Adding my experience to this thread. About 5 days ago the lock battery was reporting 97%. I didn’t notice until a day ago that the lock was flashing red (3 pulses I believe) meaning low battery. The lock hadn’t responded to commands for a couple of days before that or reported manual unlocks and locks.
I actually have two of these Schlage Connect locks and the older one is reporting 97% now too which makes me nervous it may go at any time as well.
FWIW, I’m a Wink user (lurking as I consider switching to ST) and this has happened to me 2 times in approx. 18 month. Same basic scenario; App reports 97-98% battery one day and out of the blue the lock goes dead the next–a bad situation for me since the house is 600 miles away. Wink support said the fixed it as part of an update (twice) and mentioned that it might be an issue with the lock itself and that I should contact Schlage if it happens again. On course I’m well out of warranty.
Just checked the battery level using the Wink app and it currently reads 97%. Batteries were changed the last time we were on site in Late December. Lock was used perhaps 6 times when we were there. Battery level was still 100% when we left on 1/5/18. Lock hasn’t been used at all since and battery dropped 3% in 16 days. Doesn’t bode well and I suspect the lock will go offline within the week. Not fun problem for a remote installation.
Hi. Joining this discussion. Is there a solution from Samsung yet? I’ve been experiencing this issue for months. I had spent hours on the phone with Schlage and Samsung Support, each of them respectively putting the blame on the other. It’s not exactly what I expected from such an expensive lock, and the fact that I had to purchase and configure the SmartThings Hub, which is only being used for this lock alone.
My battery was reading 98% up until yesterday, and then today it’s completely dead. I was intending to use the same system on our rental properties in Florida, but I’m having second thoughts.
I’m already past the return period, but I’m going to look into Nest/Yale instead. Their cameras and security system have been working very well.
I’m just a fan of being a test subject for these companies’ new technology.
Don’t have high expectations from Samsung / SmartThings. They are aware of dozens of issues, and some are just very difficult to solve. This one, indeed, is more likely to be a problem with Schlage, or even a faulty lock, than something Samsung can fix.
The best solution is just just replace the batteries every “x” months; where X could be, perhaps 2 to 6 months depending on the quality of batteries used and the strength of your Z-Wave network. My lithium batteries last several months and SmartThings reports a level of ~50% before the lock no longer reports (and the bolt starts to fail motorized operation).
Contact @RBoy as he is an expert when it comes to Smart Locks.
What is your lock model?
If it’s the Schlage Connect Deadbolt/468/469 series then there’s a bug in the firmware of the lock and the way it reports battery. Having said that, there’s also a bug in the stock ST device handler in how often it checks the lock for battery updates.
The first issue need more explanation (see below). The second issue has been fixed by us in the [RELEASE] Universal Enhanced Z-Wave Lock Driver for Schlage, Yale, Kwikset, IDLock, Popp, Danalock, August Pro, Keywe, Philia, Samsung device handler
You should avoid using rechargeable batteries for these locks since they have a lower voltage (1.2v - 1.3v) than alkaline batteries (1.5v) and when the voltage falls below a certain threshold the lock suddenly shuts down.
Similarly it’s recommended to change the Alkaline batteries when it reaches 60% on these locks (see this post [RELEASE] Low Battery Notification with Customizable Alert/Warning/Monitor, Configurable Thresholds and Device Monitoring Alerts for recommended battery levels).
The lock tends to misrepresent how much power is left in the battery due to a firmware quirk. It measure the battery voltage and determines the left power. However when the lock reports about 60% battery life, when the lock deadbolt motor operates, it has a huge current draw on the battery (lower the voltage higher the current draw required to operate the motor which in turn causes a bigger voltage drop, it’s a run away effect). This causes the battery voltage to drop suddenly ( see this post on battery voltage curves [DEPRECATED] Blink Camera Device Handler with Motion Sensor, Live Video Streaming, Integration with SmartThings/SHM, Temperature, Signals and Push Notifications - #1157 by RBoy ). When this happens the voltage falls below the minimum operating voltage of the lock and it shutdown suddenly. This is why it’s recommended to change the battery at 60% on these locks when using alkaline batteries.
If you’re using Lithium 1.5v batteries, you’ll get double to triple the battery life from these locks BUT note that the voltage curve on these batteries are drastically different from Alkaline batteries and are VERY flat. The lock firmware isn’t designed to handle these curves so what happens is that when the lock reports 97% that’s about the time to change the lithium batteries otherwise the same voltage load issue kicks in and the lock goes dead. See this post on Schlage locks and lithium batteries Battery Life for smart Doorlocks - #29 by RBoy
Also see these post for more insight in how battery and SmartThings work:
Thanks for your reply.
I’m using the SCHLAGE CONNECT FE469NX model.
Not using rechargeable batteries, just 1.5V Duracell Alkaline. I tested the four AA batteries which the SmartThings app claimed were dead. Two of the batteries measured 0.6V, the other two were good at 1.5V. Odd. I inspected the battery holder, but all connections seem solid. It should be noted I had used the OEM Duracell batteries that the lock came with. Now replaced with retail AA Duracells.
I’m surprised Schlage doesn’t know how to properly measure and report battery percentage. The algorithm should take into account current draw for each lock cycle and factor that in.
Hopefully the new set lasts a bit longer. Otherwise, I’ll revert back to this thread. Thanks again.
That’s having pretty high expectations. It’s a door lock, not a pace-maker 
Seriously, technology today is great, but sometimes we assume much more than is reasonably possible, or that Product Managers. Of course, nothing wrong with customers hoping for great features; just have to be realistic about expectations, otherwise we assume that our “smart devices” are smarter than the really are! 
I appreciate the last reply. However, after the batteries on my Schlage lock died after just a single day, I’ve decided to replace them for the third time, but this time I’ve unplugged my SmartThings Hub from power, and removed its backup batteries. I understand each party’s desire here to blame the other manufacturer as a way of diverting blame, but I believe SmartThings Hub is the cause of my drained Schlage batteries. I believe the Hub is making a high number of requests from the lock, thus draining its battery.
It’s been 5 days since the new batteries were installed on my Schlage lock, and 5 days since I’ve disconnected my SmartThings Hub. So far, the lock is operating perfectly fine.
As such, I can only logically deduce that the Hub is the source of the drained batteries, and it would be great if Samsung actually addressed the issue.
There are a million SmartThings Hubs, and thousands upon thousands are connected to the exact same model of Schlage lock you are using.
Be sure to report the problem to Support@SmartThings.com
If there are a more than a trivial number of reports, they are more likely to investigate it.
But I suspect that the overwhelming majority of these are working fine. - Not saying you aren’t encountering a legitimate issue … but you may need to convince SmartThings to diagnose your personal configuration. And that’s difficult to get them to do, considering the tiny amount of revenue they get from each Hub sale. That’s why “we” are all dependent on the economies of scale of having “a lot” of Customer experiencing and reporting the same problem.