WeatherFlow Battery Question

This is the first time we have back to back cloudy days that I remember since I set up my Tempest weather station. How long does the charge on the onboard battery last for you before it goes offline?

I'm going to have to look into adding an alternate source of power, I believe it has a power input port.

Edit: It looks like it should be able it go on for approx 2 weeks without solar input. Hmm

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I would say about 2 weeks before it goes into low power mode. But it's best to ask on their site:

With about 4 to 6 hours of sun I am seeing this:

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Thanks, are you logging data yourself or is the historical battery data available in the Tempest app?

It works for 2-3 weeks, but in my case I had to add the battery backup as I live in Iceland where we have little light during winter.

I haven't seen this battery backup on their site, I believe I got a pre-production version.

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Here is a link to the booster:

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The data is logged in their app but I collect the data locally via WeeWx and publish it.

Tip: If you are buying the battery pack, there is a discount code on the forum that appears to still work (unfortunately I found it after I purchased mine!)

I got the pack after the last hurricane went through our area (Tampa) because with all the clouds for the previous days and with the unit getting less sun anyway during this season (I have limited places to mount it) the unit went into low battery mode. While Florida gets plenty of sun normally especially during the summer, I got the power pack to make sure even during multiple bad days of weather etc. I was covered. The receiver is plugged into my Ecoflow Delta Pro along with the rest of my equipment so that isn't an issue!

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The app says my battery went into power saving mode @ 3:30AM this weekend, very surprising in Arizona :slight_smile: We had back to back rainy/cloud days but I didn't expect the battery to power save that soon. I will have to log the battery and illuminance data and see if it does that again before I explore backup power.

It came back online this morning after the sun was able to peek through. Time to do some data logging. It's still on power save mode though.

Can you post the link to your station, would be interesting to see what you are seeing.

My area has been dark for a couple of days, still looks good

Looks like you are in power save mode for a few weeks and running just fine.

I had a week in November with very little sun and didn't drop below 2.5 volts I am only getting about 4 hours of direct sun a day in the my area and usually we have lots of clouds in the Chicago area over winter. Due to my stations sitting it is in the shadows of the low winter sun.

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This is my station link.

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I think you need to turn on show battery card in station settings advanced:

Done, man that setting is deep in there, didn't even see that yesterday.

So I see that after November 27th you station was no longer charging, is your station getting any direct sunlight? If so I would suggest you contact WeatherFlow and open a support ticket. Even on a cloudy day I do get some benefit from indirect sun.

The station location is out in an open backyard, plenty of direct sun. I will go ahead and open a ticket and see what they say. Here's the brightness history and it's been pretty consistent except for the two days we've had rain.

Yep you are getting 30k more lux that I am getting here in the Chicago area.

The real question for everyone though is how they're using their weatherflow with Hubitat :stuck_out_tongue:

"The real question for everyone though is how they're using their weatherflow with Hubitat

I use the light sensor on my Tempest to have Hubitat turn on several inside lights if it gets too dark outside during daylight hours due to clouds/rain. When the light outside gets above a certain point the lights will turn off. For me there needs to be about 1000 difference in the illumanance variable for lights on/off values to keep them from switching too often.

I also use the Tempest rain sensor for notifications. I usually don't have the windows open but have a rule for Echo Speaks and a text to my phone to alert me if it starts to rain and the windows are open. I use the the state of the contact switches for my Ring alarm to know if the windows are open.

I don't use the Ring alarm integration. The Echo can see the status of Rind devices. I have code for a Virtual Contact with Switch @thebearmay sent me that the Echo can turn on/off to match the state of the Ring alarm contact sensors as well as flood/freeze and motion sensors. I use that code to get most of the Ring alarm devices into Hubitat. The Ring cameras can be linked as a regular virtual switch for motion.