SKY goes sailing

Ok, so I went sailing while SKY V1 played on the beach! As a dutiful field tester, I wanted to try another use condition and figured this would be a good opportunity. I still have a lot to figure out, but here’s a first impression of remote SKY/HUB (no power, no wifi) use.
Easily unpaired the SKY V1 (aka SKY) at home from my old hub. Easily connected SKY to my new HUB which is the Production version. Powered off HUB, opened SKY battery door, and off to the beach with a fully charged 22000mAh USB external power supply for the HUB.
Powered everything back up at the beach with the HUB connected to the USB battery pack. Started a walk away from the SKY test to see how far I could go with it remaining connected to the HUB. At an estimated 500 ft, I was back at the parking area with no loss of connection… very impressive!!!
Had an issue where the HUB powered off. Noticed my external pack had gone to sleep and am pretty sure it is because it didn’t have enough load from the HUB to keep it awake. I connected my cell phone to the charging pack as another load, powered it back up, and it never went to sleep again.
Used the iPhone iOS app to look at live data and graphs which worked very well. A few data gaps that I can’t explain yet, but not worried about it. Some filled in later when I got home.
Only other issue was the crowd of interested sailors/kiters who wanted to know everything about and when they could buy it… explaining it all was cutting into my sailing time! Might need to send me some product cards to hand out.
Included are 2 graphs showing SKY and a WF owned sensor 3 miles north… and a beach pic.
Testing continues…
Beach%203
Piedras%20Wind
SKY%20sailing

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so you were getting data to the app on your phone via the bluetooth connection from the HUB (which was powered via a charging block)
so then you then had a nice portable weather station?
kewl

ps, when I first read the subject, I thought it has blown away in the wind!

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Yes, BLE from the HUB to the phone. And amazing long distance RF radio connection from SKY to the HUB.

Question for other field testers:
Are there other USB battery sources that are confirmed to work with the HUB? The HUB drew so little power my pack would go to sleep… a good problem to have!!!

Has anyone used the SKY by itself and later connected to the HUB for a fill in of data? If yes, please tell how long it can record and other info.

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Great experiment @SLOman . . . and it looks like a great location to play.

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The Anker PowerCore 20100mAh will power it and stay awake.

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I knew somebody here would have a solution. No surprise it is you. Thanks!

I don’t have that exact model, but I bought the wife a similar version that may work.
Anker 2nd-Gen Astro E5 High-Capacity 16750mAh 3A Portable External Battery Charger with PowerIQ Technology for iPhone.
Now to “borrow it” away and test it out!

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Here is the Amazon link of the product:

Portable Charger Anker PowerCore 20100mAh - Ultra High Capacity Power Bank with 4.8A Output, External Battery Pack for iPhone, iPad & Samsung Galaxy & More (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X5RV14Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kjc0AbX5F9EVP

I bought it March 2, 2016. It’s made several trips to Saigon and never failed.

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@SLOman very cool. Repost to owners section of forum! Interesting to see variation of wind at sand level vs. WF pro station which is positioned higher up.

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Moving toward the future… one thing I want/need is a truly portable weather station… and looks like WF is poised to get us there!

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While this version smart weather station was designed primarily for backyard home use, as @SLOman has demonstrated it can used remotely. As you may know, the future COMMERCIAL version of the station will be designed for remote self-sustained in-situation operation.

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Understood. I am looking for something more ‘portable’ in the future… a small, single-unit, battery powered, BLE capable… and of course, no moving parts.
–Sam

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http://weatherflow.com/weather-meter/ :wink: :wink:

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From the Indiegogo campaign FAQ:

Portable?

Yes. Go ahead, bring the AIR to the soccer game and detect lightning before it gets to you. Or place the SKY on your boat or at the beach to measure wind, rain, and solar radiation. The device can communicate with the hub plugged into a common USB power bank, then it will communicate to your connected mobile device and send the data to the cloud for instant viewing online.

Gotta give @SLOman kudos for verifying every product function in his field testing… :rofl:

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@dsj, @WFmarketing Is there any reason this topic can’t be moved to Owners? I see nothing here that would prevent that.

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Moved thread to Owners

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Yep, already have a WM…thanks to David.
Now if you just made a gimbled mount for it…

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@SLOman,

The hub has been running over three days on a battery that was last charged in November.

20180415_154552

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I’ve tested 2 different brands/ 3 models now and none will stay on without another load connected. It got me thinking how nice it would be to have a compatibility list for owners to use and report when another brand/model works, and when one doesn’t work. Sure to save some folks a lot of frustration!

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I’d like to find one that charges and feeds power at the same time, to use as a USB-power UPS…

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I can confirm the charging banks I’ve tested do have the ability to be recharged while supplying power at the same time (at least with an iPhone as the load). Brands are RAVPower and Anker.
Charge%20block

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