I’m going to start keeping a tally of which devices go offline so that I know which ones need replacing by the end of the year.
My myggspray motion sensors have been pretty stable and battery life seems OK so far. I’ve more issues with timmerflotte (a bit) and klippbok leak sensor (the worst).
My Klippbok leak sensor is also not so good, while apart from one Myggspray motion sensor which sometimes seems a bit reticent I’m really pleased with all the IKEA thread devices I have. Replaced all Tuya contact sensors and Aqara energy plugs and everything is much more stable. Battery life on sensors after 2 months is showing from 89 to 98% depending on position.
Which type of batteries do you use to power up your Ikea thingies?
I use standard AAA 1.5V alkaline batteries and rechargeable AAA 1.2V NiHn (IKEA’s ones or Energizer’s) and with the rechargeable ones I have detected those drains on some of my devices with no apparent pattern (usage/distance/type/…)
I’ve being experiencing in fact all those 3 issues described with not only those devices but also with their Matter water leakage detectors.
I guess I’m changing a few of my home devices with the new hardware models once they hit their stores and most likely claiming somehow their warranties and free replacements due hardware design flaws or something.
Rechargeable batteries drain on their own, even when not in use.
Posts on other forums coincide noting rechargeable AAA (NiMH) are not recommended for door sensors.
They have high self‑discharge, lower nominal voltage (1.2 V), and larger voltage drops. This makes the sensor report incorrect battery levels, disconnect, or rejoin the network.
Quoting “From an ecological perspective, rechargeable batteries aren’t actually the greener choice in ultra‑low‑power IoT devices. Door sensors consume so little energy that a single alkaline AAA lasts 1–2 years. NiMH or Ni‑Zn lose a significant portion of their charge through self‑discharge alone, need frequent recharging, and wear out faster.
In practice, using one alkaline cell every couple of years has a smaller environmental footprint than repeatedly charging and replacing rechargeable cells that never reach their full cycle life in this type of device.”
I totally agree with that posture, I’m shifting from 1.2 NiMh rechargeable batteries to 1.5 alkalines and considering rechargeable 1.5V Li-ion AAA batteries to replace AAA 1.2V NiMh I currently have. I was thinking prior reading the OP linked article that my issues with those IKEA Matter remotes and sensors were because of the AAA 1.2V NiMh batteries. I tried also a 1.5V alkaline on one of the faulty door sensors but still no improvement on disconnects.
Funny thing is I’ve followed IKEA’s recommendations and used IKEA rechargeable NiMh AAA batteries…
The watering valves I have (Sonnoff’s ZigBee one’s) are powered with 1.5V alkaline batteries and never considered rechargeable 1.2V NiMh precisely because of their electronic actuators powering requirements.
I’m using rechargeables (Eneloop mostly, but also a few older ones that happened to be around). My IKEA motion and leak sensors are fine, the BILRESA rotaries too, but the BILRESA dual buttons keep dropping offline. This is not a battery drain issue either, they just randomly do.
So if there’s a new hardware revision of the BILRESA dual button, great. Will IKEA do exchanges?
I have been using the dual button BILRESA with ikea rechargeable and it just happen that the button is within 2m of my v3 hub and it never drops off for over a month of so, what I found is even smartthing ui said it has been disconnected it is still working and same for my timmerflotte which is 2 floors away from my hub, but I only have this running for 1 week after switching my tbr from using Amazon echo show 8 due to range issue even I got grillplats installed in the mid floor