I love new features but do you know how hard it is to try and figure what is dead because their own devices can’t report correct levels. This should be basic and really getting me to hate Smartthings. I was am/was a big fan until this. The osram thing isn’t even close to this issue.
Are you talking about the current battery level of all your devices?
If you are you can see them all in one place usin “Simple Device Viewer”.
Thanks for the pointer, agreed!
Actually it’s Smartthings devices for me that gobdead at around 67%. I have the app that tells you when they are getting low but it does no good if it doesn’t report right.
They said it’s a known bug. But that was right after the update. I was hoping it would be fixed by now. I have to look at every device and see last time it communicated
The sensors you are talking about are rebranded Centralite sensors so I would not blame ST for taking a long time to fix the issue. Last time I reported this same issue and discovered it was a known issue, they said they were working with the supplier. SW updates can take a long time to validate and trickle through to users… Right Android users? I am still waiting on 7.0 on my S7… GRRR
Also, regarding percentage fluctuations due to temperature changes… Batteries exposed to outside cold, especially if extreme, will have reduced capacity and voltage output therefore a device reporting battery levels could report drastically different levels if you have a warm day and a freezing night… not too uncommon where I am at.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/discharging_at_high_and_low_temperatures
Then revert back to the old firmware. Sorry figuring out battery strength is 101. And the analogy of the phone is a bad one. That isn’t because the software isn’t there its because google allows Samsung to do whatever then the carrier to do whatever with it then send it to you. I have had 7.1.1 since release as well as 7.0. Why I had a 6P and now a Pixel XL. Also why I own a Pixel C. It gets updates immediately. Google should have done what apple did and for carriers to stay out of it but google didn’t want to annoy manufactures. But whole different topic. But knowing the battery is dead or not on something that is suppose to resemble a security system is essential!!! I shouldn’t have to find out when I open the garage door and the lights don’t’ turn on because the door sensor is dead and showing 77%. I said 67% because that is the majority of when it dies. But I have had 70’s 80’s and even low 90’s and they were dead as anything. And third party is mute when you put your name on it. Its not a centrilite multipurpose sensor it is a Samsung Smartthing Multi Purpose sensor. These are all in the house in a controlled environment.
I get very annoyed on this as well. I have 8 ST motion sensors and 4 more still unopened. They used to go dead at something like 86%. It’s almost impossible to do any automation without motion sensors at my house and dealing with this battery issue is beyond annoying. It’s not like those bloody sensors are cheap either.
@joewom - If you are here just to argue how bad ST is, have fun - it is not constructive so I will just bow out of the conversation.
The ST Multi Purpose sensor is actually:
manufacturer: CentraLite
model: 3321-S
My analogy to Android getting to my S7 was to say that it takes time when there are multiple vendors involved to get sw, or fw, to the end user. ST has to work with CentraLite and then pass on whatever they release to us.
I too run into the same issue you described, and I too get annoyed, but I am not going to get majorly upset… My garage opener, like all models I’ve seen, has two light bulbs so I am never in the dark. I would rather the 14,000 lumens of LED light I’ve installed actually turned on every time however by easily replacing the battery right away I limit the issue to that one time (per battery). One could say I have a 14,000 lumens dead battery indicator… if lumens = 0 then change battery, if lumens = 14,000 then all systems ok. 
I’m not I love Smartthings I’m saying this is something that needs to be fixed and quickly. What if your phone died at random percentages? People would be going crazy. And apple doesn’t make the iPhone but they sure as hell take responsibility for it. So if Smartthings is going to brand something they own it. Period. You go to Walmart and by their brand and get sick you are blaming them. Even though a name brand made it.
Yeah I thought about that. I have over 20 of them that’s what sucks. The iris ones work good and you can see if it is too.
Probably are less then a year old. I have them on every window and door.
Had my second ST sensor die on me with this 67% issue. Same as my first one. I get a bunch of false positive motion alerts, then within a few days/week the sensor goes unresponsive. Pulled the battery and replaced it, no led light or anything, dead. New battery and its fine. Depending on how long its been disconnected sometimes you have to do a reset and rescan which sucks.
If 67% means 0%, then change the scale…its not hard. I just opened a ticket on this…but as with most of the other day to day issues Im sure it will go into the ‘working on it’ bucket. While ‘big changes’ are happening. I know sometimes you have to deal with something for a while so the backend can get fixed…but this is crazy. At least a month of this now.
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TBH I think it’s a lot worse than this. After the firmware updates I started getting a lot of false alarms on my motion sensors and phantom activity alerts on my multi sensors. I had to replace all the batteries even though they were showing 89% or 79%. Basically, the battery level indicator cannot be relied upon full stop unless you are happen getting alerts firing off constantly.
After replacing all of the batteries with brand new duracells, my false alerts have more or less disappeared. So the batteries were clearly on the way out. even though the percentages did not indicate this.
I never had false alarms just osrams turning on whenever they wanted and things dying due to inacurate battery monitor
I’m still on a v1 hub so no OTA updates for me… so cant blame the firmware updates for this. Now did the DTH get updated? Or did the poling change? Something? I dont know. But only way I knew i was getting false alerts was my front door sensor I have set to send push msg with each motion event. So in a couple days I probably got 20 or so false alerts. Then mid last week my office sensor set off SHM with multiple false alerts…house is 100% empty and cameras confirm that. Then like less than a week later the battery died.
Robin go i nto the recently tab, and see if you have lots of motion events that are false. But at this point I’d say you are close to death on that battery. Mine was at 67% for a while…but as soon as I got the false motions, then it died. Also look at the recently tab to make sure you are getting updates. From the “right now” tab you wont know if its disconnected unless you trip motion. Mine quit sending temp updates last night at 3am. Then today when it should have turned the lights on at sunset on motion, nothing.
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I just know that when I get a bunch of false motion alerts, that battery is a goner. I just replace it and magically they disappear. Swapped 15 duracells in a week. I can finally get a good nights sleep and also not have a phone constantly telling me someone is teleporting around my house when I’m out.
Yea i had planned to replace all my batteries then I said screw it. Let them die. For the most part I’m fine if one just disappears. Also just happy that I only have 1 more ST sensor… I standardized on Iris motion sensors after like a few months of buying stuff. Oh well…maybe one day ST hardware people will realize we have enough people complaining here to do something. Its only been a couple months this way. Now if its 6 months or more like the Hue bulb delay…Then maybe its an issue.
And caned response came. How would one know? Canned response says ‘door’ at no point did I say door I said motion sensor with every time I referenced the device. Oh well… Put this one on the back burner people…its going to simmer for a long while.
Thank you very much for reaching out to SmartThings Support and I hope this message finds you well.
I understand that your motion sensor’s battery died but it’s last reported value was 67% when its expected to report much lower than 67% before the battery dies.I truly do appreciate you bringing this to my attention and this sounds like behavior our Developers are currently looking into. I have tagged your account, to let them know your experience as we are tracking this.
To set an expectation for you with the batteries, we expect the batteries to last for 6 months to a year, depending on how often that sensor is activated. High traffic doors are going to deplete the battery faster than a sensor that does not get used often.
As you have experienced, replacing the battery has resolved this, but our teams are definitely looking to ensure the reporting also matches and I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. I can understand how frustrating it is when you look at the mobile app and not being able to determine what is wrong. This type of feedback is instrumental in how we shape SmartThings.
As you’ve replaced your batteries after if you feel the device is consuming them at a high rate after a few weeks, let us know and we can investigate further. Rest assured we are working on the reporting.
Worth pointing out the devices are advertised to have batteries last up to 2 years, not 6 months to a year as per canned response.