ST Presence Sensor Battery Level

[ahmed24 (Ahmed)]

I have a ST Presence sensor on my key-ring. About 6 weeks ago I changed the battery on it. But now 6 weeks on it’s reporting the battery is already at 25% this seems like a ridiculously fast discharge rate. The original battery also lasted about 8 weeks or so. Is something wrong?

[ero4444 (Eric)]

sadly it is normal. Workaround has been to solder a large battery to it, or wire car power to it, which works well.

[ahmed24 (Ahmed)]

That’s a shame. Is there any better presence sensors that have longer lasting batteries? I guess now that I know the battery doesn’t last as long, I could buy a big pack of batteries

[diehllane (Brian Diehl)]

FAQ: The Many Ways of Detecting Presence

Presence, regardless of the device you use, is one of those features that works great for some people, not at all for other people, and is randomly flaky for still others. It’s very much affected by local conditions. So some people will find that phone presence works much better than the SmartThings-branded presence sensor. Other people will find the reverse. Still other people, myself included, find that they have to use a combination of two devices in order to get reliable presence indication. So if this feature tends to work differently for different people, where do you start? Using a Smart Phone as a Presence Indicator [image] Well, since most people who have SmartThings have a smart phone, it’s worth starting there. The following FAQ runs through the the usual troubleshooting…

[ahmed24 (Ahmed)]

around 20th of July I replaced the battery with a duracell 2032 battery. here is a pic of the battery i bought

[ahmed24 (Ahmed)]

Will try Panasonic next and see how that goes