Batteries: Types/Sizes/Uses/Opinions/mAH/Life/ReportingLevels/etc

[sgnihttrams (ocd+adhd+alz+md+asd+fms+tldr+lol=me :))]

There is already a thread for posting about deals on batteries in the Deals section (THIS LINK). So, if you have any battery deals or pricing info or coupons for batteries, please post it there.

This thread is for discussing all of the various batteries that we need for our ‘things’;
like,
how long does this battery last?
is it lithium or alkaline?
how does it report its power level?
and/or any other thought or question or comment you have about batteries.

Oh ya…if there is already a thread established for this, sorry. Please point me there and I will delete this one.

[sgnihttrams (ocd+adhd+alz+md+asd+fms+tldr+lol=me :))]

Here is a great example of what kinds of things we’d like to discuss here in this thread (the main point I got from this string of posts was the info about lithium batteries from JD about how they keep their power level up for a much longer period than non-lithium)…

@JDRoberts

For the more common sizes, AAA up through D, plus 9 volts, I really like the Kirkland batteries sold at Costco. They tend to come in top 5 in battery quality tests by most independent reviewers, including consumer reports, but at really excellent prices. They are much better quality than Amazon basics or most off-brands.

Batteries That Last When You Need Them - Consumer Reports News

A note about lithium batteries in home automation devices

Also, it’s helpful to remember that lithium batteries have a different discharge curve than alkaline batteries, and consequently battery reporting can be way off for lithium. They typically stay high for a long time and then drop very quickly.

This “flat curve” is considered a plus by people who favor lithium, as it means you get more power out of them for a longer time. But in battery monitoring situations such as many home automation use cases, it can really throw off your ability to predict when the battery will fail. for this reason you may want to implement a time based replacement strategy for lithium batteries rather than relying on battery reporting.

But since that may mean you are removing the battery while it still has viable life, it can somewhat increase the project cost. At our house we use batteries that were removed on a time schedule from critical functions like home automation and put them in a box we use for non-critical functions like gaming controllers. So we do use the lithium batteries until they are completely depleted, but not in Home Automation devices.

BU-106: Advantages of Primary Batteries - Battery University

@schapper05

@JDRoberts

Also, it’s helpful to remember that lithium batteries have a different discharge curve than alkaline batteries, and consequently battery reporting can be way off for lithium. They typically stay high for a long time and then drop very quickly.

As usual I learned something new from you @JDRoberts That explains what happened to a few zwave devices I have. Thank you!

@sgnihttrams

@schapper05

As usual I learned something new from you @JDRoberts That explains what happened to a few zwave devices I have. Thank you!

Indeed…and this post from JD was already my second critical learning experience of the day (and all I’m doing at the moment is going through to see what posts happened since I was here last night lol ).

@Fuzzyligic

Yup me to, just replaced a motion sensor battery which last battery report was 63% but it was completely dead

@JDRoberts

@Fuzzyligic

Yup me to, just replaced a motion sensor battery which last battery report was 63% but it was completely dead

Was it a lithium battery?

@Fuzzyligic

it certainly was. Thats the second lithium battery that died in the last two weeks with a fairly high last battery reading.

[JDRoberts]

Sounds like a good discussion. I know these questions come up a lot.

I wanted to add a pointer over to the “tier reporting” FAQ, since this is one of the first questions that comes up for many people. That is, “why does my brand-new device report a battery level of 88%?”

FAQ: How Sleepy Devices Report Battery Life (tier reporting)

Many battery-powered " sleepy" devices reports battery levels in tiers. The exact tiers will vary by device. For most contact sensors, the tier that is reported as “88%” really means “above 87% and below 100%” So as soon as battery level drops below 100%, even to 99%, it will likely be reported by SmartThings as 88%, although the exact buckets vary by DTH/Edge Driver. What you need to watch is the trend. If it drops 10% in one day. That was probably just a tier drop. You can even bounce back-and-forth by 10% because it’s right at the threshold of a tier. But if it’s dropping 10% every week, that’s a different problem. If you’ve had any device off-line for a while, it’s really common for it to come back in the next lower tier, which looks like a 10% drop but might’ve been a drop of ha…

[jlv]

My biggest concern with reporting levels is knowing when batteries are low and/or devices are dead. I would have thought every device would wake at least once a day just to say “I’m still here”, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.

Here are three apps I know of to help keep track of battery status:

[OBSOLETE] Simple Device Viewer

I won’t be porting this SmartApp so it will stop working when the Groovy platform is retired. Allows you to easily see a list of information about your devices like battery percentages, temperatures, how long since last event, switch state, etc. Receive Push and/or SMS notifications based on temperature, battery level, and/or time since last event. New Dashboard Feature allows you to view all your device information using any web browser. See the Version 2.0 Release Notes for more information. It can automatically poll the devices at a specified interval. Turn Off All Lights and/or Switches with a push of a button. The first time you open the application, I recommend hitting Done as soon as you see the Setup screen because if you back out of the app instead of hitting Done, the app…

BatteryMonitor github

Battery Monitoring and Alerts on Z Wave Devices

Hello… I’m nearing the end of getting the house set up. It’s over 90 individual sensors/switches and should settle out at 125. One thing I’m already anticipating is a need to monitor/refresh batteries. With 10 door/window sensors and 8 motion detectors (+4 misc sensors) all on CR123A batteries, they’re going to go at various times. The brands are all over the place… Aeon Labs, Monoprice, Fibaro… Does anyone know of/has anyone done a script that polls every X hours, checks battery status, and reports back? If not, will be putting that together and publishing that out in the future but didn’t want to duplicate work. I’d in turn add that to my home dashboard. Looking to simplify/centralize monitoring sensors that run on battery. Thanks!

[OBSOLETE] Device Monitor - Get Notified if Devices Stop Reporting

2017-06-08 - Update: Added support for new Ask Alexa features: Message Queue, message expiration, and message overwriting. 2017-03-11 - Update: Added the ability to be notified if your Hub goes offline / online. 2017-03-08 - Update: Added support for SmartThings “Health Check” capability. If the device supports it, Device Monitor will look at the online/offline status of the device. This can be more accurate than looking at events sent by the device. 2016-09-06 - Update: Added support for Ask Alexa. 2016-08-22 - Update: I have made a few changes. I am using a more accurate event detection, battery levels can be checked, and you can be notified when devices come back online. Check post 63 for more info. [image] This app checks the selected devices to determine if they are communicatin…

[oilisab (Ed Ford)]

Is anyone having battery issues with samsung smart motion sensor? Batteries drain super fast. The sensor is in a busy spot however from 3pm to 6-7pm everyday nobody is at home so it is supposed ro be idle. I have used 3 new (cr2450 panasonic) batteries as recommenden and they last 2 weeks at the most.
Should I start thinking I have a defective senso

[jlv]

@oilisab I’d suggest moving this to a specific thread about the SmartThings motion sensor, rather than adding this to the batteries topic.
(my SmartThings Motion sensor is still showing 100% battery after 8 months sitting in a high-traffic area of my kitchen. It is continually reporting valid motion events and temps.)

[bridaus (Brian)]

I <3 Eneloops. Use nothing else unless I have to.

[maven]

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?