Sempre Digital Weather Station

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review is for the 2016 version of the weather station. The 2017 appears to have some small differences in design but is mostly similar. As of right now the only version of the station to have a manual available online is the 2015 version, which you can find here.

UPDATE 2 (October 30, 2017): Several commenters have reported, with the 2017 version, inaccuracies of 6-8 degrees with the outdoor sensor and / or the batteries in the outdoor sensor discharging far too quickly. One solution that some people have found successful in solving one or more of these problems is to pull the batteries, switch the outdoor sensor to Celsius (this does not affect the reading on the indoor sensor, only the display on the outdoor one) and then replace the batteries.

UPDATE 1 (October 1, 2017): After over a year of use, our weather station mostly still works well. One notable exception is the outdoor humidity reading, which no longer is accurate. The rest of the review still holds true.


To prove the point that Aldi sells a little bit of everything: one of their occasional Special Buy items is a digital weather station. The brand is Sempre, which produces other small electronics, like alarm clocks and watches, for the grocer.

Sempre Digital Weather Station

The Sempre Digital Weather Station, at least in this model year, came in four different variations: white horizontal, white vertical, black horizontal, black vertical. The picture above is the one I bought, the black vertical. All four variations had the same information, just with different layouts. The station retailed for $20 in the United States.

I bought the Sempre station to replace an old brand-name that had finally worn out. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Sempre, especially since weather stations, even name brand ones, can be a little dicey on the review front. But I took the risk, and I figured that with a 3-year-warranty, I’d have some options if things went wrong. (You can find both the manual and warranty information for the 2015 version here; as of right now the 2016 manual is not available online.)

Setup was easy — easier, in fact, than my previous brand-name station. I placed the station in my house, placed the sensor in a covered space outside as the instructions said, then began powering things up. The outdoor sensor runs on AA batteries; the station runs on either batteries or AC, so you have a lot of options for location.

Once the batteries were in and the correct buttons pressed, the station started picking up the remote sensor pretty quickly. Configuring the station’s time, date, and other preferences was also easy, thanks to a straightforward manual.

My first impression upon firing it up: it looks cool. It’s bright, colorful, and full of data. If you like precipitation projections and daily high/low stats, you can get them easily. The station automatically keeps time using an atomic clock frequency broadcast through the United States, and the station has done that reliably, something my previous station did not. Temperature has been pretty close to my local National Weather Service location for the most part. The humidity seems a little more off (for a stretch it was a double-digit discrepancy), although it depends on the day.

As for the precipitation predictor? Probably about 70% accurate, which is in line with other weather stations I’ve owned.

One problem with the station is that it was obviously developed with another continent in mind. The day/date display, for example, is inverted compared to North American sensibilities, and the default temperature readout is Celsius. The day/date setup can’t be changed. The temperature can … at least on the inside.

Sempre Sensor

Unfortunately, the outside sensor also has its own self-contained temperature readout, but it only reads in Celsius and we don’t see a way to change it to Fahrenheit. (Some readers have reported seeing a switch on the inside near the batteries, but our model doesn’t have such a switch.) This is great if you’re trying to adapt to the metric system, but not so great if you’re trying to determine what minus 2.4 degrees Celsius means. (Hint: about 28 degrees.)

Overall, though, it’s a pretty good station and it performs about on par with more budget-minded weather stations that are twice its price.

The Verdict:

You’ll probably want something higher-end if you’re a real weather enthusiast, but if you like knowing what’s going on outside and you want a cool display to show it, you could do a lot worse for the price. Recommended.

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About Joshua

Joshua is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. He is also a writer and novelist. You can learn more about him at joshuaajohnston.com.

126 Comments

  1. Great review!
    I am interested in buying..but only if the display is continuous..I once had a similar weather station and you always had to press a button to read display and it would darken after a few seconds

    Can you advise if this is a continuous display? And you don’t have to press a button to see the information?

    Thanks

    • It’s a continuous display if it’s plugged into a socket; it stays lit up all the time and the temperature updates regularly. If it’s only running on batteries, it dims after a while and you have to press the button on top.

      • Thanks so much!! It’s on sale starting Sunday at Aldis for 19.99. I gonna get 2

        Thanks again

        • Have you hooked up the weather station from Aldi’s? The black vertical model is in my paper today. Can it be fully set for F degrees? What are your initial thoughts about the purchase?

