Hi there!
Is anyone using other than the Energizer Ultimate Lithium recomended batteries? Do you have any recomendations on alternatives?
Asking because here in Portugal I’ll have to buy 3x 4 unit packs and the major online retailers (yes, Amazon and the likes) won’t ship them, don’t really know why.
Thanks in advance!
Nuno
In regards to shipping, there are restrictions on lithium ION batteries and air transport. Amazon (and probably others) confuse the Energizer lithiums with lithium ION, and ship them ground with all of the ION warning decals…
But still, the shipments from Amazon here come from Spain, and usually by ground transport. Even like that they still don’t deliver this item to Portugal 
I am using Energiser Max Alkaline because it was all I had when I mounted my Sky. But I will be changing them in the next few days. Here is my voltage graph https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/station/4555/graph/12620/battery/4
regards Ian
Working link:
https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/share/4555/graph/12620/battery/4
The Sky is good down to near 2.0 volts before sensors are in danger of throwing flaky readings. If you are not afraid of data loss, why not let these batteries run to see how long alkalines can power a Sky???
Hi there! Thanks for the insight! I will still try to find some recommended batteries, but if not I’ll use some alkaline.
re:changing batteries. I could see how long they go? However my wind calibration is more important to me (and it seems low so I have to convert it). I expect that the initial calibration period of undefined period will change my calibration. In a personal support question email I received from @WFstaff he wrote: “I believe this initial learning period with winds can be re-started by opening and closing the battery door on the unit.” So Changing batteries might change my calibration and therefore my personal conversion. Others must have compared battery life. This data sheet might help comparisons: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf The milliAmp-hours capacity graph includes a dotted line to compare Alkaline. It shows how at very low current the advantage of Lithium is reduced because an alkaline battery produces more power at lower currents. And here is a data sheet for Alkaline: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/e91.pdf It shows at 25mA an Alkaline battery lasts 3000mAh. While the Lithium Ultimate at 25mA lasts 3500mAh. But I live where it never freezes so the temperature effects to Alkaline are not a problem. You might like to read this: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/alkaline_appman.pdf
kind regards Ian
I’ve been running my Air on Panasonic enloop pros for 9 months and still on the first charge. The Eneloop pros are supposed to have a low self-drain and reasonable cold weather performance. My climate is mild, yearly average of 13C, we only get a few frosts.
Oh yeah the envelope pros are quite good rechargeables at least for devices which consume only low energy.
I’m glad to hear, those are lasting quite long.
Maybe you can share the graph of your batterie charge of the air ?
Did this a little while ago (voltage and average monthly temp), they are still sitting at 2.55.
Air with Eneloops
Amazing, I wouldn’t have thought the eneloop pros would be that constant in voltage.
When you look at the Product Homepage you can see the performance at 25 degC and 0 degC, hence it is only the surprise, the marketing seems to be quite near to reality.
The initial learning period for SKY calibrates for any minor tilt of the head, which would change the height of the gap at different points around the sonic anemometers. This is crucial for accurate wind readings on a per device basis. But this is not specific to this topic…
-Tim
I was able to order them from an Dutch website. They come by land but no worries. On the other hand o don’t understand Amazon’s policy as I ordered a driller that has lion batteries and it was ok… Even if it was full of stickers! They just don’t send batteries 
Amazon.de ships via prime Service from theire Marketplace seller but not from theire own shop… 
These batteries have been in my Sky for over 100 days in Non power saving mode and are now down to 2.28V. But I deleted my Sky’s data after perhaps a week or two from the initial install due to dodgy rain from the vibrations during install experiments, and also there was a spike/jump in the voltage readings making it difficult to give a precise analysis. Soon I will replace them with Energiser Max Plus Alkaline which are only 80c (currently half price at supermarket) compared to $4.50 for Lithium. Because it never freezes where I live Alkaline seem perfectly fine. Alkaline might give 80% (My guess from their discharge graph comparisons linked to above) of the energy of the Lithium for only 20% of the price. And it is easy for me to swing my mount down to replace them.
cheers Ian 
Goog idea @vreihen,
Yesterday I replaced my Energiser Alkaline Max batteries when they had dropped to 2V after 3.6 months of non power saving mode. They didnt last as I expected but I have a clue to the problem. When I measure the voltage of each individual cell with a battery testing voltmeter which places a small load onto the cell I discovered that 6 of the cells measured around 0.94V. And two of the cells measured 1.49V! I guess the tightness of the container may have held a pair of cells away from the non-sprung end of its contacts. This may have occurred during my vibration tests when I was really giving it some strong bumps of different types. I am assuming that my graph shows about 3/4 of what I can expect. This graph has deleted the first week or so when the voltage began much higher but I deleted the history to remove false rain records.
The batteries that I have installed this time 1st Nov 2018 are plain Energiser Alkaline (Without any mention of MAX or Max Plus) Because when I measured the voltages of the different types of Energiser Alkaline cells I found the MAX Plus cells averaged 1.57V but the Energiser Alkaline that I am using (without ‘Max’ or ‘Plus’) averaged 1.61V.
When I measure Ultimate Lithium cells with this battery testing multimeter which places a load onto the cell they read 1.78V.
cheers Ian
I have two Skys next to each (1m apart). I’m using Energizer Industrial AAs during my testing phase. Interestingly one Sky drained the batteries to 2.3v faster than the other did. About 5 vs 6 months.
Sky1
3.23v, 13/06/2018 --> 2.3, 1/12/2018
Sky2
3.22v, 15/06/2018 --> 2.3v, 9/11/2018
What firmware is in each Sky?
Presently 43.
My experimental protocol as not good. There is a possibility that the batteries had different production dates and I did not measure individual battery voltages afterwards.
There is a new set in each Sky lets see how rep 2 goes.
Hi Peter,
The Energiser Industrial AA’s from what I can tell are exactly the same as what I am using, just labelled differently for non retail market.
And I guess the Sky’s were not on power saving mode, can you please confirm?
Are your graphs public? I would like to see your graphs.
cheers Ian