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Comment by nomilk | Hacker News Reader

Just did a quick search, looks great; easy to set up, and cost <$500. What's the maintenance like? I see it's solar powered, provided not in complete shade https://help.tempest.earth/hc/en-us/articles/4414460312603-P...

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None. I’m three years in with mine in Denver so it deals with hot summer, frigid winter, random hail, occasional high winds. I’ve never had to touch it.

I wish more home technology was so painless.

From Dec to Feb mine is shaded by trees (sun doesn't get to high altitude here in Winter at 42N). The battery got pretty far down, but the unit went into low power mode and kept working fine, as far as I can tell. It's back up to full battery since March. I may move it up to a higher and sunnier location.

Put mine up in January 2021, zero maintenance, and it's been working great the whole time. Hopefully I haven't jinxed it. :)

What's your weather like?

Cyclonic (Hurricanes), baking heat, extended sub zero cold .. ?

I have an interest in stations that can last a long time in bad weather.

Los Angeles area, so the only issue here is heat, and even that is usually only a few bad weeks a year. The Tempest app tells me the hottest day was when it hit 109F the first week of September 2022, and that whole week had highs above 100F.

Cheers for that.

It can get a little warmer here: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/202402/html/IDCJDW6136.202... and even more so in other parts of the state: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/202402/html/IDCJDW6079.202...

( 100F == 37.7C , 109F == 42.7C )

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