          • Yes it can be set to f degrees..the model i got at Aldis is the vertical one..it does so much more than I expected including humidity in and out . also tells you if temp and humidity have gone up our down. Predicts weather based on barometric trend..this model stays illuminated while plugged in..that’s important cause I don’t want to have to push a button every time I want to look at it..brightness can be adjusted hi or low. So maybe in bedroom you can set to low…you can read from across the room numbers nice and big..only bad thing is the Manual is 48 pages long. You do need to read parts of it to set it up…it takes more than a few minutes..
            I bought 3 of them. They are great for the price!! Highly recommended

      • Thanks Joshua! That’s exactly the info I needed. I like to see the display from across the room without having to hit a button each time….

    • I purchased the Weather station from Aldi model 54160, it in fact does report in either C or F.It has a switch located in the back of the remote sensor that allows user to configure F or C as well as set which channel you want to read with a switch.The only issue I have come across so far is that it eats batteries in about 2 days or so. Too bad , if the remote would hold up I would keep it but replacing the batteries that often just seems crazy. Aldi has taken them off the shelf as far as I know.

    • To extend range of outdoor sensor which is not far maybe 30-50feet , 10-17m. Remove 4 screws and you’ll find a copper coil at top of outdoor sensor. Pull the coil straight (doesn’t have to be perfect) and loop it around inside of unit. There are unused spaces around perimeter to push extended copper wire into. This is like extending antenna which improves reception and range. I have pictures but this forum doesn’t allow me to upload.

      • Interesting that this did work for you, normally it’s dicey to mess around with antennas at these frequencies (433 MHz), and it would be a little hard to recoil the wire to undo it. But if it improves things, then so be it.

        My reception if fine at some 25′, thru an exterior and interior wall.

  2. How far can the base be from the outside censor?

  3. Ops! I purchased a weather station but i am missing a owners manual. Mod.#ws97210-2. Please send me a email with instructions so I can get started. Thanks.

  4. Can i buy somewhere an extra sensor? It seems that supports up to 3.

  5. It is also possible to switch the temperature of the outdoor sensor to fahrenheit. The switch is inside the sensor behind the batteries.

    • I pulled the sensor and scouted around inside of it. I was unable to find a switch, other than the one above the battery that switches between three different channels. If you have a picture of this Fahrenheit / Celsius switch on your sensor, we’d love to see it. (You can contact us here on the site or via Facebook or Twitter.)

      • Of course, you can switch between F and C! The switch is left of the channel switch.

        • Not on the model we have. If you have a picture of the inside of yours that has a switch, we’d be interested to see it. You can contact us here on the site or via Facebook or Twitter.

  6. Can not find another sensor got the unit. I called in the manual and they don’t help much.. I can nit find one to match this unit.

  7. Can u please help where to find a second sensor.. They say that acurite does not match with this unit and they r the only ones that sell separate

    • The only ones I know of come from Aldi. You might try calling the number again, explaining that you’d like order another sensor and telling them that the manual said that was the number to call.

  8. I am also in need of a second sensor, did anyone have any success? I have an older model of theirs and just got the newer one from Aldi. The old sensor fell off my window when I lived in a high rise. The new sensor does not work with the previous model. I also have one complaint with the new model, it does not display seconds like the previous model had. This is useful when setting your watch.

  9. I purchased model WS97210-1. Is there a way to change the air pressure units to inHG? Thanks

    • Not that I know of. I think it uses hPa only.

      • I’m sorry to hear that. For that reason, I will probably be returning it to Aldi. You would think that the United States would be a large enough market to include an option for inches as a barometric pressure unit. Thanks for your response!

        • I’m seeing on my display that inHg is there (not lit though). However I have not been able to find out how to display it. So, obviously it must be an option?

          • I have the WS97210-2 (10/2017) and I see the inHg is there too, but have not figured out how to change it. Anyone have an update to this?

          • Mine has the inHg also…but as far as I know, it cant be changed. It only displays in hPa (hectopascals). Google inhg to hPa conversion tool. Go to nearest weather station to your home, write down what ur current pressure is in inches of mercury. 29.XX inches for example. Take that and put into inhg spot in conversion tool. Round down or up to nearest 4 digit reading after the conversion. 29.80 inHg is like 1009 hPa.

          • This was true on the 2016 model and appears to also be true on the 2017 model. For some reason they have both on the display but no means to change it.

    • hPa is the same as millibar if that helps you out.

    • My WS 54160 manual says to go to manual setting and enter a more correct altitude,and in the manual it also show a picture the up arrow in hpa and the down arrow in Hg

  10. My Sempre Digital Weather Station is broken, maybe somebody know where I can buy other one (not eBay please, is Almost £ 40). Thanks.

