The planned location for my sensor makes it very difficult to replace (top of a 30 foot weather tower). Given a lifetime of 4 years or less I am wondering if it is possible, and advantageous, to cycle the power on for about a minute or two to get and send a reading and then turn it off for ten to 20 minutes? Or would on for ten minutes off for 60 minutes be a better scheme? Can it get a reading in a minute or two or does it need to run continuously for at least 10 minutes to get an average reading? Will it going offline and then back online show up weird on the map?
My thinking is that given laser diodes have lifetimes of 25k to 50k hours, and similarly for fans, if I run them at a 10% duty cycle theoretically I could extend the lifetime by up to ten times.
The sensor is mounted to a 30 foot weather tower located in an arboretum. If it isn’t located higher up the sensors will quickly fill with pollen and dust and whatnot that is in th prairie. The higher up it goes the less is the impact from that.
I do have a way to remove the sensor from that height but it is more cumbersome. I think I’ll implement that anyway.
These sensors can last a long time. I have one that has lasted eight years. The things that take them down are: The internal battery dying, A Plantower sensor dying, and related to both=HEAT.
This is why they are recommended to be placed in the shade.
I believe that power cycling like you propose would lead to premature death from the power coming on and off generating internal heat cycling. The FLEX model is very easy to maintain, I would not feel a need to place it up so high. The plantower sensor has a remarkable ability to return to zero even after extreme events.