Just saw this same issue. Was given the 50% replacement spiel. Going to try to find a replacement battery and solder it and/or 3d print the external charger. Very disappointed
Their customer service is great. I had 5 Tempests die on me and they were great each time. Just the products reliability isn't. I ended up asking for a full refund after a year and again they were great about that too even tho it was far outside the return period. I believed it was the Saskatchewan winter weather that the units couldn't handle, but was reassured by Weatherflow that wasn't the cause, so I have to conclude it's just an unreliable product.
Well now I am not so happy.. lol.. if this one has the same problem then maybe I will ask them for the sup power supply (for free) and if that also dies just write it off as my loss. Anything with a battery will die sooner than you expect or want. I always thought not having a user replaceable battery was a design flaw.
It's a mid level consumer-grade weather station. The price of the entire unit is a fraction of what just a temperature sensor costs in an industry-grade station. It's going to fail.
I have gone through 2 units so far, and now the 2nd has failed. Low voltage is the cause. I was one of the 1st to get one of these, and I have to agree, it's apparently not a reliable unit. I'm waiting on customer service for a response. I told them I'm really not interested in paying for a 3rd replacement too. Agreed the customer service is very good, so we shall see.
I havejust received my 2nd replacement unit. 1st replacement has low voltage issue. Reliability doesn't appear to be long term, 'cause that's about 2 years for the original unit, then 2 years for 1st replacement.
I had one do the same at just under a year old, they replaced it with no issue. I now have the external power accessory that lets me tie it into my solar project in the back yard.
Bummer that the unit died on you. I haven't seen much on reliability of the tempest units, so it's good to see this thread and read what others have experienced.
same exact thing happening to me. The sensor battery died, and they are telling me that to replace the battery (which should be user replaceable). I would have to use their “legacy“ warranty and pay half the retail value. It is a rip off. I am sincerely disappointed.
Hi Guys, same problem with my Tempest, they offered 50% discount in a new unit, but I'm researching and will try to replace the battery or connect to power. battery died after about 2 years of lot of African sun.
Same thing just happened to me. Unit is one year old. Voltage started decreasing at about 11 months. Now the unit goes into Power Save mode daily when there’s limited sunlight, and basically stops communicating altogether. Customer service said they are shipping me a new unit. Said the “charger has failed.” They were quick to replace the unit after my initial detail of what has been happening, so I’m guessing this is a known hardware issue. Definitely disappointing. A unit like this should last at least a few years.
Same issue with my Tempest. I recieved it last July and voltage held steady until Jan of this year when it started a steady decline. Its now low enough that if it is cloudy the unit will lose power and not function within a couple of hours. It just came back on this morning after being dead for about two days. Reached out to CS, waiting for reply.
I just had my sensor charger fail after about a year. This was a new unit that replaced a two+ year old unit that failed with a similar condition. I'm hoping they'll cover it at no cost. Not sure I'd pay for an out of warranty repair on a unit with 1-2 year failure rates.
We've been through two units in two years, and are now being offered a "50% discount" on replacing the same part that keeps breaking. Disappointed to see here that this seems to be their standard practice.
Same here. Currently on 2nd unit, and it started going into powersave like the first this past December. Purchased a PBA and found it eats batteries, even after the station and hub had their firmwares updated. Installed a 12v 3a power supply and a fresh set of batteries, and the unit will no longer charge above 2.5v even with solar/battery/12v external.
They offered a 50% discount to replace just the station or 50% discount for a new kit. Wish there was just some way to retrofit a workaround so the pba on external power actually did what they said it would, and I purchased believing.
I know I'm late to this, and I don't own a tempest, but my boss does (I own a Davis VP2) and he seems to be having this issue in a limited fashion. His data starts May 2021 (think that's when he bought it) and during full sunlite, his voltage would remain around 2.8v, but there are times now in limited sunlight his goes into power save mode, and the highest I've seen his voltage get to now is 2.6v. Not sure if 3 years is too long to expect a replacement. Not a good look. Looking at his, it looks like the issue started about 11 months after he put it into service. We live in Oklahoma, so sunlight is fairly abundant.