  11. FYI, the link for the manual in your review is for last year’s (2015) model #92596. The ones sold this year had model numbers of. WS97210-1/WS97230-1/WS97210-2/WS97230-2. The functions seem to be the same as the old model but the displays have different layouts. I tried Aldi’s customer form twice saying they only had links for the older version manual on their web site and asking if an updated manual was available and both times got replies with links to their list of available manuals. I like having PDF backup copies of user manuals and may end up having to scan in this one.

  12. Has anyone else noticed that the inside temperature reading is 3 degrees higher than the actual temperature when the backlight is on? I don’t recall if it was this way when it was new, but recently, I have noticed this discrepancy. When I switch the backlight off, the temperature drops 3 degrees to agree with other thermometer readings I have available. I like having the display constantly lit, but the 3 degree discrepancy is not acceptable. I don’t see any way to calibrate the inside thermometer to compensate for the heat the backlight is apparently generating

    • sorry….wrong reply to a post. please disregard my post above.

    • I too had temp issues with the outside temp gadget. Had both sitting next to each other, and when the out door do dad was set to F, it was showing 10 degrees warmer. When I took the batteries out, switched to C, put new batteries in, it got within 5 degrees. I’m concerned about the battery life i’m hearing with the others in this post though 🙁

  13. I recently bought one on sale for £10. It has a lot of features for the price, including a USB port which is useful for my Garmin watch charger. The big problem with it is that the AAA batteries in the outside sensor are only lasting about two days. They retain enough power for the display on the sensor, but not enough to connect to the base unit.

    • I too, am seeing a severe battery issue on the outdoor sensor unit. I’ve been thru two weather station packages from Aldi, and in both cases the outdoor sensor batteries last only 2-3 days. Something is very wrong, perhaps a bad batch of outdoor sensors? Did anyone else besides Graham see this issue? Does anyone have a solution? Not one at customer support is admitting to me that there is an issue.

      • I have the same exact problem. Batteries only last 48 hours before going completely dead.

      • I’m having the same problem. Budget batteries last a few days, with high-quality batteries, maybe a week if you are lucky. I’m going to look around for a 3v transformer (old cell phone charger or something) and solder it to the battery terminals. It will be tethered to a plug, but I have some outdoor plugs that should work fine.

        • Thought I would post an update. Here it is…two weeks now with the same Duracell batteries in the outside sensor. Last night was the coldest it’s gotten in my area this season. 23 degrees F according to the unit. STILL…..no low battery warning. The night before it got down to 28 degrees F. I’ve yet to have a battery issue. So far, my unit has been spot on to both an Acurite AND a Texas Instruments weather station. Honestly, I don’t understand how or why everyone else has a battery issue. I’m super happy with mine.

        • Brand new fresh Duracell batteries and no more that 2 days of life,totally not acceptable .If you have one that is holding up for more that 2 days consider yourself lucky.Absolute junk, I guess yo get what you pay for with this product.

      • Yes, 2 days at best. Is there a fix?

        • I have the same problem, they need to provide replacements.

        • I bought a battery eliminator on e-bay for $25, filed a slot in the sensor cover for the wires, and plugged it in. Fixed for $25.

          • Ouch, I can find 3v adapters on eBay for about 2 bucks.

            Anyway, that may fix the battery issue but is the temp anywhere near accurate? The high power consumption causes enough self-heating to skew the temp upwards by 5 degrees or more.

            As to battery life with the switch set to °C, between 2 units I’m seeing maybe half a year.

        • Switching it to Celsius worked for me. Still displays in Fahrenheit, but solved battery consumption problem.

          Keep in mind these are not water proof. Mine just died after getting wet for a couple years.

          • Yeah, the only reason I spent $25 is the eliminator comes with two fake aaa batteries that just install easily into the sensor. I can use it on other appliances if needed and you can get adapters for 2,4, or more aaa battery powered devices with the same plug. Switching to Celsius also made the readings more accurate, but still about 6 degrees off

  14. I bought 2 and both where off by 6 and 8 degrees on outside temp, not usable. It’s clear the batch I got were not calibrated. I had to add a 2.2k and 3.3k resistor in series with thermistor to correct. But there is a quality control problem here. Also, baro only is in hpa not inches, not changeable. Display light can stay on continuously brt or dim or off with ac plug. Good value if the temp is right…

    • how was it exactly that u fixed the temperature problem? mine is also off by 6 degrees. i have the sensor right next to the main unit, and i’m showing a 6 degree difference between the outdoor sensor and the sensor on the main unit. i really should have known not to buy this…but of course…i did and got duped.

    • I am also having the same problem with the outside sensor. I called Sempre and they said that they had a batch that were calibrated incorrectly but did not have a replacement. I swapped it at Aldi but it is about 8 to 10 degrees high and is worthless. I have taken the sensor apart and it looks like the resistors could be added pretty easily. Please explain exactly where you added them.

