I have had ongoing issues w/all the sensors in my system, basically, w/anything that is battery powered. The devices will go offline, then pop back up again. The battery readings will bounce around, showing high charge, then low charge, then high charge again. I will replace a battery, the device will show 100% charge, then I’ll pull the battery and the device will still show online and 100% charge. I am guessing they don’t report status very often, but hours later the unpowered sensor will still show online and 100% charge.
At this point I don’t really trust any of my battery powered devices (all my sensors). They aren’t reliable and the battery status they show is meaningless.
I can’t believe I’m the only one w/this problem, but I also can’t believe anyone would use sensors if they were all this unreliable, so there must be some way to make them work better. Eager for any and all suggestions. Thanks!
First question: are you using regular alkaline batteries? Rechargeable batteries, unless built into the device itself, generally don’t work well in home automation sensors and can produce the symptoms you are seeing.
Other than that, the first rule of home automation applies: “the model number matters.“ What’s the brand and model number of the sensors, and which smartthings hub do you have?
Also, where are the sensors in relation to the nearest mains powered device of the same protocol? So zwave to zwave and zigbee to zigbee. (Battery powered devices do not generally pass along messages for other devices as it would use too much battery power. That’s why the number of mains powered devices that you have matters.)
OK so I posted this and then promptly forgot about it lol … hopefully you’ll see this reply.
Using alkaline batteries, checked the charge and they are fine.
HomeSeer, HS-DS100+ sensors, Samsung hub v2.
There are several z-wave, mains powered, wall switches near the sensor. Closest is probably w/in 5 feet, next closest may be 8 feet.
Hope this helps.
Still having anomalous behavior … sometimes the sensor doesn’t seem to be reporting status correctly, so it will show closed when it’s open, or vice versa. Any suggestions on how to resolve this are much appreciated … or recommendations for a different, more reliable brand of sensor!