I officially Retired my original beta pre-production Tempest Field Test device in May of last year. Although it had Firmware v153 on it. . .it just was not suitable for the Power Booster Field Test. The device I replaced it with does have its “moments”. . .but the charging circuit and battery are top-notch. Have been lucky to have lots and lots of sunny days recently. . .so the battery charges up to 2.80v every day on its own.
I 3-D printed one black, one white and one blue DIY USB charger housing items as described by “sunny” at the top of this thread. . .but never completed it! Right now I don’t even have the need for the proto PBA because of the wonderful sunny winter sky in eastern Nebraska. But next month. . .most likely clouds and snow will be here. . .so the proto PBA will be gainfully employed once again. Will be looking forward to the actual PBA sometime later on.
It’d be nice if it showed up soon. I had to pull mine inside last week when it shut down at 2.1v, and even with two or three LED lights shining on it I can’t get it over 2.15v now Left it all night with two LED lights shining on it, and this morning it was back to 2.15v. Switched it off and on to bring it back, and even with three LED lights shining on the panels it dropped to 2.11v and is offline again.
It’ll be a couple more months before I have a decent amount of sun - right now it clears the horizon about 11am and is gone before 4pm. I had hoped this could replace my old Davis Vantage Pro2, but if it can’t survive a winter by solar charging and has no way to manually recharge it then it’s really just a toy. (FWIW the VP2 can’t make it all winter either, but it has a CR123 inside and a DC barrel connector for wiring to fixed power. The CR123 will go two winters before complaining about charge, and can then easily be swapped.)
While I’d love to see a booster with another PV panel and battery, all I really need (and probably everyone else like me) is an adapter with a USB input. Then I can either wire to a USB wall wart, or just run outside with a battery pack and plug it in to recharge it. That can’t be too difficult to come up with.
Did your Tempest since the day you installed it ever see 1 sun ray on its panels ??
We know that the light sensor on top does give lower values seen the angle of the sun but highest ever solar radiation I found for your Tempest is below 50 w/m^2 … it needs 200 or more to start charging. It’s or no sun ever or a wacko light sensor … that I can’t see.
Also the leds have to be flood lights, not a little torch (like 20 watts or more leds) …
Regarding the power booster, it will be battery or wall plug … and hopefully next month in the shop (let’s hope Omicron won’t mess once more logistics)
It’s seen sun, but since it’s been winter there isn’t too many hours of it. But, the angle is almost straight on. The LEDs are almost touching the PVs and have been all day, although they aren’t the brightest ones. I have two 20w ones coming.
If it’s just another battery then it won’t be useful if there’s issues with charging over the winter. It needs to either have another larger PV or an external power plug.
it looks like it will have options, you can use AA batteries (which you could simply charge inside) but you could also hook up a solar panel (but it has to be relatively big to provide power even on cloudy days) or you connect an an or dc power supply.
Will the new power booster work with the older Sky units?
I’m not keen on climbing the roof to change batteries and the add-on solar unit for the Sky doesn’t supply enough power to keep it running over the winter so I’d like to be able to plug the power booster into AC power.
In answer to your question. . .no. The future Power Booster Accessory will Only work with a Tempest device. . .because the pogo pin configuration for charging the battery is specifically designed for Tempest not for the first generation WFSKY.
Have we heard any updates? My tempest only has a couple days left before the batteries will be completely drained. This thing has major issues with its charging board. They’ve been working on this project for over a year now. Tornado season is right around the corner.
As far as I know. . .we’re All waiting to hear something. There has been obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. Hopefully in the near future. . .sometime!
For the SKY, I recommend you follow what I did in my post here: Easy SKY+SPA battery expansion (unofficial). If you have a DC power supply you can charge the SPA by connecting directly to the pogo pins. I note the polarity in the referenced post. I recommend that you also disable the cold temperature protection in the SPA. Also, make sure all the batteries are charged to the same voltage when you put things together. I have found that my mod has been working just fine and it may help yours make it through the winter.
Hi, thanks for pioneering this. Could you please tell me what the pinouts are for the 4 pogo pins? My voltmeter is giving me .3 volts on the outer pins and nothing in the middle.
Found them in another post, the outermost are the +/-.
Now at 3v how much amperage can I alligator clip directly on the battery to charge without damaging things?
As I posted above in DIY USB charger ready! - #99 by gizmoev, as long as you stay under 5V you will be fine. The charge controller in the Tempest will take care of everything else. I don’t remember the max current draw, but I’m sure it was no more than an amp.
Sorry to resurrect this old thread but wondering how many people have tried this solution and succeeded? Ive been trying to get a power bank or ac charger from tempest for about 5 months with them never being in stock.
I would love to just make this, but wondering how its working for anyone who has made it…and if anyone who succeed would be willing to do a single post write up on how to do it with links to parts used. One can always ask, I have read through this whole thread and downloaded the 3d print files - but I also have issues with them loading in as just a rectangle with a hole in it… Im pretty new to 3D printing so it may be im just doing something wrong as well.
Left it all night with two LED lights shining on it, and this morning it was back to 2.15v. Switched it off and on to bring it back, and even with three LED lights shining on the panels it dropped to 2.11v and is offline again.