      • do me a favor and try this. u may not even have to add anything extra to that sensor. i did some fiddling and I MIGHT have figured out the problem. it’s worth a shot to try. take the outside sensor, put FRESH Duracell or energizer batteries in it, switch the F/C setting on the sensor to Celsius. use farenheit at the main base. it renders ur outside sensor display unusable unless u use Celsius…..BUT……im only showing a ONE-ONE AND A HALF degree difference from an Acurite station now after switching the outside sensor to C. i’m also on channel 2 with the wireless. this is all I did. I cant guarantee you that it will work with ur specific one….but it’s worth a try. Reply to this and let me know what happens. And if you need more information, don’t hesitate to reply. I hope this works out for u all.

        • Fantastic, it is now within about 2 degrees instead of the 8 to 10. You would think that their support people would know this and save them a lot of returns. Thanks again.

          • @Milt Jacobs…..so this method worked for you also?? I want to make sure so people can know that this is a legitimate fix. I think that beings this unit was manufactured outside of the USA, things got twisted programming-wise or calibration-wise. I guess it pays to fiddle a little. lol. Glad it’s working for you as well.

        • Marinus Vandermaas

          Wes, thanks for the information! My unit I bought 2 weeks ago has the same problem! Cost me 4 batteries in two weeks. Now I switched to C
          and it looks OK, only 1 degree difference between Indoor and Outdoor temp. I hope the batteries will last otherwise I will return unit to store.

          • you’re very welcome. I hope it works out for you. mine is….so far. going on a week and a half with the same Duracell batteries.

    • Update, have 3 units all defective read 6-10f high outside and batteries on all 3 on outside sensor lasts 48 hrs. Bad defects.

  15. I bought one. Outside temp was 6 degrees off. I do not have the capability of modifying the outside sensor, so it went back to the store. I called the tech support number beforehand and was told there was a bad batch of outside sensors. They do not have any replacements.

    I also saw that in very dim text, there is an in/hg (going from memory since I returned it) marking below the hpa which is lit. However, there is no way to switch it. It may be that was something intended but not implemented. Still, I agree it is a good value if the temperature is correct. However, not so when the temperature is so far off as to be useless.

    • I posted this above, but I wanted to make sure u got this: do me a favor and try this. u may not even have to add anything extra to that sensor. i did some fiddling and I MIGHT have figured out the problem. it’s worth a shot to try. take the outside sensor, put FRESH Duracell or energizer batteries in it, switch the F/C setting on the sensor to Celsius. use farenheit at the main base. it renders ur outside sensor display unusable unless u use Celsius…..BUT……im only showing a ONE-ONE AND A HALF degree difference from an Acurite station now after switching the outside sensor to C. i’m also on channel 2 with the wireless. this is all I did. I cant guarantee you that it will work with ur specific one….but it’s worth a try. Reply to this and let me know what happens. And if you need more information, don’t hesitate to reply. I hope this works out for u all.

      • Wow, this is great information. Hail to the internet for once. Thank you for posting this. I was ready to throw it out.

    • I have had a gentleman above you post that the method i mentioned works.

  16. I bought one and the outside temperature was reading higher than actual. After two days I took it back and got another. I placed the outdoor sensor right next to the base unit. The inside temperature is 75 and the sensor reading is 84. This is basically a useless piece of junk. I now read where others are having the same problem. I see that it is manufactured in China. Do not buy at any price.

    • do me a favor and try this. u may not even have to add anything extra to that sensor. i did some fiddling and I MIGHT have figured out the problem. it’s worth a shot to try. take the outside sensor, put FRESH Duracell or energizer batteries in it, switch the F/C setting on the sensor to Celsius. use farenheit at the main base. it renders ur outside sensor display unusable unless u use Celsius…..BUT……im only showing a ONE-ONE AND A HALF degree difference from an Acurite station now after switching the outside sensor to C. i’m also on channel 2 with the wireless. this is all I did. I cant guarantee you that it will work with ur specific one….but it’s worth a try. Reply to this and let me know what happens. And if you need more information, don’t hesitate to reply. I hope this works out for u all.

  17. Not worth it. I took three of them back to Aldis. 2 degrees off is not acceptable either. I will just ask Alexa for the temperature.

  18. I purchased the weather station on 10-28-2017. As others posted, the outdoor temps read high by 6-8 degrees, compared to a regular thermomether. I tried the fix of replacing the batteries and changing the setting to C, giving the unit plenty of time to “adjust.” I also tried all three channels, which changed the temperature by 2 degrees each. At the end of the day, the outdoor temperature continued to be 6-12 degrees off, so the thermometer will be going back to Aldi.

