Bummer! You’ll like it once you finally get it. Good luck!
We use the power booster here in Beaverton OR. House sits in the shade of large evergreens and get no light for 3 to 4 montha given angle of the sun. A set or batteries lasts the season… Been a great add for a spot that gets no direct sun for many months…)
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It appears Power Boosters are back in stock if anyone is interested. I just ordered one along with the bird deterrent.
Tempest Owners / Users may want to act on this Immediately (of not sooner). There’s always a risk that they (WF | t°) could run thru this batch rather quickly. . .since the PBA appears to be in such high demand.
Not sure if this banner. . .
is still valid because it has been replaced by a new banner called “Turn your Smart Home into a Genius”. . .but if the “FREE SHIPPING” promo is still valid. . .you may want to add a WeatherFlow Yeti Tumbler to your order to get above the $50. It’s worth a try!
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Mug is $35 at Amazon. WF charges $40. Do the math.
Yep. . .on Amazon. . .just a plain Yeti Rambler Mug. . .not branded to any name except YETI. i.e. no WeatherFlow branded name or logo on the Amazon one. . .Can only get “WeatherFlow” branded Yeti mug from WeatherFlow for $40.
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I am getting ready to install the Power Booster. The various instructions (https://help.weatherflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/4414460312603-Power-Booster-Accessory) show applying dielectric grease on various metal parts including on battery contacts and where the 8-conductor flat network cable plugs into the battery case.
I just read that one could use vaseline since heat is not involved in these areas. But more interesting was that I read that while vaseline conducts electricity, dielectric grease does not. Would this non-conducting property interfere with with the batteries making good electrical contact?
Thanks in advance.
The dielectric grease does not interfere with the connection because it gets scraped off of the contact points but still keeps any air and moisture out of the contact points. That is the reason to use dielectric grease on the contacts.
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Is there any way to see if the station is running off solar or off the booster? Or am I safe to assume that it just stays topped off with the booster attached? Thanks.
I received my booster and the battery level stays pegged at 2.75V as I run off of AC power to the booster. It is supposed to run off of the booster as long as there is not enough energy to charge via solar. I have not had enough sun to even begin charging off of solar yet. There is no way to tell which power source you are running off of.
Can’t use mine for fear of damage to the device.
Turn on and voltage goes above 3V instantaneously.
Crazy
As the link @fjk6515 posted above says, “Using AA batteries, the power booster will start charging the Tempest device to full capacity only after the Tempest’s battery voltage drops below 2.42V” you can sometimes tell when the booster is providing power. Look at the graph of voltage and when you see it going up after it has dropped below 2.42V and the sun isn’t shining, you know the booster is supplying energy.
If, as @mmdamson is doing, you are running the booster off external power then the Tempest will stay at a constant level, typically somewhere between 2.6-2.8V. One of my stations stays at 2.79V the whole time. The one on battery backup only boosts after reaching 2.42V.
Have you measured the voltage coming out of the PBA? The two outside pins are the power pins. Also, did you check with support on that issue?
Silly me for not checking, it was fine shortly before putting it up as I was recharging the old one only hours before.
Support are getting round to it but very slowly as I have to keep answering questions that get replied day after day after weekend.
Thanks for the info. I figured it would pull charge as needed and not be constant otherwise it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to run it off batteries. Glad to hear it works that way so the batteries should last a while. Sometimes we don’t have sun for 4+ in northern mi.
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I have about 20 feet of excess cable between the battery compartment and the power booster module. I inquired about shortening the cable and WeatherFlow/Tempest responded that it is not advised. Instead they suggested replacing the cable with a shorter weatherproof RJ45 cable.
I know the battery end is a standard RJ45. But the end that connected to the “disk” assembly is merely inserted into the bottom and all I see is the wire entering the housing. Is it a standard ethernet jack “up there” or wires that connect to the bottom of the assembly. Here’s a picture I grabbed from one thread.
In some of their pictures, they show the cable emerging from the site. I gather that is an older model???
Any info would be appreciated.
And, yes, I should just be less anal about the extra wire!!!
Just think of the extra wire as mixing up the electrons better so the Tempest gets a smooth drink of energy. 
I’m not quite sure how they expect someone to do that. I’ve never taken one apart so I don’t know how the cable is connected to the wafer end. My guess is that it is soldered to the pogo pins.
Unless you found a picture of a prototype and/or concept version there weren’t any with the cable only coming out from the side. The final design was a collaboration between WF and the field testers and allowed only one SKU to cover all situations.
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Tempest’s info on Power Booster shows the wire exiting from the side of the “wafer” module
I, also, suspect that the cable is hardwired inside the housing.
Just coil it up neatly and zip tie it. It’ll take far less time than cutting/stripping/reconnecting and then trying to weatherproof your results and will look much better. Really.
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Here’s what @gizmoev did with one of his. Looks better than professional! …And guaranteed to Stay Put. . .for a long time!
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