[RELEASE] Low Battery Notification with Customizable Alert/Warning/Monitor, Configurable Thresholds and Device Monitoring Alerts

Yes, I just installed this SmartApp and I am seeing the same behavior. I select the devices and hit save and nothing is there. I do it a second time and then it saves the devices to be monitored.

Device Low Battery Notification and Monitoring - Version 01.03.00

  • Added support for TTS audio players notifications
  • Patch for slow ST servers causing settings save lag for some users


Vote for your preferred choice of battery brands


© RBoy Apps

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Just used this app but i was hoping id see a Graphical interface of sorts that i can visually see battery levels when i able to check as opposed to getting notifications at a certain time(?).

SmartThings has limited ability and space to show information in SmartApps. This app focuses one alerting you when batteries need to be replaced for individual or groups of devices since each device, manufacturer and/or model often need custom thresholds for battery replacement depending on the battery chemistry and device specifics. You can find a list if recommended thresholds in the screenshots of the first post and the release notes.

We recommend using ActionTiles for a SmartThings dashboard which can configured to create multiple dashboards.

Tagging @tgauchat

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Great suggestion since i have an actiontiles account already.

Thank you.

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Love this, thanks. Any chance you’ll add the battery type to the notifications as per the poll above?

Device Low Battery Notification and Monitoring - Version 01.04.00

  • Added support for spoken audio notifications with the new Sonos LAN player

Vote for your preferred choice of battery brands


© RBoy Apps

Device Low Battery Notification and Monitoring - Version 01.05.00

  • Added support for selecting days of week to check battery levels
  • Improved app performance with a large number of rules

Vote for your preferred choice of battery brands

© RBoy Apps

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Some interesting notes we have gathered about different battery types (also included in the first) and their impact on devices:

See how the battery stability (voltage) varies by load and temperature, lithium batteries have the best stability:

  • Lithium batteries come in voltages from 1.5v to 3.7v, check the correct voltage before using
  • Not all devices are tuned to handle the voltage curves of rechargeable (NiMH) and lithium batteries, adjust your thresholds accordingly (e.g. devices with alkaline batteries expect a gradual voltage drop off where as lithium batteries voltage drops very quickly at the end). Conversely NiMH batteries drop off very quickly at the beginning which may cause some devices to shut off or report lower battery levels

The last point is interesting to note, when using this app you should adjust your battery warning thresholds according to the battery used and how the device handles it.

For example, when using a zigbee keypad with this custom DTH which can recognize the difference between the various battery types, it automatically adjust the reported voltage based on the battery chemistry.

Another example, when using a deadbolt lock (like Schlage or Yale) which was tuned for alkaline batteries, if you decide to use Lithium 1.5v batteries, it may last 4-6 times longer and will perform MUCH better with more stability in cold weather and under heavy user because the voltage drop in Lithium batteries is lower than in alkaline batteries.
So here’s a typically example, when an alkaline battery is at 50% capacity and the lock deadbolt motor activates, it creates a big current draw which causes the Alkaline battery voltage to drop significantly. This big drop in voltage can cause the lock to shutdown (even through the battery has life left) and it stop responding completely. On the other hand with the Lithium battery, even at 20% capacity it can handle much large current draws without any significant drop in voltage. This leads to a much longer life (even though it has only 3x the capacity of an alkaline battery).
However on the flip side, since the lock is tuned to report the voltage curve of an alkaline battery (which drops significantly over it’s life), the lithium battery voltage doesn’t drop as much. Consequently while the lithium battery may last up to 6x times longer than the alkaline battery, the lock may report the battery capacity at 95% before the lithium battery dies (since the voltage of a lithium battery is more stable compared to alkaline batteries).

So keep in mind the battery chemistry and the device characteristics before deciding at what battery % you want to replace the batteries. As an example for Schlage deadbolt locks using Alkaline batteries, we recommend 60% is a good time to replace the alkaline battery (for the reasons mentioned above including the fact that these locks tend to have more trouble with the mesh at lower battery voltages). However the same lock using Lithium 1.5v batteries should be replaced at 95% (even though it’ll last 3-6 times longer).

Sometimes when a device uses multiple batteries (e.g. locks or thermostats using 4 batteries), they are often connected in series. If one of the batteries fails, the device will stop working because the failed battery acts like a circuit breaker and prevents the remaining batteries from operating (the resistance of the failed battery increases and this prevents the entire series setup from working). This is particularly common with lithium batteries which develop very high resistance as the battery discharges, so it may help to check the voltage of all the batteries in the device and replace the “dead” battery with a fresh one instead of replacing all the batteries if just one battery has failed.

(originally posted on this topic)

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Really simple question, I just want to check that these apps work on all current smartthings software/hardware, ie the newer app, not the classic one and with a v3 hub?

Yes, all of our SmartApps are kept up to date. It works on all ST apps (Classic and new) and on all ST hubs (v1, v2, v3, adt etc).

I just can’t get this to work. This is only the second smartapp I’ve installed (The Lock Manager works great with my Yale lock). Every time I create or recreate the smartapp according to your instructions it sits there with a red triangle and an exclamation mark in it - can’t even see an error to fix…
Any assistance gratefully received

That’s the app logo. Red triangle with a exclamation and battery. Delete the app and start over using the new ST app and not the Classic app. After you install it open the app from the SmartApps tab and there you can can create custom low battery notifications for your devices.

I’m using Lock User Manager v07.12.00, not the Classic LUM.
I can’t see anywhere to create custom low battery notifications :frowning:

Forget my last - I must have been having a senior moment. I couldn’t see the app in SmartApps because although I had created and compiled it within the IDE, I hadn’t added it via ST on my phone! DOH!!
Did that and all is well.
Many thanks

Can I ask a question? It talks about voice notifications and says no devices available, but I have several Echo devices in the house. Can I get it to notify me that XXX has opened the front door via Alexa? Also, Is there a constant log held anywhere of entries and exits so I can review at a later date?

Hi Tony. You can this app which allows to send custom notifications for devices. The first post also has instructions on how to connect your Echo devices and have the app announce the notifications using them. [RELEASE] Door Chimes and Notifications for Doorbells and Sensors

Not sure if this is the right place to put in a potential bug. Installed the Low Battery Notification App into one Samsung account with multiple Hubs. Went to each address in my Smartthings App and installed the new Low Battery Notification SmartApp. Then tried to setup multiple Monitor rules. Turns out I cannot have a Monitor Rule called “Handlesets” at EACH location. The name has to be different for each location otherwise, it just does not save it.

FEATURE REQUEST:

Having just (finally) switched to the new v2 phone app, I’m trying to clean up all of my settings and make things easier to maintain. I was a SmartThings user before Samsung got involved, so some of my SmartApps and Device Handlers are a bit out of date.

I’d like to move from https://github.com/notoriousbdg/SmartThings.BatteryMonitor (404’d now) to your app, but there’s one feature that I miss - being able to view a summary of all devices and their battery levels from within the app. It’s just nice to confirm that devices are reporting their levels.

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Device Low Battery Notification and Monitoring - Version 01.07.00

  • (New) Battery status dashboard on each individual rule page
  • (New) Consolidated battery status dashboard for all selected devices highlighting devices who’s batteries are below the individual configured threshold (sorted by battery level)

Vote for your preferred choice of battery brands

© RBoy Apps

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