Testing the WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System: Our Take!

[@RandallJones-c1f]

The battery in the Tempest is a major problem. The second winter, we had 4 weeks without sun, and it lost power. By the third winter, it was off line due to low battery regularly. Now, the unit only works during the day. The battery is hardwired to the circuit board and can't be replaced.

[@nmill005]

It is possible to replace the battery with some basic soldering. I had never soldered anything in my life and it took me about 45 minutes from start to finish. I imagine someone with basic soldering skills could do it 10-15 minutes. I just replaced mine about 4 weeks ago. Sourced the battery from aliexpress and it is charging as normal and most importantly, holding it's charge during long stretches of overcast skies. All in all, the project cost me about $20, and that included purchasing a soldering iron. For reference, the original battery lasted about 4 years.

[@nylesgregory2120]

Question 4 Host - I'm a stickler for accuracy AND I'm looking to install a durable system that provides historical data year over year. How is the Tempest System set up to do just that? It looks durable vs. the Ambient models on the market. The Ambient systems universally are getting an "F" or failing grade on the computer interface side and I'm reading a lot of remarks abourt users having to recalibrate the Ambient systems as well. I don't want to spend a couple hundred dollars on something that just ends up being a fancy DoorStop. If it's too faulty and I have to spend too much time always recalibrating, why bother to begin with? We live in a sub-tropical Desert environment. So I don't care about rain monitoring, but I do want to track humidity and temp month over month and year over year to gauge best timing for gardening and outdoor events. It is frequently 100 deg."F" even in September on the Island of Madeira, Portugal. So, last Question is whether there's a problem with setup in the Euro Zone? It didn't look as though this required Euro electrical hookup. I'm guessing a combined Batteries and Solar? Any advice and instight would be greatly appreciated before we buy our next system. Thanks in advance, N

[@theweatherstationexperts]

Nyles, have you checked Ecowitt?

[@nylesgregory2120]

I am researching Ecowitt now - because of you Thx for that

[@theweatherstationexperts]

@@nylesgregory2120 No problem! When I saw you made a reference to Europe, that was the first brand that came to mind. Fast Offset licenses to both. I don't have personal experience with the software though, but the hardware is the same.

[@kwindapp]

we had 6 Tempest Stations all failed we use now Ecowitt WS90, WS80

[@theweatherstationexperts]

Hey, we actually just received the WS80 from Ecowitt along with their non-WiFi rain gauge and the WS85. Will be my first direct experience with Ecowitt, definitely excited.

[@sctholson1]

I still own a Tempest, but it doesn't work. I received about two years from the device before a fatal error occurred and needed to be replaced. The company offered a discounted replacement, but I declined as the first unit failed prematurely. After looking for options, I could not find a system with a display I liked. Tempest itself was pretty clunky then, and I liked the look of the Apple Weather app so, bye bye weather station, hello Apple Weather. I would like a home weather station again, but it needs to last longer than two years and have a decent display.

[@theweatherstationexperts]

@@sctholson1 Ooof! if you're comfortable spending additional money, going with the Vantage Vue is the best in terms of reliability, and the new WeatherLink Console definitely is much better than the displays you may have seen the last time you were in the market.

[@weatherwatcher39]

I tried turning off NC about 6 months ago and my discrepancies seem to get worse. I was comparing it to my 8” manual rain gauge.

[@theweatherstationexperts]

Where are you located? Drop size is also an issue for haptic rain gauges. If you live in a drier area where raindrops might be smaller, and lighter generally, thats going to also throw it off. I have my own personal opinion about haptic rain gauges in general which i am going to eventually post a vid on, but the rest of this station is so good that this isn't a big deal for me. And everyone SHOULD have a manual rain gauge :D

[@weatherwatcher39]

@@theweatherstationexperts I’m in northern MI

[@spillo0778]

👍

[@theweatherstationexperts]

Thanks!

[@spillo0778]

​@@theweatherstationexperts X After Davis, the best accessible weather stations are the ambiet weather stations.

[@YukonHawk1]

I have a Tempest for 3 years and it has been really accurate. I am looking forward to the comparison video.

[@theweatherstationexperts]

@@spillo0778 I agree. The KestrelMet 6000 however is very good. Davis' problem has always been staying innovative, though.

[@spillo0778]

@@theweatherstationexperts Yes I agree Kestrelmet 6000 is a great weather station, but here in Italy I don't know if there are any. They only know Davis as reliability. I'm tied to ambiet weather.