I think it should be better. They have a new kind of battery in the Tempest. Lithium Titanane… Curious how that one holds on in dark winter days.
I’m not a tempest tester, but I’ve had no issues with the solar unit reaching 3.6v in super cold temps through a full winter, I causing -30c.
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The voltages you are seeing are only what the SKY sees and is not the battery terminal voltages. What is seen at night is what the battery voltage is, as it is only the battery supplying energy.
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Mine appears to be a failed solar panel or charge controller. Looking back at the voltage graph I can see the last time it was charging was on Halloween. It has been slowly discharging for the last six weeks. Looks like the battery lasted just about exactly the six weeks they said it would.
Well, I must say I’m confused. My Sky went offline due to low voltage (solar panel accessory installed). Support stated the following in response to my ticket:
We’ve examined the battery voltage data and it appears the battery has only depleted. Most likely this is temperature related - freezing temperatures will artificially lower the voltage and prohibit charging cycles to prevent damage to the battery. Re-charging a LiFePO4 battery in freezing temperatures will cause irreversible damage to the battery. To protect the life of the battery in the solar power accessory, charging will not occur when air temperatures are at or below 0°C (32°F).
They recommended removing the SPA and installing batteries as long as the outdoor temperatures are at or below freezing. How is it that other stations are functioning in below-freezing temps this winter? I’m disappointed - I bought the SPA not realizing it was seasonal. I don’t recall any of the promotional literature stating I needed to reinstall my AA in the winter.
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Just had mine do the same thing, it was above 32°F today and it still died.
I bought the panel so I wouldn’t have to take it down to replace batteries.
I submitted a ticket to tech and ordered batteries.
This is an unfortunate characteristic of many Li-ion type of batteries. They can be charged below freezing but have to be charged very slowly to avoid damage. Some of us live where the days are warm enough that charging can happen during the day. Depending on how many below freezing days I have, it will be interesting to see how the field test SPA I have, which believe doesn’t have the temperature protections, compares to the first production run units I have. One of the production units did go dead on me during a stretch of below freezing weather but it also coincided with a failed sensor so I’m not sure what made it go dead. It is now powering the replacement SKY.
Hi @daniellevin,
You can continue using the solar power accessory, if it has a charge it will still provide power even through sub-freezing temperatures. However, it won’t be able to re-charge the internal battery if temperatures remain sub-freezing for an extended period of time. If there’s still a charge and you want to eek out as much time as possible as winter tightens its grip, consider putting your SKY in power save mode (in the advanced device settings).
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Does the new Tempest station use the same panel and can we expect the same results?
Interesting. I’ve had the solar unit attached to my sky for about 9 months. Right now it’s -21C at 11am and it’s showing 3.58v. It obviously goes down to 3.2 at night but always returns to nearly 3.6 daytime. With this beta test unit (from last March I think), it looks like it’s chugging along just fine.
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Very frustrating. I removed the batteries and installed the SPA so I wouldn’t have to pull the SKY down in case of dead batteries. Now it is only December and I will likely have a dead or intermittent station until spring when I can access it again. grrrrrr.
8xAA batteries should last around 9-10 months in SKY. I think you should be okay.
Could it have something to do with the angle of the sun shining on the solar panel?
On sunny winter days the panel gets a couple of hours sunshine. That should be enough I think.
Low sun angle and minimal daylight hours are not a problem to keep the battery charged.
Indeed… My “old” solar panel that I made more water resistant, did charge today in the sun. It Skyrocket to 3.38V
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Just got my second replacement SPA.
Call me a crash test dummy but I made a mount that swings down to a second story window and can change the thing out in about 5 minutes.
I’m still with the program but always suspected that mounting this thing where it is hard toaccess is a bad idea.
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Well my sky finally died. I could see the voltage slowly drop since late November and the sky stopped transmitting yesterday.
Since it seems to be too cold for the battery to charge, should I put in a ticket. It seems this is the way it was supposed to work.
Tom
Did you have a solar panel Modul (SOL) attached and no batteries in the batterie compartment?
As I had Loki to your batteries voltage graph, ist looks like a Batterie powering ?
Yes my solar panel was attached and no batteries in the compartment.
You can see the voltage slowly lowering. It will be below freezing for a few days here so hopefully when the temperature goes above freezing it will also be sunny. I wish they told us the batteries won’t charge when it goes below freezing.