Tempest Not Detecting Rain - 1 inch + Event!

Less than a year-old Tempest here. I purchased this system primarily for the rain detection and I honestly can’t trust it. We had over an inch of rain fall and not one alert and it still reads 0 rain for that day with its “raincheck” check mark which is hilarious. Tempest responded with a general “haptics” email and basically swept it under a rug.

Check it out:

You can see the Tempest mounted on the 8 ft. tall round wood post in the left rear of the photo.

Have you gone over and tapped it with your fingernails? I’ve had a SKY and a Tempest seem to get stuck in a “won’t detect rain” mode and tapping it until it reported rain woke them up and they are fine after that.

Also, what is your Station ID or link to your station so we can have a look?

I have not tried that.

Try this link: Tempest (tempestwx.com)

Thanks for your help/interest.

The event was Dec. 24th. We received about a 1/10th of an inch the day before and I did not get a notification on either the light or heavy rain days. Although the raincheck reported what I believe to be correct the day after the light rain event.

When the device was brand new, I would get rain notifications and I could trust it somewhat.

The sensor status is OK but the Tempest RSSI is at -95db. That is a very weak signal. If you can move the hub closer, that could help. If not, try rotating the hub. IIRC, the antenna in the hub is on the left when facing the front, where the LED is.

1 Like

I second Gizmoev with the signal problem but there is even more (not sure if this can be related to the signal being so bad) look at your RH values … they are just completely wrong. Try to solve the signal problem (move the hub closer to the Tempest as it has very good wifi signal) and from there le’s see if the rest comes back to normal.

Nothing has changed since installation, but for the past 2-3 months, the Tempest has consistently gone offline, then on etc. I know it’s fairly far away from the hub but for the first several months I had the Tempest there were no issues, so I didn’t change anything.

The google earth image shows its direct path from hub to device (225 feet) through some part of garage and home. I know the image is horrible, but you can see the idea.

I will move the hub to another room as close to the device as possible.
Tempest Location

All of those galvanized outbuildings are not there anymore FYI.

Ok, I have moved the hub to another room NW and it is not blocked by any building material other than the room that it is in now. Google Earth says 200 ft. away from the Tempest now…
New Tempest Location 1-1-22

That did wonders already signal wise, wifi is still well within limits and finally you have a good radio signal to the Tempest. Now let it run for a few and see if some data is becoming ‘normal’ again. I’ll monitor it also tomorrow.

2 Likes

Thank you all, I appreciate it.

Although the signal and Wi-Fi connection is improved after I moved the hub, my humidity is still reading 8% and has been for some time.

I don’t know what to think of this unit.

Now we are sure the link is ok, it is obvious the humidity sensor is way out and has a problem that can’t be solved on the forum

Open a support ticket again and I’ll make sure it is followed up properly. Sorry this happened and be sure it will be solved.

Will do, thank you. I appreciate the help.

1 Like

So, is there any chance of adding back the rain data that was collected into my history? The Tempest agent said in fact the data was collected but was not presented because the RH sensor failed and therefore thought the RH was too low for rain to be present…

I like to look back on my records of rainfall. It doesn’t rain much here. Average is 9"/year. We were at about half that for most of the year until this fall.

When you receive the new Tempest use the replace button and not just add new device since this will erase old data. This can only be done via the app and not the webpage

You can find this in settings → station → manage devices → st-xxx ->advanced → in red ‘replace device’

This is the first thing to do to keep all the data you have. For the question if the ‘lost’ rain data can be pulled up ??? I think I need to ask the technical team since I have no clue.

Will let you know.

Ok I have replaced the device and is online. Does everything look ‘normal’?

Another interesting note: when I had the old device inside sitting next to the hub and both powered on, it stated the RSSI was -71 and the station RSSI was -121. I don’t know.

Either way, the new one is collecting data.

3 Likes

Could be related but not sure. Anyway you have a new Tempest and it is looking over a great view :crazy_face: :cold_face:

1 Like