2.14.

Well, this isn't what you reported to us as the initial response from the Davis tech support.  To repeat:

Their customer service tech reckons it's

an indication that the software version in the transmitter module within the ISS unit is old. This will need to be updated. This repair is normally covered under warrenty

Now there has to be a processor in the ISS and this processor has to have firmware of its very own - completely independent from the version 2.14 in your console.  As I read this tech support response, you are supposed to send your ISS unit back to Davis and have its firmware upgraded (if so that definitely would be something that should be covered under warranty.) 

So for those us trying to follow this woeful tale, have you have gotten some sort of confirmation that whatever the problem is - it isn't what the Davis tech support person first told you?

Anxious minds would like to know . . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[jace]

Yo Edouard

According to independent repair companies of Davis equipment, the shorting out of the connectors in the ISS is fixed with the Di-electric grease put on the connectors in the ISS, which Davis now do to all Vue's before leaving the assembly plant, instead of sending out a repair kit of grease.

According to the Davis website the spurious low battery readings from the ISS transmitter was fixed in 2010 by the release of the console software upgrade version 2.14.

Nobody has posted of any software upgrades to the ISS whatsoever. There was some speculation as to what the connectors are for, but at least two people working for independent companies repairing/maintaining davis stations do not have anything on their technical manuals about these.

According to some people in the WXforum they apparently have had ISS boards and other hard ware sent out for them to implement their own under warranty repairs, for this problem. At least one person on getting a low ISS transmitter battery alarm, removes the battery, re-inserts it and it works ok for a while before he has another alarm, then he repeats the battery removal process. 

I'm still waiting for the returns number to come through, 3 days and two emails after they had my address, will have to ring them soon.....

JC

JC

[jace]

Humm   

I've been in contact with the owner of a UK firm selling and repairing Davis equipment, and he did not know of a firmware upgrade for the ISS only. He was in contact with Brett Lane, Davis Technical Support manager about another problem he has, and mentioned mine for me.

Apparently Davis modified the firmware since Oct 2011 to lower the voltage threshold for the ISS battery warning from 2.8v to 2.0v. There is NO way to update the SIM firmware in the field.

The opinion from my UK contact is that there isn't any way to update the ISS F/W in the field (i.e. the factory may have some special software tool, but it's not on general release).

I'm still waiting for McMurdo to get back to me, unfortunately they only have two tech's who deal with Davis stations, and it's the summer holidays..........

Might be something I have to live with, and change the battery on a very regular basis..

JC

[elagache]

Howdy JC and WeatherCat Davis fans,

Apparently Davis modified the firmware since Oct 2011 to lower the voltage threshold for the ISS battery warning from 2.8v to 2.0v. There is NO way to update the SIM firmware in the field.

That's what your previous postings suggested.  It is still very odd.  Why would Davis have to make a different setup for the Vue than the VP-2?  Also, to be honest, I wonder if you want to wait until the voltage drops to 2 volts before changing the battery.  If I remember my college chemistry correctly, small changes voltage correspond to huge changes the in chemical output.  Lithium batteries may be less sensitive, but still, not changing the batteries before 1/3 of the voltage is lost? . . . . 

I'm still waiting for McMurdo to get back to me, unfortunately they only have two tech's who deal with Davis stations, and it's the summer holidays..........

Might be something I have to live with, and change the battery on a very regular basis..

How hard is it for your to change the batteries?  I have to change the batteries in my secondary transmitter every 3 months.  It is a bit of a hassle, but it is on my iCal calendar and I make a point to buy new batteries when I have coupon.  Perhaps, it is the path of least resistance.

Sorry for your troubles.  Davis is still cutting a few too many corners . . . . .

Bummer dude! 

Cheers, Edouard