Davis Vantage Pro2 ISS Battery Life

Checked this morning, the ISS had 3.7v rechargable battery and the anemomenter had a lithum 3.0v.
All my rechargable batteries are eitehr 3.6 or 3.7v, which is good for my torches, but not the stations.

Will keep them away in the future JUST in case

Is is possible that is why the Supercap is leaking. They are rated at 2.7 volt, you are a full volt over that. I have look for higher voltage but they do not come in that size. Most are either 2.7 or 5.0 volts

Hello…

The Davis Vantage Pro2 requires a 3.0 volt Lithium Battery (Non Rechargeable).

The difference between Lithium and Lithium Ion is that the Lithium is NON Rechargeable,…and the Lithium Ion is rechargeable.

The solar panel on the Davis Unit ISS charges the Capacitor, not the battery…once the capacitor is out of juice…the battery is there for backup power. on most days the solar panel can charge the capacitor enough to make it through the entire night time hours, this is why the battery also last so long.

most likely, and I am guessing here…during the winter time when we get down to around 9 hours of daylight around X-mas time, is when the capacitor comes close to getting a good enough charge during the daytime to make it through the entire night.

I dont think it is a wise idea to place a 3.7 volt or any other volt… than the recommended 3.0 volt that the Davis ISS Requires.

…Chris

It’s the same thing in the end but I think the ISS always runs off the supercap, and the battery charges it when the solar panel doesn’t.

I got the low battery message today, that 03-2019 battery was down to 2.832 volts, so that’s only 6 months since it was installed. This VP2 ISS doesn’t get much sun but even so I don’t recall ever losing a battery that quickly before :frowning:

Like Chris, I haven

The one for the wireless transmitter for the anemometer takes just one Tony.

Chuck

Just changed a leaking super cap from a soil/temp. transmitter, after “eating” two batteries. Both batteries lasted for about 2 months each, I first suspected the solar panel since it lost the glossy look after 2 years of operation, but on a closer look I found the cap. I should have ordered more than one when I did but?.. sure a 3.6 V rechargeable puts a strain on the cap since the circuit is designed for 3.0V .
Peter

p.s. this is a leaking super cap


cap8.JPG

Uh oh, bad news, BatteryJunction has burned, no more cheap CR123’s :frowning:

I ordered some from them on the 5th of March and had no problem. So everything seems to be ok.

Steve

Interesting, I tried yesterday, and again after seeing your post, and get this notice:

[color=red]Dear Customer,

At 3:30 AM on 2/17 there was a fire in our building that has forced us to temporarily suspend operations. As a result we are not accepting new orders at this time. We value your business and are working diligently to restore full service as quickly as possible. We do not yet have an estimate as to when we will be able to ship orders but we will be posting updates regularly to this space.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
BatteryJunction.com [/color]

Good News, www.batteryjunction.com is now back in business :smiley:

hello niko…

just an update on the batteries I bought, around the same time you did from the junction. Mine are still both working…“knock on wood”. I placed one in the Davis ISS unit and also the Davis Anenometer Transmitter kit unit.

…Chris

Does the Davis VP really give a message to the console “station 1 low battery”??

Yes, it does.

Niko…where on the console so I can look out for this. I can’t find any mention in the console manual.

Along the bottom of the screen, same place it does “raining cats and dogs”.

There’s a WD status tag too:

%vpissstatus%…ISS battery status flag

Hello all

I wonder if I could have a word of advice from this panel.

I have a VP2 working OK since Apr 2005 and normally I have replaced the ISS battery once a year.

Recently I have been experiencing a new situation. During the day the transmission to the console works flawlessly but when night arrives no more data until next morning… :frowning:

I am not electronic savy but it looks like a battery situation…

The problem is that I have now replaced the battery, 3 times, for fresh new ones and the problem is still there… #-o

I saw mentioned earlier in this thread a

I had the problem last winter. I first suspected that the battery was bad… so I replaced it, then went in and reset the console to get rid of the message (just done and the down arrow or wait until midnight) and we are fine. I had thought maybe the solar panel was bad, as I also normally change the battery out. But it works fine.

What Davis suggested is that if the sunlight isn’t hitting the panel long enough, then the super cap doesn’t charge and it uses the battery more. We had not many bright days this last winter and I am guessing that is the problem. Anyway, I would take off the plastic cover over the ISS board and give it a look at the super cap with a magnifying glass to see if there is any corrosion or leaking. I live inland so there isn’t much unless you ask about road salt during the winter, and there is no spray so that wouldn’t be it for me.

If it cap is good then I would think it is either a bad series of batteries, or the solar panel isn;t doing its thing, or that the sun angle isn’t charging the cap. IF it looks bad, then it is time to contact Davis to send you a new ISS board. What I would try to do is get them to send you the replacement board and you return the bad one to them. They have on their web site a video on how to replace the board. That alone tells me that you are not alone with these going bad.