NOTE: To be clear about what this thread is for, first of all, I put the words in the correct order (i.e. ‘Keen Home’ is the company, and ‘Smart Vents’ are what they produce), and then I included the modifier 'Hardware; not Apps) to make sure you know this thread is about the actual hardware device itself, and NOT any SmartApps (whether created here or anywhere else).
I’m hoping this thread can be used by anyone that wants to discuss this product, in general, and leave the already well-established SmartApp threads for discussion that specifically relates to those SmartApps.
If need be, this thread can also include talk about Device Handlers, but only where it directly relates to interacting with the Hardware itself, and not how it interacts with SmartApps or anything else. I’m not sure if this is possible (or even wanted), but here we go…
My History…
I do not recall exactly when they arrived, or how many days it took me to actually get one of them turned on, configured in ST, and installed in the house, but I ordered two Keen Home Smart Vents on June 25th of this year (2016). So, for sure, I have only had them for that long.
Since I couldn’t figure out a good enough scenario for where to put them both, and I only had a single location that would make a worthwhile and noticeable difference (i.e. I’d need a few more to make change make sense in the rest of the house), I only installed one of the Smart Vents.
This single Smart Vent is in my basement. The main thing I used it for so far is to avoid unnecessarily cooling the basement in the summer, AND to assist in getting some of the cold down there filtered upstairs. So, my rule is like this… when AC is ON, close it, and when house fan is on with AC OFF, open it.
It has worked like a charm. Yes…even with just this one Smart Vent in the basement like that, it definitely makes a difference (i.e. less electricity waste, because I’m not ‘cooling’ the basement every time the AC is running in the summer). Of course, I will continue to buy more of them when I can, and will eventually replace all vents in the house; at which time, I will have a complete system that is much more efficient, etc. That’s down the road a ways.
Now, my problem…
For the past week or so, it has seemed like whenever I click a button on my phone to either open or close the SmartVent, I haven’t been hearing the telltale change in air pressure in the ducts. It was a signal to me that I probably need to check on it, but have been putting it off.
Well, this morning, I went down to check, and sure enough, no motion upon commands. It was clearly dead. Surprising since the device in ST app still shows 90% battery life remaining.
I replaced the batteries, and presto-changeo, it’s back in action.
Huh?
How can it be that I haven’t even had this thing in place for 4 months yet, and the batteries have already died? Is this a known problem issue? Does this mean that each Smart Vent will take three sets of batteries per year? If so, I’m starting to think this is not such a great idea after all (at least not this particular product in its current form).
Also, why was it still telling me that the Smart Vent had 90% battery left if it clearly didn’t?
Ideas?
UPDATE:
After replacing the original batteries with known good ones, it seems to be working properly now.
So, the original battery problem that I brought up in this OP had to do with the batteries that came with the vent from the factory. See the following post for more details…
I will play with that a little bit, and report back sometime…