Battery power outside in the winter?

[raptorjr]

Is it possible to have a battery powered sensor outside in the winter?
Have anyone tried it? I know that batteries loose some effect when it is cold. But is it still enough with two AA batteries?

[tbowmo]

@raptorjr

I've had a battery powered sensor outside for the last 1.5 years, still works like a charm. (2 x AA batteries, sensebender micro, nrf24, and a bmp280 barometric pressure sensor)

[raptorjr]

@tbowmo Thank you. That sounds good. Maybe my concerns were exaggerated.

Do you have some kind of logging of the battery so you can see that the voltage drops a little bit during the winter? Or maybe the amps required is so low it isn't noticeable?

I will have a pro mini,nrf24 and some temperature/humidity sensor.

[mfalkvidd]

@raptorjr -20C seems to work fine for this user, except that bigger capacitors were required: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/5826/nrf24-problems-with-cold-temperatures

[raptorjr]

@mfalkvidd Thanks. Good to know that the capacitors can be a problem. And how to solve it. But don't say much about the battery. Will it last over the winter? Because of lower capacity of the battery?

In the end I guess I'll just have to try =)

[mfalkvidd]

@raptorjr according to http://drkfs.net/coldbattery.htm -30C is not a problem for alkaline batteries, especially not at the very low discharge currents used by MySensors nodes.

[raptorjr]

@mfalkvidd Thank you. Then there should be no problem.