I am under the impression that using this battery because it is very cheap: Titanium Innovations CR123A 3V Lithium Photo Battery 1400mah was not the greatest purchase.
I put a battery in a wireless temperature station outside that measures soil surface temperature. The thing isn’t solar powered, so it uses batteries. I replaced it on 7-2, 7-8 and again on 7-14. That figures 6 days per battery. So today I went back and put in the type of battery I had been using before.
The only good side of this is that I can use the Titanium brand for my led flashlights that use that type without worrying am I going through too many incase the station needs them.
I just don’t think that brand works well with the Davis units.
are the batteries made in China?
I have had Chinese batteries do things like that.
yes they are. They are advertised as lasting a long time. 6 days in a unit such as a wireless temperature station isn’t long. I went back with a standard battery. I am hoping it works out again. I had looked at the surfire battery as well, they cost about the same but I probably going back with the battery station generic…
CR123 cost a lot in the stores, I have seen them at Walgreens and wally world for 8 bucks each and that is nuts.
i suppose there is some truth in “you get what you pay for”. The price difference wasn’t much, but I should have stuck with something better. I saw these on the batterjunction web page and thought I would give them a try.
Well… I had the fancy lithium battery go belly up. So… I bought the bullet and got a fresh one from the expensive store… paid 9 bucks for it. geez
I have a motive for that one. I am getting to the opinion that maybe it isn’t the batteries but something in the station. The last battery had a shelf date of 2017, but it wasn’t in a package and maybe…
so I got this other one. I also made sure that the test switch #4 wasn’t moved. It wasn’t, but still I did the switch on and off to be sure. the inside of the transmitter case was clean and dry as was the temperature probe socket.
I sent also an email over to Davis and described the problem. It could be the voltage regulator, or something eating the battery charge as well.
I had thought maybe it was the high temperature, but I have one in the lawn shed and it gets hot, humid and all sorts of nasty in there, so that might not be it.
So… if this is a battery life of 5-6 days, I am thinking it could be the station and if this battery goes south, then I think it is time to send the unit in for repair.
Often wondered why the unit doesn’t come solar powered as an option…
Does that unit have the internal plastic cover on the circuit board? If so it might be interesting to pop it off and see if there’s a supercap in there. I know it’s not solar but I wonder if Davis used the same stored power supply design.
OK, went out to the place and got the toy. Man it is muddy an water standing in puddles in the garden… I would say, who needs a soil moisture station, it is saturated.
Anyway, brought the station to the work bench and took off the cover… it does have a supercap in it. Everything looked fine, no corrosion, dust or loose connections. Looked very clean… so back out it went. Did test switch 4 again and it clicked on and off and the diode did light up briefly with no battery and as it should with the battery… so I am sort of a loss.
It might be something I can’t see. well it is the 19th… see how it is in 5 days…
Thanks for the investigation. All the supercap reports I have seen, and my bad cap, had visible furry leakage so that doesn’t seem to be the problem.
I am not sure if the environment is responsible,we have had a lot of rain, high humidity, and heat… not sure… When you said supercap, I thought you had it nailed. but looked on both sides of the board, and it looked fine. that isn’t to say that maybe the super cap is faulty,
woke this morning to find that the sensor has a low battery reading again… I am pretty certain it isn’t the battery, but the sensor, it is leaking charge somewhere… I think it is time to contact Davis, send it in … and again , 6 days.
I put the meter on the battery and it read 1.572 volts and that is over 1/2 of what it should be. So something isn’t trickling the charge, but using it full bore. I put a new battery in it because I am tracking surface data and took a reading on that battery and it is 3.20 volts. I am guessing that if there is a voltage regulator circuit in the board, then it is become faulty.
I shot an email off to Davis and I probably will call them Monday as well… and going to send the unit off for repair. I have a second unit in the shed and I can swap it out if I want to and continue tracking the data.
I did take the transmitter in to the house, took off the cover and every thing looked clean and no corrosion, so I am betting that something just wore out… hope the repair isn’t close to the initial cost. Then we get the soul searching of do I really need it…
At least this hobby never is dull… always some problem to solve.
That’s bad news 
I think Davis will have a fixed repair/exchange price for it, hopefully it isn’t too expensive.
had a second thought… IF the curse continues, I have another sensor in the lawn shed and I am really not doing much other than monitoring temperature out there… I could switch the units.
I did some reading on the Davis site, they claim that with some of their units like the transmitter for the temp/humid sensor, they make a door that replaces the flat panel and turns it into a solar powered unit. The publication also gives some interesting thoughts to why things are constructed their way…
http://www.davisnet.com/product_documents/weather/app_notes/apnote_32.pdf
They talk about replacing the door with : Universal Outdoor Enclosure Door with Solar Panel #7345.086
to replace the exising blank door on the station. I’ve never seen this item on their site, but I bet it could be tracked down… Now the last time I replace a door on one of their units, I broke the hinge and the dogs learned a new word… But I wonder if it would work with the temperature station .
anyway, I wrote them 3 days ago and so far haven’t heard anything… it isn’t that important and if I do . I will let you know.
Another person said that I need to weigh the cost of replacing the transmitter with a new one , which he says provantage (i don’t like them) has one for 119…
Geez it is hot and humid…
I know you don’t like them or their terms of business (we don’t need to go there again) but the current quoted price is $116.90 and that’s probably unbeatable, esp. if they ship from their home base so the shipping is reasonable for you.
I generally give people a second chance… their return policy is non-existent… but other than that… we will see … I am just waiting on Davis to see what their repair bill would be. I am pretty sure one of the caps in the unit isn’t functioning to store charge and it is just constantly draining the battery.
and like clockwork, station 4 has died …
ok… I think I am going to take the station out of the lawn shed and change this one out . I am going to need to go and tweak the software, taking the shed station off line and out of the web site, until I get the soil surface temperature station repaired.
5 days to the moment it seems… double rats
got the reply from Davis
The transmitter board in bad and it needs to be replaced. It is drawing too much power and draining your batteries. If you call us we can get you a repair order for your board. Repair charge is $82.
I can order one for 137 from Ambient and 116 from Provantage…
“Disposable” :roll:
That’s nuts, the new unit includes a temp probe that sells for $40 or more retail.
If you decide to junk it I would cut one lead of the super cap and see how long it will run on the battery. The super cap might be leaking voltage in side. Why would they have a super cap with no solar? It sound like one board fits all.
if you look at the board, there appears to be a connector for a solar panel. there are also jacks for wind, solar… I am wondering if the board is used for other things or what is with that…
I might try it as you suggest.