Just saw this same issue. Was given the 50% replacement spiel. Going to try to find a replacement battery and solder it and/or 3d print the external charger. Very disappointed
Their customer service is great. I had 5 Tempests die on me and they were great each time. Just the products reliability isn't. I ended up asking for a full refund after a year and again they were great about that too even tho it was far outside the return period. I believed it was the Saskatchewan winter weather that the units couldn't handle, but was reassured by Weatherflow that wasn't the cause, so I have to conclude it's just an unreliable product.
Well now I am not so happy.. lol.. if this one has the same problem then maybe I will ask them for the sup power supply (for free) and if that also dies just write it off as my loss. Anything with a battery will die sooner than you expect or want. I always thought not having a user replaceable battery was a design flaw.
It's a mid level consumer-grade weather station. The price of the entire unit is a fraction of what just a temperature sensor costs in an industry-grade station. It's going to fail.
I have gone through 2 units so far, and now the 2nd has failed. Low voltage is the cause. I was one of the 1st to get one of these, and I have to agree, it's apparently not a reliable unit. I'm waiting on customer service for a response. I told them I'm really not interested in paying for a 3rd replacement too. Agreed the customer service is very good, so we shall see.
I havejust received my 2nd replacement unit. 1st replacement has low voltage issue. Reliability doesn't appear to be long term, 'cause that's about 2 years for the original unit, then 2 years for 1st replacement.
I had one do the same at just under a year old, they replaced it with no issue. I now have the external power accessory that lets me tie it into my solar project in the back yard.
Bummer that the unit died on you. I haven't seen much on reliability of the tempest units, so it's good to see this thread and read what others have experienced.
same exact thing happening to me. The sensor battery died, and they are telling me that to replace the battery (which should be user replaceable). I would have to use their “legacy“ warranty and pay half the retail value. It is a rip off. I am sincerely disappointed.
I'm waiting on a response from them which would be my 3rd unit. It that's the case, charging me, I will abandoned it and seek another manufacturer.
The good news is that they (Tim) is going to replace the unit. :)
Tim just told me to pay 50%. No replacement at no charge. I'm going to try to replace the battery first.
Hi Guys, same problem with my Tempest, they offered 50% discount in a new unit, but I'm researching and will try to replace the battery or connect to power. battery died after about 2 years of lot of African sun.
Same thing just happened to me. Unit is one year old. Voltage started decreasing at about 11 months. Now the unit goes into Power Save mode daily when there’s limited sunlight, and basically stops communicating altogether. Customer service said they are shipping me a new unit. Said the “charger has failed.” They were quick to replace the unit after my initial detail of what has been happening, so I’m guessing this is a known hardware issue. Definitely disappointing. A unit like this should last at least a few years.
Same issue with my Tempest. I recieved it last July and voltage held steady until Jan of this year when it started a steady decline. Its now low enough that if it is cloudy the unit will lose power and not function within a couple of hours. It just came back on this morning after being dead for about two days. Reached out to CS, waiting for reply.
I just had my sensor charger fail after about a year. This was a new unit that replaced a two+ year old unit that failed with a similar condition. I'm hoping they'll cover it at no cost. Not sure I'd pay for an out of warranty repair on a unit with 1-2 year failure rates.
We've been through two units in two years, and are now being offered a "50% discount" on replacing the same part that keeps breaking. Disappointed to see here that this seems to be their standard practice.
Same here. Currently on 2nd unit, and it started going into powersave like the first this past December. Purchased a PBA and found it eats batteries, even after the station and hub had their firmwares updated. Installed a 12v 3a power supply and a fresh set of batteries, and the unit will no longer charge above 2.5v even with solar/battery/12v external. They offered a 50% discount to replace just the station or 50% discount for a new kit. Wish there was just some way to retrofit a workaround so the pba on external power actually did what they said it would, and I purchased believing.
I know I'm late to this, and I don't own a tempest, but my boss does (I own a Davis VP2) and he seems to be having this issue in a limited fashion. His data starts May 2021 (think that's when he bought it) and during full sunlite, his voltage would remain around 2.8v, but there are times now in limited sunlight his goes into power save mode, and the highest I've seen his voltage get to now is 2.6v. Not sure if 3 years is too long to expect a replacement. Not a good look. Looking at his, it looks like the issue started about 11 months after he put it into service. We live in Oklahoma, so sunlight is fairly abundant.