What is everyone using for a contact sensor that lasts the longest as far as battery life?
I’ve have about 15 Iris contacts, 15 SmartThings, and 1 Ecolink Zwave.
Iris lasts about 6 months.
SmartThings last about 4-6 months.
And the Ecolink is still going for about 2 years.
The Iris and SmartThings sensors are mixed between windows and doors with some windows never being opened but still needing to be replaced after a few months. The Ecolink is opened at least once per day and it is also the farthest from the hub. I experimented with batteries too, thinking I was just getting cheap batteries but have similar results.
I’m getting about a year and a half on mine that are on heavily used doors. I put the date of replacement on the battery so I can track. My window sensors, are getting 2 years, and are hardly used. We also have these sensors on certain cabinets and other interior doors and access areas, and those are hitting 2 years now. Motion sensors are everywhere, and get about 2 years. Same for my water leak sensors.
I’m really happy with battery life, even with the junky ones that came with them. I use Duracell, and I’m experimenting with rechargeable batteries right now on a few sensors.
I’m not sure why your experience with batteries in your Iris sensors is so low. Do these rejoin your Zigbee mesh a lot?
I only have a few ST branded sensors, and those are going to get replaced with spare Iris sensors I have. I hate the coin batteries, and they last about 6 months.
I use to have Ecolink before I dumped Zwave in favor of Zigbee devices, but when I had them they also lasted forever.