It is always a good idea to carry spare batteries, one of my original sensors arrived with a dead battery.
Remember, you get what you pay for with batteries. I personally like the door and motion sensors that take the bigger batteries (such as the CR123 or AA batteries) they seem to last forever. Also, remember that the more reports the items generate, the more the battery is used. A multi sensor on an often used door will run out far quicker than a mere contact/magnetic switch on the same door.
As annoyed as I am when I find a dead battery in the box…keep in mind, you have no idea how long any of it has sat in a warehouse somewhere. The batteries were ordered in bulk at some point, sat in the warehouse before being moved over to the packing area to be put in the box. Then that box sat there for a while…then shipped somewhere…sat in a warehouse there…then shipped somewhere else…sat…shipped…sat… So basically that battery could be 6 months old or 6 years old by the time you open it box and install the sensor.
My ST sensors I lucked out on and the included batteries lasted several months. My Monoprice sensors however…2 of 4 arrived with dead batteries.
FYI, I discovered today (while figuring out the whole “wrong battery type” thing, and switching to Duracells) that there was a firmware update available for these beasties. When I looked at the detail for the device under My Devices, it indicated a current firmware level of 0x01015310 and a target level of 0x1F015310. After enabling firmware updates via the hub (there are other articles on that) the devices in fact did update their firmware.
I gave up on these ST gen2 multisensors but you mean MyDevices/ Firmware/ CheckNow ? Mine output is “Checking for firmware update” then nothing further, but the device is probably powered off.
Have you see any difference in reliability or battery reporting? My experience was that battery would be ok for 1-2-3 months or so then disappear.
My multipurpose sensor devices are still at 100% after replacing the battery, and then doing the firmware update a few days ago. Replacing my off-brand battery whose positive terminal didn’t extend far enough to make contact with a Duracell made a huge difference. Yes, I used “Check Now” (Devices => particular device => Check Now) to check that the firmware versions were showing correctly. Then I went to My Hubs => View Utilities (link is at the bottom) => Zigbee OTA: Allow OTA to allow over the air (OTA) firmware updates for my devices (had been disabled, which disallowed the update). The update took something a bit over 45 minutes, from looking at the log for the Device, the time between “firmware updated started” and completion.
So, it was just fine until Thursday, coming down slowly. But Thursday we replaced our electrical panel, and after that the multipurpose sensor would not respond. Took the battery out, and it measures just 2.5V - presumably not good enough. My conclusion is that if the unit loses contact, or perhaps even has a marginal signal, it kills battery trying to get connected, presumably continuously.