  19. has anyone found a solution to the rapid usage of aaa batteries in the sending unit? Mine only last two to three days and I am using good alkaline batteries

    • I have the same problem. Unfortunately I threw away my receipt and the packaging and probably cannot return it to the store.

      • Yea you can return it, Aldi is good about that ,I had one I returned without a reciept and they took it back, I then purchased another one and now I am in the same boat as the other people here , 2 days on brand new Duracell batteries.Still looking for a solution.Not sure who this Wes guy is but he must me one of the lucky owners of a good unit.LOL

        • Almost 3 weeks now using the same batteries. You might be right on being lucky. Lol. I honestly don’t know. I’m just sharing my experience with it. Mine works great. Temp is accurate. Not burning through batteries at all.

    • I wired an 3v AC-DC adapter to it. Works great.

  20. Does anyone have suggestions on batteries? We tried regular name brands and they went dead after a day or two. I know the manual says not to use rechargeable but we decided to try it anyway and the low battery warning came on before 24 hours was up… So we put in a fresh rechargeable and it barely lasted. I can’t afford to buy batteries every other day and the temp isn’t even that extreme right now. It’s like 50° and 60°. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

  21. The battery life for the outside unit is HORRIBLE!!!!!! This was a complete waste of money!!!! With a fresh set of AAA batteries, they only last 2-3 days, even if the unit is within 10ft of the base unit. Unbelievable. Is anyone else having this same issue?

  22. Same problem with my unit, batteries and outdoor temp way off. Outside unit draws 34 ma constant, upon transmitting every minute draws 40 ma, compared to the .02 ma on my LaCrosse weather station.

    • Obviously a lot of you have the same problem with the outdoor sensor eating batteries and reading way high — I got the same results as Greg, measured about 35 mA continuous, which ate the batteries in about 2-3 days, and with that ‘enormous’ current draw (that’s like 0.1 W) resulted in some 5 degrees of self-heating.

      When switched to C, current draw goes to a practically undetectable 0.015 mA (but for xmit spikes), temp reading got down to a reasonable and pretty accurate number, and the batteries are lasting fine.

      Heck, at one point I even considered taking a $1 solar light and using the batteries and solar cell to power the thing. Wouldn’t have fixed the temp heating problem though.

      I contacted support, they thought it was very strange and a possible software problem (there’s that much ‘software’ in that outside sensor?), obviously were unaware of the problem, and even after I emphasized the issue, says they are sending me a new one [the whole unit? I also asked if I could purchase extra sensors, said NO]. That’s very nice but if it’s (obviously) a design problem, what will that accomplish? Still, I’ll be happy to have another unit.

      It’s no big deal to switch to C, because that affects only the small display on the sensor itself, not the internal unit.

      Still, a bit disturbing that something that obvious got past their QA.

      • Thank you for confirming what I found out and going into more detail. I will say this though. the sensor did burn through the batteries that came with the unit in 2 days. however, once I put brand new Duracell alkaline’s in there and keeping the sensor at the C setting, i’m going on a week and a half with the same batteries.

      • So you confirmed what I found, I never tried switching to C while testing current draw, liked the unit, so what I did was this. Broke out my old, pretty much unused Olson variable power supply, set it to the 0-12V range and adjusted to 3.2V. I carefully soldered (tacked on) a pair of 22 gauge stranded wires about a foot long, inside the battery door to the top terminals (near the switches). Black wire to negative and any other color wire to positive. Then I went outside to my no longer used telephone equipment box on the side of the house (outside) and opened it, then lifted the black and yellow pair off the terminals and twisted and soldered them to the black and any other color respectively of the sensor (make sure you feed your sensor wires up into the telephone box through the small slit provided on the bottom of the box 1st!), then insulated them with a couple pieces of electrical tape. Then I mounted the sensor holder on the customer side of the unused box and clipped on the sensor. I found the telephone junction block in my basement, removed the black and yellow wires from the outside box, then ran them to my old Olson power supply (on my bench) and connected black to the negative post and yellow to the positive. Batteries eliminated! :o)

      • Oh, one thing I did not mention was that I drilled 2 very small holes in the sensor to get the wires into it, the soldered them on, then carefully snapped the battery door in place like it is supposed to be. Yes Prof, almost everything today is software driven, I figured it was a conversion factor issue but you went a step further and found the source of the current draw too. Strange, they can manufacture things in Asia OK, but watch out for their validation and QA process.

