Has anyone been running into issues with batteries draining on Smartthings multipurpose and motion sensors?
I’ve gone though a lot of batteries in the last month or two than I did in the last few years. I just changed a battery for a motion sensor two days ago and today it’s reporting 33%. I’ve also seen some sensors reporting fluctuating battery levels. One day it’s 60%, another day it’s 80% then down to 30% etc.
Nothing else have changed on my end in terms of routine etc. but getting tired of replacing batteries so often.
if they are using stock ST Edge drivers, you can try switching to other community developed Edge drivers and/or change settings to see if that helps. for example, with the multipurpose… you can adjust how often it reports temperature (you may need a different driver than the ST stock Edge driver). Consider repeaters… they may help in certain circumstances. I have a few devices that drain quickly but stop at around 12% and stay at that level for a very long time.
I’ve got one SmartThings ZigBee motion sensor, the one in the link below. It was one of the first things I set up about 4 years ago. I vaguely recall changing the battery in it once. It’s currently at 69%. And it’s been auto-migrated to the stock ZigBee Motion Sensor Edge driver.
Last year I replaced all of the coin batteries with AAA battery packs I purchased on Amazon. Below is the link to the thread about it. I’m still using the first set(s) of AAA batteries that I installed six months ago. Most of my SmartThings branded multipurpose sensors are still showing 100% while the others are just 83%. Most of my SmartThings branded motion sensors are showing 67% while others are 50%. I can now go on vacation and know the batteries will last, not to mention the AAA batteries are cheaper.
I have Aeotec (ST?) multipurpose and temperature sensors and both of them are reporting low battery when they are far enough from my hub. This have been going on months and both still report normally and I haven´t changed batteries. If I bring them closer to my hub the battery notification goes away so I´m not sure if battery status is calculated somehow from signal strength?