I’d like to poll people’s experiences with the replacement batteries for ST sensors.
Here is my story:
I had 2 ST motion sensors which with the original Panasonic batteries last from at least 6 months to a year. When they went offline I figured the batteries were depleted I replaced them with Panasonic batteries I ordered from amazon (third party sellers because amazon doesn’t carry them). None of the two was able to reconnect to the hub after battery replacement. I figured may be the sensors went bad, probably the reason why they were offline to begin with, so I bought some iris sensors to replace those ST sensors and didn’t think much of them…they didn’t work so well to begin with…
However, just 2 days ago. One of my leak sensor went offline with battery status of 0%. This senor worked great for close to a year I think and it had triggered a few times so I was very happy with it. I replaced another Panasonic battery from amazon, and it reported 100% and I thot all was good. However, in less than 24 hours I noticed the battery level dropped below 90%, then the 2nd day, it dropped below 80%…
This got me thinking, may be the “new” batteries I bought from amazon (third party seller) were problematic. Though the batteries all have Panasonic logo on them, they all came in generic seal or even “zip-loc” style bags, with no branding on them. So I have no way to tell if they are really new batteries or even authentic Panasonic batteries.
I have not been able to find these batteries from retail store, so I just got them from amazon. I’d like to know if there’s a better place to order these types of batteries, so I can have a higher confidence that the batteries are good to begin with?
TIA
EDIT: I checked my amazon order history: The CR2450 I ordered were actually sold by amazon, but the question about the batteries remains.
I don’t know, but I have always used Duracell and have had no problems. The one time I used the Panasonics, I could not get the hub to recognize the sensors. I believe that they are ever so much smaller so are not making good contact with the terminals inside the devices.
Word of caution. If it came with Panasonic, replace with Panasonic. I have a couple of ST Arrival Sensors and the local CVS had Energizer so I got a couple of CR2032 for replacement. The lip on the Panasonic is different than the Energizer and the Energizer wouldn’t mount underneath the lip in the Arrival Sensor. So I Jimmy rigged it with a rubber band for temporary reprieve.
Correction - Energizer not Duracell as previously posted.
I had 2 motion sensors, they look similar but I believe one is called Smartthings while the other called smartsense. One uses CR-2477 and the other uses CR-2450. I don’t remember why they were different I always thought they were the same until I had to change the battery. The leak sensor also uses CR-2450.
The reason I only mentioned CR-2450 was the seller was amazon while in my original post said I bought from 3rd party seller. The CR-2477 I ordered from amazon was actually from 3rd party seller.
But my question was about buying the batteries in general, not just specific to CR-2450 or CR-2477
No worries. Give me a second. I will post a distributor of Panasonic that you can purchase from. I went to Panasonic and these types of batteries are under the Industrial portion of Panasonic. That’s where I found the distributors.
I’ve found that batteries can often be a cause of problems with Smartthings.
I’ve tried various brands of batteries in my smartthings sensors and I’m sticking with Duracell in the future.
The problems I’ve encountered with other brands have included false alarms, incorrect battery life being reported by the app, batteries draining almost overnight and poor overall system reliability.
At times, problems have seemed unrelated to the batteries, but replacing has solved the issues.
Good batteries can make a big difference to the performance of smartthings.
Thanks @WB70, I’ll hive a try with mouser’s. Pity I just ordered them a zigbee usb adaptor 3 days ago otherwise I’d have grouped the order.
I am also thinking the batteries on amazon although from Panasonic might not have the same characteristics but mouser seens cheaper so why Panasonic would sell lower capacity batteries in amazon and more expensive is a mystery to me.
I have had mixed experience with batteries, all purchased off of amazon, and I am quite certain some were either old stock or counterfeits. I saw a huge number or reviews on these batteries from people stating the same and showing how to detect when batteries are fake. Sometimes they are simply old but do not have a date printed on them however if you find a letter code on the packaging or on the better itself, you can track back the date. I believe the date would be the manufacturing date so you would have to add the years listed on the spec sheet to know the expiration date (that is if it doesn’t specifically say it is an expiration date). The big issue here is not amazon, but some 3rd party sellers selling batteries through amazon. I try to read the seller reviews when buying batteries as the product reviews may talk about a batch that came from another seller so it really doesn’t help much.
Got my latest supply of batteries from Digikey.com… At least I am quite sure they are not counterfeits, old or whatever… Too many bad batteries from amazon
I may end up cross posting for multiple answers but my smartthing sensors are horrible on the reading the battery life and most of the time the device just stops with a ‘good’ battery reading. Does it take power to constantly report the battery usage? Would I save even a small amount trying to tweak the handler (?correct term I hope) to stop reporting it since it doesn’t work anyway?