        • holes were in the battery door, not the sensor to be clear

        • Oh wow, that’s quite an operation! In addition to the solar/battery idea, I considered a power brick plugged into an outside outlet (which is conveniently-enough located to where I’d want the sensor).

          Still, that’s not going to address the self-heating and thus quite inaccurate readings, unless you slap a small fan on it too, now this is getting ridiculous.

          I have other radio/temp sensors, and generally with the proper nominal power draw, batteries should last upwards of a year. At 4 for $1 (alkaline) in a dollar store, I’m quite OK with that.

          What I want to add here is that my dear old dad saw my unit and liked it enough to ask if I can get HIM one too — so I trotted down to Aldi taking a chance there are any left (I assume once they’re sold, that’s it), and still 2 on the shelf. Snagged one and immediately checked it out — you guessed it, still sucking 35 mA, and to add to the consternation, it came with the switch already set to F.

          Another BTW, when I unpacked the unit, I got quite excited to see a USB connector on the display, leaving me with visions that this could be connected to a computer….but alas, it is just a charging port. Actually, that would be the wrong USB connection to go to a computer anyway, it would be like connecting an extension cord with 2 plug ends to 2 outlets. NOT a good idea.

          And yeah, Greg, practically everything today has at least the chance of running SOME computer code. All part of the Skynet implementation.

          • Thought I would post an update. Here it is…two weeks now with the same Duracell batteries in the outside sensor. Last night was the coldest it’s gotten in my area this season. 23 degrees F according to the unit. STILL…..no low battery warning. The night before it got down to 28 degrees F. I’ve yet to have a battery issue. So far, my unit has been spot on to both an Acurite AND a Texas Instruments weather station. Honestly, I don’t understand how or why everyone else has a battery issue. I’m super happy with mine.

      • You are right. Changing to C on the outside unit fixed the battery issue! This is very good to know. I really like the way the base unit lights up when it is plugged in. I haven’t checked to see if it is overheating yet, like I’ve read in the comments, but I really didn’t expect to be troubleshooting this as much as I have already.

      • Well, I was away when the solution of changing the outside unit to C was mentioned, and widely reported to be the answer, so I thought battery problem solved. Then I got home and found that my unit was already set to C ! It’s still eating batteries. Good quality rechargeables don’t work at all, and ordinary ones last a short while. The only success I had was with one set of pre-charged rechargeables, which lasted a few weeks. Such a pity, because I really like the other features of the unit.

  23. Apparently, Aldi has been getting sufficient negative feedback about this unit and its problems that a message went out and the remaining units were pulled off the shelf at my local Aldi store. Hopefully, they will offer it again with a properly manufactured outside sensor and also address the heating issue on the indoor unit when the light is on full power.

  24. I found one of these in the 50% off bin the other day and took a chance on it. After two days I haven’t been able to get the outdoor sensor to show up on the base unit. The remote sensor works, the red LED blinks occasionally, but nothing shows up on the main unit (tried all channels, tried removing batteries for a while, tried removing power from both for a while, F/C, etc.) I haven’t opened the sensor up to see if I can detect anything coming off the antenna. The clock will set itself in my kitchen, but if I put it in my bathroom, where I had intended for it to go, it can’t pick up the signal. Regarding the hPa/inHg… I noticed when downloading the manual and searching for inhg it shows up, but it’s hidden (white text on white background). So either the option it there, but they forgot to document how to change it, or they left it off on purpose.

    • I seemed to have that problem with the second unit I got for my dad, just not receiving the remote signal. Since I had both of the units side-by-side (and set the channels differently), I could see that the (new) base unit was not seeing either sensor but my original one saw both.

      I took the ultimate step of RTFM, and there on page 40 they tell you to ‘press and hold the [temp/123] button (4) on the base unit’.

      That got both communicating within a minute.

      • I should have mentioned that I tried pushing that button many times. Every time I walk by I try. I put both in my garage with the sensor about 6 inches away. After 5 days the unit never detected the sensor, and the display on the sensor is dim. The red light still goes on.

    • Call Aldi 18557548297, even without a receipt they will offer you a solution, Aldi has great customer support.

  25. Call Aldi 18557548297, even without a receipt they will offer you a solution, Aldi has great customer support,they are by far the best company to do business with. Good people and good support of their products.

  26. I had the horizontal Model and loved the display. The sensor had to have the batteries replaced every 3 days. After 9 days I took it back to exchange it and they were all gone so had to get a refund. Now I cannot find one that I like the display as well.

