fan-of-fans
Well-known member
I have one of those Acurite 3 in 1 weather stations. I got it last fall on eBay for about $30, and it's been a pretty good setup. I think I had to change the batteries in both units once but otherwise reliable. However the last few days the outside temp/humidity and windspeed were stuck. The signal bars were flashing so I figured it just needed new batteries in the sensor.
Today I took the sensor off the pole but I found carpenter ants were all in the mounting part and there were a ton of them in the sensor with larvae everywhere. I also found the bottom battery terminals were all rusted. Which is weird because last I changed the batteries they were fine. I shook out all the ants and larvae and tried to clean the terminals the best I could, but it still is not working. The batteries were not leaking, but there was dirt all over in the battery compartment. I wiped it out best I could. I took the louvers off and cleaned them but didn't open the sensor because I wasn't sure what was in there and didn't want to mess it up.
I checked eBay and online to see if I could get a replacement sensor unit (tornado siren louver shaped unit with spinner on top) but they seem to run about $70 just for a replacement unit. I could almost buy a whole new 3 in 1 setup for that much, maybe even a more basic 5 in 1 unit with rain sensor, etc.
Any ideas if I can get it going again? I'm guessing the ants must have caused acidic corrosion of the battery contacts. Otherwise it may have kept working, but I don't know if I should spend for a new setup if they last only a year.
In retrospect, I probably should have sprayed the post with something like Ortho Home Defense to repel the bugs when I installed the sensor, but it never entered my mind that they'd go that far up to build a nest. Maybe the rain drove them up there.
Today I took the sensor off the pole but I found carpenter ants were all in the mounting part and there were a ton of them in the sensor with larvae everywhere. I also found the bottom battery terminals were all rusted. Which is weird because last I changed the batteries they were fine. I shook out all the ants and larvae and tried to clean the terminals the best I could, but it still is not working. The batteries were not leaking, but there was dirt all over in the battery compartment. I wiped it out best I could. I took the louvers off and cleaned them but didn't open the sensor because I wasn't sure what was in there and didn't want to mess it up.
I checked eBay and online to see if I could get a replacement sensor unit (tornado siren louver shaped unit with spinner on top) but they seem to run about $70 just for a replacement unit. I could almost buy a whole new 3 in 1 setup for that much, maybe even a more basic 5 in 1 unit with rain sensor, etc.
Any ideas if I can get it going again? I'm guessing the ants must have caused acidic corrosion of the battery contacts. Otherwise it may have kept working, but I don't know if I should spend for a new setup if they last only a year.
In retrospect, I probably should have sprayed the post with something like Ortho Home Defense to repel the bugs when I installed the sensor, but it never entered my mind that they'd go that far up to build a nest. Maybe the rain drove them up there.