Hi there, thanks for this, I had the same problem as I got the energizers and couldn’t get it to re-detect. I’m kind of persistent though and don’t like the idea of being locked into a particular brand of something that is supposed to be universal by specification.
I have heavily modified my smart things motion detector using the latest in space age technology and it now works with the energizers. I took a starbucks double shot can, used a knife to cut a small sliver of aluminum out of it. I then scraped the aluminum with the knife to remove the food grade coating so it was bare metal. I then tucked that little bit of foil behind the metal contact on the side of the battery enclosure and left the length of it poking up and bent backwards over the top. I used a tiny piece of masking tape on the side of the battery to protect it from shorting by having the side skirts of the battery so high. Then I put the battery in and it works now.
Thank you guys! Very helpful. I was thinking that my motion sensor was dead.
Obviously I have now a bunch of energizer I WANT and DID use, so I wanted to share this little hack.
I just made a small spacer of aluminum foil, then I laid it flat on the side contact, making sure that when I insert the battery it will not short it to the bottom.
And then popped in the battery. Working as a charm!
Wanted to order some CR2477 from Arrow, but you can’t just order them, you have to get a quote. Strange, since all their other Panasonic are available.
For my two, i opened it up and carefully (while holding the pin on the board so it doesn’t come off) bent the pin into an “L” shape using just my fingers. Suggest using needle nose pliers if you have them laying around though.
Yes, this is true, the newer Motion sensors do not have this brand requirement for battery.
However, the new sensor is also utterly useless, and doesn’t sense me until I’m about 1m or less from it.
The original version is much better. I did mistakenly buy a different brand than the sensor mentioned and as my punishment, they didn’t work. Putting in Duracell ones and they worked straight away.
this may be a help to other UK users, i’m currently using these:
and they work fine in my motion sensor. Also working in my multi purpose sensor but that has been modified after i snapped one of the contacts trying to use incorrect batteries - so i can’t confirm if it will work with a standard one.
Thank you. Thank yoy very much indeed, I was becoming nuts with this.
I read the Notice saying only Panasonic or Duracel which seemed ridiculous to me so I bought Energizer and it worked in every sensor but in the motion sensor.
Obvioulsy I blamed the sensor.
It certainly does!! Thank you! I tried a few things lifting the metal connect, wedging slightly up with a bit of paper on one side…
I bought a pack of 10 of energizers a while back now I can use them! (The they are usually cheaper on amazon for some reasons)
Now hope the actual motion sensor does not die (have two serving as temperature sensor only) and that it reports battery life on ST properly as the batteries always report 60%ish when they just suddenly disconnect. It’s always the actual battery as it seems to be out of juice with reset light doesn’t even come on!
After burning tons of “Panasonic” batteries from Aliexpress I followed your guide to fix that British design on my 2015 motion sensors. On most sensors external battery works great but one sensor flashes orange light occasionally.
Anybody knows what orange light means?
When I connect extra battery I see green light just like when I put fresh Panasonic battery and then orange light comes up briefly.