  27. I bought 3 of the 2015 or 2016 units and they have worked well. However, as the article reported, I bought 1 unit of 2017 model with redesigned displays and sensor and found the outdoor temp to be 7 degrees too high. Took it back and got replacement unit at ALDI…exact same problem plus kept it long enough to get the 3 days battery draining issue for sensor. Am now awaiting a refund from Sempre/Protel. Do NOT buy this 2017 unit unless you want endless problems!

    • Tom, have you checked thru many of the replies in this group? At least some of us have resolved this problem by setting the OUTSIDE sensor unit to C instead of F. That solves the battery usage and high reading. This affects only the small display on the sensor, not what you choose to display on the main unit.

      • Thanks ProfQuill, yeah I am trying that suggestion as I type this…just started today. The temperature seems to be correct as I have a 2016 Sempre unit to check it against…only .1 C degrees difference which is like .2 F. I will have to wait 3 days or so of use to check the battery issue mentioned for the sensor. Regardless, I won’t cancel my refund request. This was an F grade on their part for quality control and has taken a lot of my time to fix THEIR problems which easily should have been caugh by them… 7 degrees too high on outside temperature when in the F position on sensor and batteries lasting only 2 days…100% unacceptable, even if this gimmick fix works. They have lost a lot of potential future customers..that’s a shame.

        • Mine was already set to C. It still ate batteries.
          I gave up and bought a nice one from Amazon.
          The outside sensor doesn’t have a display, just does it’s job. Maybe that’s the problem with the Aldi version.

          • OK, a final update I think. After changing the sensor to C from F and letting it run for 5 days, the readings are all correct and the batteries are still fine in the sensor. As someone said above and my electrical engineer neighbor suggested, when they added the F outdoor sensor circuitry, they left out a resistor(s). What that essentially did was to not control the voltage properly and also caused the sensor to register 7 degrees F too high due to the heat generated. Since the pre 2017 units didn’t have the F option, there was no problem with the sensor due to that. I will say the 2017 unit did correct the problem on 2015 and 2016 units where if the backlight was left on high on the main unit, the indoor temperature was 3 degrees too high…the light clearly too close to the sensor in the unit. 2017 unit doesn’t have that problem since they reoriented the guts of the base unit.

  28. Sorry, I meant to say I changed the sensor from F to C in the 1st sentence above.

    • Fascinating, that makes the most sense of all the speculation. Wonder if Sempre could supply a resistor kit for the geeks amongst us who would be willing to give it a go. But I do wonder about the folks here who say the problem is not fixed even when set to C.

      For my case, I really don’t look at the outside sensor (now, anyway, maybe I would more in ‘outdoor weather’), so probably wouldn’t risk messing with it.

      I’ll also verify that my model doesn’t have an issue with indoor temp, and I do keep the lights on, so to speak.

      Way back, I had an email dialog with their support, who said they were shipping me a new unit (whole thing or the sensor?), but that’s been 6 weeks and haven’t heard anything, not that I need to push the issue, they may be involved in fixing things. By rights, should be a recall or at least a, so to speak, TSB, but since you don’t really register anything, they have no real way to contact customers.

      • Yeah, I’m still waiting for my refund that I applied for and they agreed to about 1 week ago. I’m still going to try to push for that since after all, I have had to spend a lot of time reading suggestions here, trying different options, and still don’t know if this will stay “fixed”. I bought this for a neighbor as a gift and really made me look bad also for giving a “defective product”. Still utterly amazes me that these units aren’t tested out. Why in the 2015/2016 model did they not notice/warn people that leaving the light on would up the indoor temperature by 3 degrees. Why in the 2017 model did they not even test the readings and durability of batteries in the outside sensor when set in the F position. This isn’t rocket science…it is elementary quality control. Apparently, they don’t even do quality control but just “ship ’em”.

  29. I can attest to its low quality. Batteries do only last a couple of days. At then end I used brand new rechargeable batteries and they would last < 36 hours. I recall non-rechargeable lasting about 3 days. The sensor reports a temp 5+ degrees higher than it should be. I don't need it to be 100% accurate so that isn't too bad.
    The solution I've come with is to wire in a 3v AC-DC adapter in place of the batteries. This solved the power issue. I did notice that the temp would be off by 10 or more degrees now. So after some testing with a few thermometers I noticed the strangest thing. The recommendation to change the sensor to Celsius fix that. The outdoor sensor is as accurate is my other thermometers now. I don't understand how my AC adapter changing the inaccuracy over batteries, is equally fixed by that C to F calculation. I didn't test with batteries and left well enough alone. So to those who have this I recommend wiring in an AC adapter, assuming you can find a place to stick it outside. I made a housing for it out of a plastic jug to protect it from the rain. For thous who don't know how you can find some simple tutorials on Youtube.

