Sky stopped reporting (culprit: low batteries)

I noticed my sky last night stopped reporting and then when I woke up this morning it had started reporting again and then stopped again. I unplugged the hub and for the moment it is reporting now, but I noticed I was at firmware revision 105. Is this in beta or has it been distributed to everyone now and what are the fixes/updates with this firmware? Could it be causing this issue with the sky?

Can anyone tell me what the updates are in Firmware 105? Am I the only one who has received this update? If this is beta, I don’t mind testing, but I’d just like to at least be aware.
Thanks.

Helo Brandon

I’m not sure you were supposed to get this firmware yet though it is a small update and as quoted by @dsj David

It’s essentially a “maintenance” release with no significant changes to functionality.

Define “maintenance” in regards to the update…and what small changes were made…

Hi @brandonpgt . All users are now on Hub firmware v105. It is a fully tested production release, not a beta release. v105 contains a handful of nuisance bug fixes and no significant changes to device functionality.

We suspect that your SKY stopped reporting because your batteries have just run really low – currently at 1.95v. Time to replace them! https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/share/4783/graph/14195/battery/5

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Why was there no public announcement that 105 was pushed out to all stations?

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I’m wondering if 105 caused the batteries to drain faster? If you look back over the past few days, they drained incredibly fast. Is that a function of the lithiom ion batteries when they start getting low or something else?

Thanks

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There was nothing introduced in v105 that would have changed power consumption. Looks like a simple coincidence. See notes on lithium battery discharge profiles: Sky battery life

It is exactly how they work. They expend as much energy as possible until they just drop dead.

Geez, haven’t we heard that before from just about every company that updates their firmware?

?? I have two stations, one (5240) is on 105 and the other (5197) on 109.

Why is this? If 105 is the latest, how can I be on 109?

Val

Have you communicated a specific issue you may have to WeatherFlow?

I did suffer from this station loosing contact with Sky and Air a few weeks ago and had to reset them. I queried the issue with support at the time but was just told how to reset. No indication from them that they intended doing anything.

They may have installed special firmware to monitor connection issues that you reported. However I find it strange that this wasn’t communicated with you. Check to see of you missed an email.

My hub also lost internet connection, red led, after receiving 105 update. Bit annoying as it happened when I was away from home.

It was so minor we didn’t bother. But just to be consistent, here you go: New Hub Firmware v105

Yes, it looks like our CS folks (in consultation with our firmware engineer) upgraded your Hub to a beta build (v109) in an attempt to address your disconnection issue. Apologies if that was not communicated to you.

That just leads to more questions and concerns from the users, as you see from the messages. I keep up with the firmware updates, even the ones like 106, 109 and 110. Buy others see updates and wonder what’s going on and of course the field testers also get confused as to when they can discuss such items.

I think WeatherFlow is suffering from the Dragon-Duck Syndrome.

Thanks David. That is very interesting, and it does seem to have resolved the problem, or at least, I have not had the issue since.
When I had the issue and saw that others were also having similar problems, I contacted support hoping that it was a firmware problem but when their response was to simply confirm how to reset the units I was left with a dilemma. If the units are going to need periodic hard resets they are not going to fit my needs as I spend months in different locations so would be unable to do the resets. As a result, I have been actively pursuing replacement systems from alternative suppliers.
Supplying the information that there might be a firmware issue and that they were looking at it would have been valuable information and saved me wasting my time.

David and WeatherFlow take customer service seriously and have gone above and beyond most in testing all reported issues and replacing devices quickly where needed, no questions asked.

In fact, testing and development of current devices have put future devices on hold. The company is working diligently to ensure each piece of hardware performs as advertised and will work without issue.

I can personally attest to the amount of time David has spent answering all my questions and solving the many issues I have found. Even those issues I created myself and due to my misunderstanding.

While the equipment might not be where we want it at this time, WeatherFlow is committed to provides a smart station that is second to none.

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What the guy above said. :wink:

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We try to close all customer communication loops but apparently we had a breakdown somewhere in this case. Apologies for creating such a dilemma for you!