Kwikset Short Battery Life

#15

I started having the same issues with my 910 (zwave) recently.

The only observation I can add is that I left the top half cover off to see the LED lights. I noticed that when it’s paired with the hub, button 1 stays lit 100% of the time. Locked or unlocked it doesn’t matter. Even if I take the batteries out for a few hours and put it back in, button 1 LED stays lit.

If I unpair (exclude) the 910 from SmartThings that button1 no longer stays turned on.

To me, it seems like it’s constantly trying to sync or send something since one of the latest SmartThings firmware upgrades.

#16

Has anyone had any luck tracking this down. I’ve had my Baldwin zwave for 5 years and usually go about 4-6 months before changing batteries, but they seem to be draining in just a couple days. This started probably a couple weeks ago. I suspect something must have changed with device handlers or hub firmware that is causing the device to keep the radio going more. It’s happening on both my locks. I wonder if switching to the “universal zwave lock device handler” might help.

I beleive the Baldwin uses the same brains of the Kwikset, so this is consistent with the above findings on the kwikset locks

#17

The kwikset connect on my front door had a quicker battery drain that correlated with it losing some of its z-wave connectivity/functionality. I don’t think it was a coincidence.

Performing a Z-Wave repair revealed some of the devices in my mesh were not behaving and I had to remove and rejoin them into the network to clear up the issue. If you’re not overly familiar with z-wave repair, I recommend performing it from the IDE and clicking the link to monitor the progress in the logging. If you see any messages about missing devices and such in the logging, you need to clear those up to get a clean repair. (I’ve had inconsistent behavior when running z-wave repair from the mobile app. I don’t think the useful error messages were being reported in the mobile app. Maybe because the repair was taking a long time.)

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#18

Same thing happening to me. Worked fine for over a year. Now batteries drain in 2-4 days

#19

Do any of you by any chance started having other issues with the lock, specifically sporadically unresponsive keys on the keypad? I’ve had both unresponsive keys and poor battery life. Since mine is the version with the Z-Wave daughter board, I did try unplugging it for a few months to eliminate Z-Wave as the battery drain issue, but it made no difference. I eventually took the lock apart and noticed that the connector from the keypad to the main board had almost come out. I plugged it in firmly and the lock worked perfectly again–and the batteries now lasted me several months, even though they’re NiMH and only show as 80% when fully charged. However, the connector doesn’t plug in very firmly and keeps coming loose, and the problems return. Part of the issue is that the door does get slammed shut a fair bit. The whole connector design is pretty poor and really requires a firmer snap-in action or a connector lock. I might try hot gluing the connector to the socket, or perhaps some heat shrink tubing.

#20

NiMH batteries have lower voltages than alkaline batteries that’s why they show a lower initial battery % and also why they will last less once the voltage drop is faster and will invoke the cut off voltage on the lock faster. See this post for details

#21

I know, that’s why I wrote that the way I did :blush: The issue is battery life
of days vs weeks or months. My main point was that in my case the issue
seems to have been the loose connector, and maybe it is for others too.

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#22

Did this ever get resolved? I have a 910 with the same issue. I purchased “expensive” lithium batteries so I wouldn’t have to change them, but they lasted only a couple of weeks.

#23

Ever since adding a SmartThings outlet near mine the batteries have been fine.

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#24

We have the Qwikset 916 and having the same issue - our router is on the second level of the house and door lock is on first. We added the Smartthings outlet close to the door lock but still having no luck.

#25

You sure it’s a Z-Wave outlet? ST also has ZigBee devices.

#26

Yes - it is z-wave plug-in smart switch by honeywell

#27

Are you sure your KwikSet 916 is Z-Wave and not ZigBee? I have two KwikSet 910s, one has a ZWave card and one is ZigBee. The cards are interchangeable.

#28

I will check but it Won’t be for a couple of weeks - it’s our vacation home and we came home this morning.

#29

You can check online in the IDE under my devices. See what device handler it’s using.

#30

Sorry for the delay - it is a zwave

#31

Sorry - it is zwave and zigbee system.

#32

Hi all, just had this problem with my 916. Dead batteries at midnight, swapped out (tested them first), then had dead batteries less than 24 hours later. Called Kwickset and they walked me through resetting my system by pressing the circle button for 30 seconds then when it went to a red light take my finger off press the button again take my finger off. It kills all the codes I was told, so had to add a code to test it back.

Basically what that did was discharged the capacitor which can have juice in it showing the system the battery is dead. However when I checked the batteries that I just placed the night before all of them had a charge to him just like what it was previously.

So now I’m testing to see if the new batteries I just placed in tonight are going to last more than the 24 hours. If everything is good, simple fix. If not they will replace my unit. Also it doesn’t disable the Z wave that’s connected to it.

One additional thing, in my ST last night after I changed the batteries I was still seeing 0% battery on the new swapped out ones. Once I did this capacitor flush my ST is now showing 100% battery. Feeling like this could be the fix.

#33

keep us updated! I have had to change out the batteries on this lock weekly for far too long. The amazon basics rechargeable batteries will get me to almost two weeks of battery life though!

#34

Here is the update:

I just changed out the batteries yesterday 3/17/19 when they were down to 20%. I didn’t use my best batteries on this test, so I think this is a solution. I again will have to discharge the capacitor as it’s showing only 20% again, but I put brand new batteries in again. I would say this is a success to reset and get everything working again. Basic Duracell batteries lasted almost 3 months on a heavy use front door.

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