    • As I read through some of the replies I see that the F options is the cause of the higher heat. Though I did suspect it was a missing resister somewhere I didn’t think that they would just have left it out on the F conversion chip but it does explain my findings. As for the increase in head on the AC adapter. That would be due to the higher voltage. I just got a cheap adapter off ebay which registers 3.4 volts. Knowing the batteries are going to give it < 3v, that explains the higher temp as the chip is generating a bit more heat. Before reading through this I was looking into adding a resistor to lower fix that. But bypassing it, leaving it on C works just fine.

      • Right, it all makes sense, as at one point I considered external power, but the thing with most of these type of remote sensor/transmitters is that the normal current draw is so tiny, regular batteries can last well over a year. Sometimes though in extremely cold weather, batteries can get pretty weak, so if you live in Frostbite Falls, an external source could make sense.

        • Yeah, the real solution to this deal is to make sure the outdoor sensor switch is set to C mode. That seems to have solved it for almost everyone and it still can register as F degrees on the base unit. I don’t begrudge any electrical “geeks” to want to try other methods like adding a resistor or external power source, but I’m a “keep it simple” guy. Plus, I’m not an electrical guy but even I knew Spillz was going to have temperature issues. The last thing I would guess you want to do to fix the “too much voltage” issue is to satisfy that with an external source that would provide “too much voltage”. Not a shocker that it would heat up the sensor which of course is why the temperature was registering too high to begin with when set to F position. More voltage to my knowledge means more heat unless you do something to compensate for that.
          Bottom line: The outdoor sensor switch should be in the C position and change the batteries probably every year or so which is reasonable. Problem solved

  30. I have the Sempre 2017 model mentioned at the top. I got the temp corrected thanks to this page with the Celsius setting. Now randomly the unit start beeping and the “large exclamation point” to the left of the time starts flashing and the flashes. Not sure what that graphic is to the left of the time. I have it constantly plugged in, is it the battery level?

    • James, I have the 2015 unit and looked through my owner’s manual and that doesn’t appear in my manual. Sorry I can’t help you on your problem. If you still have the owner’s manual for 2017 unit, you might see if they reference that area of the base unit and the exclamation point deal. I assume you have already tried that.

  31. Batteries in remote unit go for a day. What’s up? Can I get a replacement?

  32. I suggest you read a bit thru this forum for extensive discussion of this topic, along with the issue of temperature reading high.

    Short answer for most of us, set the OUTDOOR unit C/F switch to C. The indoor unit will still readout in your selected units. The batteries should last a long time (mine going on 3 months). And will be more accurate.

  33. ? about failure to obtain outside sensor signal. Recently my sensor got wet a bit from some blowing rain. I dried it out with a hair dryer and replaced the batteries. Now, the base unit only seems to pick up the sensor info when located right next to it. Of course, I have tried to force a new pickup via pressing the CH button (both base and sensor are set to channel 1). Any suggestions?

    • About the only thing I can think of, absent the idea that the water damaged it beyond repair, is to disassemble it, and do what you can to clean the circuit board, especially around the coiled up wire which is the antenna. Normally rain should be pretty clean and drying it out would be OK, but perhaps some crud got in there with it and is changing the strength and frequency of the transmission. I assume you didn’t really blast it with a LOT of heat.

      So, I’d try brushing the board clean with a small brush, wetting it in a bit of rubbing alcohol, letting it dry well. Seems you don’t have much to lose by trying.

  34. Thankyou
    This is equal to a ten dollar accurite thermometer from a chain store, I calibrated to 56 degree, and when temp rose to 65, it was off by 3 degree, at 70 it was off by 8 degrees, and the error only got worse as the temp rose. I suspect at around 85 , it would be off by more than 15 degrees. If you want a thermometer to be close within a small range, this may work for you, but if you want to get an accurate temp, i suggest you look elsewhere. I finally got so aggravated , into the trash it went, a fitting place.
    I think they’re history..

    • Have you tried setting the outdoor unit to °C , as has been discussed here? That could solve your accuracy problem and the immense battery drain.

      At least with 2 units here, the accuracy is pretty good at a wide range of temps, so unless you got a lemon or have it set to °F, might want to see if the trash folks have come by yet.

      And even if your outdoor piece isn’t working right, the rest of it is still more useful than occupying a landfill.

  35. No sensors available. I called 1-855-754-8297 and they do not sell them. Mine got wet and is dead.

  36. I came on this blog to find a way to change the remote sensor to F instead of C but it seems apparent some units do not have a switch to do so. I must have one of those units because I tore mine apart looking for that switch…To no avail….I will however say that the batteries in my remote unit have lasted over a year.

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