outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

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Fawnlake1
Posts: 12
Joined: 22 Jan 2016, 12:20
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by Fawnlake1 »

VERY Disappointed... Contacted NetAtmo last Friday via the online support email and other then the "Due to an unexpectedly high number of emails, our response time is slightly longer than usual. We are very sorry about this and assure you that we are doing our best to reply as soon as possible." it is now Tuesday...
Best regards \ Med vennlig hilsen,

Jeff

Sandnes, Norway
Proud owner of 2 Indoor Modules, Outdoor Module, Anemometer & Rain Gauge
Fawnlake1
Posts: 12
Joined: 22 Jan 2016, 12:20
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by Fawnlake1 »

Did get a response and they are asking for several things 1. A picture of the location of the outdoor module and 2. the original receipt. No idea where that is so will take a while to locate it. But they did come back to me!
Best regards \ Med vennlig hilsen,

Jeff

Sandnes, Norway
Proud owner of 2 Indoor Modules, Outdoor Module, Anemometer & Rain Gauge
bingeciren
Posts: 3
Joined: 17 Mar 2017, 10:34

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by bingeciren »

Fawnlake1 wrote:Did get a response and they are asking for several things 1. A picture of the location of the outdoor module and 2. the original receipt. No idea where that is so will take a while to locate it. But they did come back to me!
They are probably trying to understand whether the module is somewhat protected from direct rain. Since both of my modules are in direct exposure to rain, I made a protective cover from a plastic soft drink bottle (see my post couple of pages back).

These modules are well protected from moisture with rubber gaskets. One gasket is on the battery lid and the other is at the bottom of the unit, not visible and it protects the electronic board. The only part of the board that is exposed to the outside elements is the moisture and the temperature sensor (obviously) and sometimes moisture can seep into the board from that location.

My problematic boards had no visible moisture penetration and no corrosion or mildew inside, yet after a year or so, they both started to consume their batteries like crazy. This suggest that some components degrade over a period of time and cause this problem. Since resistors generally don't degrade over time, I suspect either a capacitor or an oscillator is responsible.

By the way, I measured the current consumption of my boards and found out that they draw about 20mA, which is clearly excessive. AAA batteries are rated about 800 mAH, which means that at that load they will last for about 40 hours. Indeed, my units deplete their batteries in about a day or two.

While not elegant and clearly should not be necessary in the first place, my solar cell solution is the best solution I could come up with in terms of the cost (roughly $15 in parts) and longevity. For one thing, I do not have to worry about batteries at all any more. NiMH batteries are always kept at about 80% to 100% charge. At that level they don't go through many charge/discharge cycles and should last for many many years. Netatmo should improve their design and incorporate a solar cell to their outdoor modules like I did.
edinburgh_lad
Posts: 14
Joined: 24 Apr 2017, 17:26

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by edinburgh_lad »

Brieuc_Netatmo wrote:Hello,
Sending multiple times the same email is not necessary, and it's even counterproductive.
I've found your ticket and we will answer it.
Have a nice day!
In another post, you said that the battery problem doesn't affect many stations. Well, my first one was kindly replaced by Amazon because it had a battery problem. My second one, which has been in a protective cage outside our window on the side of the building that doesn't get a lot of rain, appears to have developed the same problem as the previous one. Time to face the reality that there *is* a problem with the outdoor module.
Mohawk
Posts: 9
Joined: 14 Oct 2015, 08:39

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by Mohawk »

Anyone suffering fast depletion of batteries have a faulty unit. This is fact. No firmware update will cure this issue, it is a hardware fault.

The only way to sort this problem out is to contact Netatmo and demand a replacement outdoor unit.

It is a power supply problem. There is a capacitor on the PCB that becomes faulty. This can happen at any time. Once its gone, it will eat batteries in a matter of days for cheap cells and weeks for the better quality cell. Even Lithium batteries will be dead in weeks. Fitting solar panels and external power supplies will work of course, and I'm impressed at these fixes, but mostly these fixes are out of reach of the common man, but if the fault is rectified, standard AA Alkaline cells will last a decent amount of time leaving these fixes unnecessary.

Digressing slightly; Lithium cells are best for lower temperatures, something I found out when using a digital camera in sub-zero environments!

Dependent on your country's rules on retail, you could have recourse for a lot longer than the guarantee period. The UK for example has an "up to 6 years" rule on both the Sale of Goods Act and the later Consumer Contracts Regulations. A product should last a reasonable time, and I would suggest for a product sold as a quality item, which this is, that period is 4-5 years. Use your rights and demand a new unit, or, if you prefer, agree to a repair. However, if you opt for a repair CCR gives you the right to reject the unit if it becomes faulty again. (This is UK law only and may differ outside the UK, check your local regulations, it doesn't matter that Netatmo are in France, your local trading regulations apply)

Returning a faulty unit to Amazon (for example) may not provide the fix you expect. If the outdoor unit in the replacement kit is old stock, you may suffer the same issue again. This happened to me. The only way to guarantee a repair is to send it to France for repair/replace.

I have been sent a new unit by Netatmo France and it seems to be functioning fine. I'm currently using "Duracell Power" cells for two weeks now and its still showing 100%, my old unit would have been dead by now.

I hope that helps some of you. You paid good money for these things, I don't like to see people ripped off.
pliik
Posts: 8
Joined: 07 Dec 2015, 17:49

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by pliik »

If its is known piece (capacitor), pease mark it on some photo. There are some pictures of PCBs in this thread.
nrgetic
Posts: 1
Joined: 30 May 2017, 13:32

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by nrgetic »

Yes pls post picture or diagram of the capacitor in question, so I can replace it. I have the tools and the knowledge of SMD soldering.
avant
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 May 2017, 16:55

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by avant »

I am suffering the same problem and I've opened a ticket at support of netatmo. Swiftly I've receveid a response to return my module for an exchange for free to the reseller.
Unfortunately I am not able to return my module to the reseller as I've bought a used station. Nevertheless I've been offered a new module with a discount, which is fair.

What I can recommend is to open a ticket at support of netatmo. So far my experience with the helpdesk is quite positive as my two tickets had been resolved in an amicable way :-)
waffles
Posts: 9
Joined: 08 Sep 2016, 13:49

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by waffles »

Count me also to the ones experiencing the excessive battery consumption issue. I have contacted netatmo support via their website. Hopefully I hear back soon from them.
MarcV
Posts: 880
Joined: 22 Aug 2016, 09:01
Location: Schoten, Belgium

Re: outdoor module battery consumption went crazy

Post by MarcV »

Same here. I have 2 stations. On one the outside sensor has been running for months on the same set of batteries without the battery indicator going down. On the other the outside sensor has the battery indicator going down after a couple of weeks already.
...but I might be wrong...
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