Battery issues with Samsung SmartThings Water Leak Sensors

I bought two of these on Amazon and set them up on Tuesday, and they’re both already at 88% battery. Initially both reported at 100%.

What could be causing this?

Other than hooking them into the standard Water Leak monitor, and the Battery Monitor SmartApp, I’m not doing anything else with them.

I’d be sad to have to return them, but if this is how they chew through batteries, then they’re way too expensive to maintain. I installed a Everspring Leak Sensor days before and it’s still at 100%, just as all my motion sensors are (all setup weeks ago).

Is this normal for this device, or did I somehow get a defective batch?

Actually, these sensors have excellent battery life. However, unlike (apparently) your Everspring unit, they report battery life in tiers, not linearly. I have two of them that have been in service ~ 10 months, and they are both at 77%. I don’t check them that often, but I believe they went from 88% to 77% a couple weeks ago.

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Hi @cmeans,

There are a few posts already on battery level reporting, and how ST reports in a range vs actuals. (I stopped writing when I saw @Mr_Lucky’s reply!)

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OK. I guess I’ll be patient and see how it goes. Dropping to 88% in under a week seems a bit dramatic, even for a tiered approach, but if they drop to less than that before the end of a month, then I’ll be forced to return them.

Thanks.

Mine ST water leak sensor battery indicator dropped from 100% to 88% in a week.
Then to 66% on the third week. Can’t remember was there a 77% or not
But it has been on 66% for two months now.
I saw somewhere in the forum saying this happened to alot of people and it will stay on 66% for a long while.

I have not seen battery readings below 66%. In fact, I found my door sensor was not working, and battery was at 66%. I changed the battery, now reading 100% and the sensor works now. I used a meter to measure the battery I took out, and it reads 0 volt. I measured a new battery and it reads 3.06 volts. I think SmartThing’s battery readout detection is not designed well. Perhaps ST should tell us what we should expect to see with low battery…down to 66% or lower??

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One of mine has now been registering at 0 for a few weeks now. Just replaced it simply to stop the daily notifications. So the battery lasted about 6 months.

I’m on day three for mine, and it’s down to 66%. Glad I found this thread to explain that’s it’s just a reporting problem.

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The Water Leak Sensors use 3V lithium batteries and the discharge curve for lithium batteries might explain the difference in charge reporting. The issue I’ve had with the battery is after a few weeks out of eleven sensors I have in service two were no longer reporting. Found that the positive position spring was flat in the case of the sensor body and appeared the battery was no longer making contact. I pulled the spring out to stretch it and put the battery back in. Will see if this resolves my issue for the long haul.