I’ve liked my Tempest since buying it in late 2022, but battery performance has been sub-standard over the past year, even under what should be enough hours of Texas sun. I’m annoyed with replacing the eight batteries in the Booster every three months. Sooooo… I’ve decided to attempt the battery hack, and just ordered four of these:
Amazingly, the total was $27.14 USD after a tiny “LTO SALE” discount, with free shipping. There may be stock in the US.
I recently received my order for 23680 batteries, which included two packs marked “21700” containing batteries with no noticeable text markings. They surely look like the batteries shown on the website, and they match the posted measurements for a 23680, but the lack of markings doesn’t inspire confidence. I wrote Sellian/Hakadi about them just today. Thoughts?
This is correct, my friend Because this is for packaging, and the packaging should not be damaged during delivery, we found this suitable shell to protect it
Probably written with Google translate. At least I received a reply.
I’ll perform surgery during an upcoming weekend when rain isn’t forecast.
This is known as “Dielectric grease” ; it is a non-conductive silicone-based lubricant that is used to protect electrical components from dirt, moisture, and corrosion and is used extensively on the bottom PCB (PrintedCircuitBoard) of ALL Tempest devices. There is also a PCB under the “TopCap” (dome) of the Tempest that is “Smeared” with LOTS of Dielectric lubricant to protect all of the connections located therein.
I’ve never used dielectric grease, so I didn’t imagine it being a translucent silicone gel. It’s not on the garage shelf with all of my automotive and household lubes, so I’d better buy some.
What’s recommended for removing it? Contact cleaner or alcohol? That’s what I’m reading out there.
I’ve had to work on several of my past Tempest devices. The lubricant is very “messy” to work with but it is necessary to keep the corrosion as close to the Zero as possible. If you use a cotton swab to remove some of it so you can work on your device. . .save the swab and REsmear it back on to the components when you are finished.
Of all the lubes and cleaners for home, cars, guns, etc., dielectric grease is one I’ve never had a need for. There’s always a first time.
I went out early ahead of approaching storms to grab some from Lowe’s (I have everything else) so I’m good for this little project during the afternoon. I’ll dab and spray off the old grease, then apply new blobs when done with the battery swap.
I used swabs and contact cleaner to remove the grease, then went to work with my old soldering iron. The original battery came out easily. It was bulging at both ends, having endured a hard life in the Texas heat. I bent gentle s-curves into the leads of the new battery, then soldered it in.
Removing the battery cavity wasn’t difficult with my Dremel, but plastic dust is no fun to manage and clear away. I wrapped the battery in a few layers of blue painter’s tape to snug it into the wider hole.
The ribbon cables are very finicky, as others have noted. A few tries were needed be sure they were clean of grease and seated well, despite them appearing good each time.
While it was apart, I also disassembled and cleaned all of the vanes, including the sensor within. The gadget had collected a lot of Texas dirt and grime, including attempted habitats by tiny critters.
The Tempest is on the pole today, reporting and charging in the afternoon sun. After about 30 minutes online, it stopped reporting, but the LED still indicated green. I cycled power. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of another problem. (Update: The station quickly reported its stored numbers after reboot. I also cycled power to the WiFi hub to clear any issues it may have been experiencing.)
A day in, I can report replacing the battery with a 2500mAh LTO has been worth it. I thank everyone who pioneered this refurb.
It began at 2.5V yesterday afternoon, reached 2.6V by sunset, and lost only a tiny bit overnight. It’s now at 2.65V, well on its way to topping off. This low-granularity chart shows the last day of the old 1300mAh battery, which dived below minimum after the external battery pack had already been drained.
The original 1300mAh battery from late-2022 had sufficient capacity during its first winter, but I suspect the battery degraded rapidly in the long periods of heat typical in northwest Texas. It ran down much faster during the next winter, so I bought a battery booster to keep it going. Its second full summer must have been brutal, because its endurance during this past winter was much worse. The original battery lost charge more rapidly during the night and during cloudy/rainy days.
I don’t plan to write a detailed procedure. There’s plenty of prior explanation in this thread for how to perform the battery replacement, including sunny’s original post and my own post here.
You must be sufficiently skilled and confident working on electronics with a soldering iron and grinding plastics with a Dremel or similar tool. You can avoid grinding the housing by replacing the original 1300mAh battery like-for-like with another, but you may as well install a bigger 2500mAh battery while you’re expending the effort.
I wish good luck to others who do this same refurb and upgrade.
Hi, the battery of my tempest is dead (at dark tempest goes offline) as mentioned in the first post i replaced the battery with “2,4 V 3000 mAh LTO 23680 15C Lithium-Titanat-Akku”. There was no marking on the battery to verify the capacity - Size is the same as original so fits in. Now after two hours with fully solar power the voltage didn’t increase - stays at 2.46V - wondering a little bit you talking about voltage above 2.6V and more
3000 mAh capacity in a 23680 LTO battery looks impressive, but confidence is thin without a reputable brand and specifications stamped on it. The same goes with the 2500 mAh batteries I bought from Selian Energy. They had no text markings, so I proceeded on faith.
My Tempest has performed perfectly since I modded it last month. During clear days It charges to 2.78V by 9:00am, and has performed exceptionally well during consecutive rainy days. The sun emerged around 10:30am Friday, and the battery was topped up by 1:30pm.
Perhaps others can offer thoughts about why yours isn’t exceeding 2.46V.
