Problems with weather radio

[lilblu]

I have the First Alert WX-150 weather radio with S.A.M.E. I'm having two minor problems with it and was hoping someone might be able to help me.

1) The radio seems to drain alkaline batteries even when using AC power. I have the battery switch set to alkaline. The batteries that I put in it should last at least six months before they're dead, but they don't. I had to use two sets of batteries (eight AA alkalines total) between June and December. I've come across two other people who have had the same problem. Is this a defect or normal? I haven't tried rechargeable batteries in it. Actually, I suppose this is really a major problem, not a minor one. I'd hate not to be woken up when there's a tornado watch/warning because the electric is off and the weather radio's batteries are dead.

2) Sunday morning at 4:17am, the alarm went off stating there was a winter storm warning from 2pm Sunday until 2pm Monday. At 12:08 am Monday morning, the LCD screen on the radio indicates that the warning has expired. According to NOAA's website the warning is still active until 2pm Monday. Why does the LCD screen on the radio state that the warning has expired? This has happened a couple of other times with severe thunderstorm warnings.

[Adam Pollak]

For number two, from what I remember, I believe that the maximum length of time a NOAA Weather Radio alert can be set for is 6 hours.

[bwillcox]

#1 sounds like a defect. Might want to contact First Alert and see if they will swap it out for you.

I do not recommend rechargeables in this application because Nickel Metal Hydride cells self discharge over time, even the newer Sanyo Eneloops.

Might also try some of the Energizer Lithium batteries and see how those do. I use these in my remotes and my smokes and they last a long time.

#2 Adam is correct. The maximum time for an event in the NWR system is 6 hours. Usually the weather service will reissue the warning if it is longer than that. (Most convective severe weather warnings are an hour long or less)

[SouthDakotaBoy2009]

Well with MINE they liteerally burn out & stop working.

I baought 1 in 2005, it worked the whole summer & it was in standby for the entire winter come spring time I found it was dead.
Batteries were dead, the machine was dead!

So I bought another one, this on too died within two weeks of operation.
So Im worried, Im a heavy sleeper & I don't hear the sirens all the time.

What can I do?

[Oldiesmann]

Maybe invest in a different brand/model?

We have a Midland WR100 and it works quite well.

[SouthDakotaBoy2009]

Midland WR100

That was the model, I was thinking of getting the SIGNAL DIVISION Federal Signal Corportion Informer, I can afford it.

If I was to get an Informer, I would have it be programed to activate via Noaa radio signals, & to activate when our sirens sound.

[Oldiesmann]

I would suggest contacting Midland about your problems (http://www.midlandradio.com). I'm sure these things are under some sort of warranty.

[ver tum]

Radio Shack still makes decent weather radios. I have two of their newer models. I'm not sure of the model numbers, but they both also have alarm clocks. Another neat thing about them is that they stand up, so they take up very little space. I think you can program up to 8 counties into each one. You can also set the alarm to be pretty loud, and you can set the voice so loud that it will jar you out of bed.

[bwillcox]

If you guys need a solid weather radio or live in a bad reception area, check out the Reecom R1630.

I replaced my dad's Radio Shack 12-262 that developed a deaf receiver with this Reecom R1630 and it has not failed to alert him once. It has the hottest receiver of the semi-commercial weather radios as well (0.25 mV) which he needs since he is in a bad reception area.

That Radio Shack was a good radio, but I have had problems with them-- the one at my mom's house died and had to be replaced and the one at my dad's went deaf and couldn't hear anything even on his external antenna.

SouthDakotaBoy, this might be a good radio for you as well-- the alert siren gets impossibly loud, and if that's not enough it has a trigger for an external device and an audio output for a PA system. (It would certainly be less expensive than a Federal Informer, though the Informer is about as good as you can get)