Sky battery life

Gang about. Cells should be around 1.5 vdc

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Yep, absolutely true mate, I was looking that the ganged, Cheers.

Sometimes connections on TV remotes get loose or battery ends get slight resistance… I’ve had remotes die, but start working after I pop the cover open and just twist & roll the cells. Cleaning with a pencil eraser also helps.

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Battery contacts in most consumer products are best described as “cheap”.

Contact corrosion is increased by vibration (wind) which accelerates micro-abrasion, which leads to increased oxidation and increased contact resistance. I think it is called “fretting”.

One of the best temporary contacts (ie - battery to terminal) is tin to tin. It forms a gas tight contact with low corrosion.

Since WF is recommending Energizer batteries, they should contact Energizer to find out the best contact material for their batteries… or go solar!

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it will as it is planned :sunglasses:

I increase battery contact tension in many battery connections with small (tiny) o-rings shoved under the contact.

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I think one step better is Automotive Bulb Grease which the industry started using back in mid ‘70’s for directional, parking & brake lights. It not only water proofs but prevents oxidation. A drop on the battery ends should be all you need. I’ve never tried it but I see no reason why it shouldn’t work. Local automotive stores sell it or you can go to Amazon and look up ‘automotive bulb grease.’

Jeff

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Hummm… I thought bulb grease is a dielectric silicone grease used to lubricate o-rings and seals around electrical connections, but is not meant to be used on the electrical connections themselves, since it is “dielectric” which means it is non-conductive.

The grease gets squished out from a tight enough contact point to allow conduction and still seals the metal to metal contact from oxidation. You would NOT want to use conductive grease as that has the potential for shorts when it gets in the wrong places. I use NO-OX-ID A-Special- Electrical Contact Grease- Keeps Metals Free of Rust and Corrosion- Part# 10203 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HDF9EXE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_m5RJCbQ7NKYSD on batteries since it is very thin and doesn’t get gooey. I haven’t tried it on low pressure contacts such as in the Sky, however.

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Just added this contact grease to my Amazon Thursday delivery. Thanx

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That may be but cars came off the assembly line with grease in the bulb sockets. Different kind of grease maybe?

Jeff

Read this:

https://www.w8ji.com/dielectric_grease_vs_conductive_grease.htm

If you use a search engine you will find a mixture or pro and con posts. I have my own opinion based on years of experience and military training.

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My opinion is based on 40 years of environmental engineering in all kinds of industrial applications.

I still have dreams about Nike-Hurc missiles and those little cards that would show blue or pink. There was a special “greese” compound that was removed and reapplied on the battery connections. In fact it was similar to a compound used in field radios on battery connections.

The old days sucked.

I think those battery connections may have been lubricated with lanolin; going back to my youth >65 years ago!

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Very interesting article indeed!!! Car batteries also used no grease in the better shops… they used a yellow or red spray to eliminate corrosion or a penny on top of the battery (Model T days). Today they have red & green ‘foam’ rings if you have top mount cables… which they charge you for after spending $175 for the battery

I only dialectic grease on spark plug wires and electrical contacts on my off-road jeep that goes through creeks and rivers.

I use a combination of these for all critical contacts. On new contacts I use just blue. If it needs a cleaning I use both. Seems expensive, however those little bottles have lasted me almost two years. You can usually find it on Amazon.

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Hello community. I’ve own my smart station since about September of last year. All of a sudden I noticed my SKY went offline and a massive decline in voltage over a period of 24 to 36 hours. I used the referred nstall of 8 lithium batteries. Does that SKY use that much power to kill off 8 lithium in a under a year time frame? I wasnt able to get on my house today due to very dense fog and with a metal roof water is not my friend.
Screenshot_20190406-095010_Smart%20Weather

look in this thread. similar graphs can be seen there Sky battery life

Indeed, Lithium’s have a long life but when the come near the end, they “drop” dead

see especially post 24 in this topic