So I’ve had my tempest up for a few days. It started at 2.57 and it 2.52 now. It doesn’t seem to be charging and it saw full sun today so it really hasn’t used much power but I’m surprised that a charge cycle didn’t start today. Is it something I should be concerned about?
it most likely starts charging when it reaches something like 2.45 V, at least mine did.
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Keep watching and wait. Only time will tell is the charging circuit is working.
My Tempest will not start charging until the battery drops down to about 2.47 v. My station behaves the same as yours.
I’m not seeing that behavior. Mine charges every day back up to 2.79 or so. You can see that yesterday we had a bit of clouds midday where it wasn’t, but then recovered.
on the other hand yours seems to discharge very, very quickly. I’m wondering how yours would hold up after 2 weeks of clouds.
Mine charges up to 2.79 or 2.80 daily also.
Definitely curious about how it holds up in the winter here. We can go a week or two with no direct sunlight.
Edit: That said, the charge cycle is much shorter than the discharge cycle, so it shouldn’t take much sun to bring it back up.
i looked at your station, and there is one day where it didn’t charge, but it also didn’t discharge that much. Perhaps the initial discharge is quicker and it will still last 2 weeks without sun. There is hope.
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Thanks guys I’m not worried I know the customer support is super if I have a problem. I was just curious
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It just isn’t charging right it will see over 800w/m2 for up to six hours and will charge .01 to .03 percent and the next morning it will have lost that charge I sent in a ticket. When I got it it came charged at 2.57. It won’t stay charged above 2.5 and drops back down to 2.44 During the winter i won’t have a prayer of keeping it charged. I guess I got
One of the units with bum batteries or a bum charging circuit.
There are different charging routines depending on the device. I do not know if the difference is between batches or otherwise. First, here is one of the later Field Test units, Tempest-3, on 12859. [Note that Tempest-BY (Sub-Optimal charging) is a very early FT unit and it shouldn’t be used as a gauge.]
It typically only charges once every three days.
Next is the first production station I received when field testers were allowed to order after NA (US?) backers’ units had been shipped out. It is Tempest-Production on station 22968.
As you can see, it charges every day.
Next is a Tempest I have attached to my Mobile station hub, it is Tempest on station 5080.
It charges every two to six days. This is the most recent Tempest I have and was purchased as a standalone unit during the short window they were available this way.
Finally, here is a station I acquired from another user and was likely originally purchased about the time I purchased my production system. It is set up at my church on station 24537.
This one appears to charge every day.
I wouldn’t worry too much about how high your battery charges or how often. The warranty is plenty long to cover the winter. Furthermore, the later you get a replacement, the more likely you will have a more refined unit since WF will have had more data to go by.
I call bul!!.the station always drops below 2.36 Volt when clouds form, which turns off the rain recorder! I have yet to record rain for any storm. perfectly built to fail!.
Then you have a defective unit and need to open a support ticket! The voltage should only drop that low when there are multiple days in a row with no sun. Use the support link above.
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Ted,
This is the answer you got early this month about your ST-00095895 : shipped in November, from charging data looks like it just needs more sunlight
And I just looked again, that Tempest is hardly seeing any direct sunlight on it. If it does, is a few minutes according to solar radiation level. Way way to short. (seems to sit in shade all day)
Is it possible for you to relocate the Tempest to an open spot as your region has way enough sun.