Presence Sensor Battery Life Short?

Devices & Integrations
1

Did anyone else buy their presence sensor and have the battery die within 2 months? Does this seem short?

Maybe they shipped with almost dead batteries… idk… 2 months does not seem like a long time for battery life…

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2

Mines in about 24% and only been used for a month or two even i thought it seemed short

3

It’s a known issue and there are a couple of posts about this. Not sure the new version is any differ.

4

I’d be happy if even just 1 part of SmartThings worked well.

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5

Even at around 25% on battery. My presence lasted another 4 months so I wouldn’t count on the status.

6

My sensor came out of the box reporting 75%, but has maintained that same percentage over the the 1 month that I’ve had it.

7

I have bought over a dozen ‘presence sensors’ for the office staff. None of them lasted more than 2 or 3 months. Replaced batteries 3x already on some since last March. I have a spare that I am testing that still reads 88% after 2 months and stays in the office while another one that had the battery replaced at the same time is now reading 25% and is in and out of the office. As far as our Android phones go I found them to be unreliable as well.

8

The crux of the issue definitely depends on whether the sensor spends more time on network or off network. I have a nanny who works two days a week and gave her a sensor so she can’t forget to lock up the house if taking the kids out, and I can check the logs of her coming and going if necessary. She started in September and I’ve already had to replace her battery twice. It read at 13% last Tuesday and it was dead by Monday.

9

SmartThings staff have said in the forums that The presence sensor has exactly the same behavior whether it’s connected to the network or not. It simply attempts to check in every 30 seconds. That’s the only thing it does. It doesn’t try any harder when it is 5 miles from the hub than it does when it’s 5 feet from the hub. So there shouldn’t be any change in battery life for a presence sensor which spends most of its time away from home. The specific question was previously asked and answered, but you can always check with support as well. Unless something has changed in gen 2.

@Tyler