Ikea 5 button remote killing batteries

Well, I’ve waited patiently for a fix but it never came.
My 5 button lives on my office desk and it controls lights, fans, and a few other devices throughout the house and it’s been really annoying not having it.
So I purchased a little USB step-down module that outputs 5V and 3.3V. I soldered a few wires to the module’s 3.3V and ground and soldered them to the battery contacts on the 5 button.
It plugs into the USB hub I use to charge my cameras. The hub plugs directly into a wall outlet so there’s no shortage of power. I will be monitoring it in case there’s alot of heat generated for some reason but I’m not expecting any problems.
Maybe 1 day there will be a fix but at least I have my 5 button switch back for now.

Here’s the USB step-down module I used.

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IKEA just updated the firmware on their hub (2 days ago)

I’ll see if this updates the buttons and repeaters too.

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My button (which is on the ikea hub after ditching ST) is reporting up to date at 2.3.080. I believe it was 2.3.014 before.

Ikea Tradfri bulbs are zigbee repeaters. So are most zigbee bulbs, with a few exceptions like Sengled. See the community FAQ:

FAQ: Are Smart Bulbs Repeaters? (Updated 2019: the new answer is yes, but may be inconsistent)

@NHF

My button updated too… It is now on 2.3.079 before it was 2.3.010
Testing the repeaters now.

IKEA’ release notes include this little GEM
" Fixed bug: Some remotes and sensors losing connection due to low battery"

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New batteries have gone in, let’s see if the firmware updates.

Mine is 5 button is on 2.3.014, and the on/offs 2.2.010.

Looks like they should be going to 2.3.080 and 2.3.079 according to

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So if the new firmware works, I would have to get Ikea hub to update all buttons and then rejoin to SmartThings?

Not necessarily. IKEA could supply
The firmware to smartthings and smartthings could push it out with a hub firmware update.

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I finally got myself a Tradfri Gateway and I now have three buttons on test on two hubs, with all the Tradfri Outlets updated as well. In the short term I can only really comment if it doesn’t help.

Does anyone know for sure what channel the gateway uses? The Ikea app is incredibly light on information. I’m guessing it may be one of the ZLL ones given its history.

Thanks …

So anyone knows if firmware from Ikea was pushed to SmartThings so we can test? I don’t have an Ikea hub.

Not update from the smarthings hub yet. It has updated the firmware on the Ikea products in the past, so don’t know how long it takes to propagate.

Has it? I’ve never had a firmware update from ST for any of my devices.

The firmware is freely available from Ikea but I can’t see ST wanting to distribute it without being asked by Ikea, and even then it would probably need beta testing first.

I tried my 2 buttons, no updates on firmware, just 2 flat batteries 2 days later.

On smartthings hub

Zigbee device firmwares must be released with a SmartThings hub firmware update. At the soonest it would come with the next ST hub firmware update, but going through SmartThings usually lags behind the companies own hub/bridge by a while (if it comes at all).

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Well they are still working despite a lot of disruption to my meshes. Mind you two IKEA Motion Sensors both ended up with dead batteries, one more needed pairing again and another needed a repeater power cycling.

I recycled a load of batteries a few months ago and stopped replacing batteries a few weeks back except for two buttons. Even so …

But not any more. I got a low battery warning and one of the buttons has a flat battery after one day. Grollocks.

Update: Just waiting to see how the buttons on the beta hub get on. That has a slightly newer stack.

Second Update: Got up and pressed the button. Nothing. Double grollocks.

Third Update: A third button also had a flat battery after a couple of days. I was only using that one with the IKEA Gateway.

Thanks for doing the test.

My local dollar store is out of coin cells. I already tried the $5.00 per cell batteries and they drain just a fast as the 3 for a buck that you can get at the dollar store…

Your battery pile (small pun there) is twice as tall as mine.

I removed all my IKEA repeaters, and everything is now fine, battery last normally.

I have been following this thread for a while as my Ikea button drains the battery within a week.
My issues disappeared when I did the following:

  1. Removed devise from ST web interface: https://graph-eu01-euwest1.api.smartthings.com/
  2. Factory reset Ikea Tradfri button (Press the pairing button 4 times within 5 seconds).
  3. Added device again with DH “ZigBee Button”.
    I changed the battery, it reported 89% battery at start up? And 7 day later it’s still 89%.
    I don’t know why this worked for me, but it might give someone an idea what’s going on.
    Ikea Firmware: 23015631
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