Yes, the battery status dropped rapidly for me as well, all the way down to 0%, but the sensor continued to operate at 0% battery for over 12 months til it stopped reporting.
I am hoping the same thing happens for me. But the original battery went down to 10% then disconnected from hub.
FYI, I have had batteries I got from amazon thatād stop working with status well above 50% (at room temp), while the same sensor with batteries from other more reputable sources would continue to operate with battery status well below 50%. So make sure you get good batteries.
May be swap a different sensor if you have one being used elsewhere. I guess itās possible thereāre part to part variations that the sensor youāre using is more sensitive to the quality of the power source.
Good luck.
I guess it is a wait and see thing. My next thing is get a remote battery case and solder on two leads from the sensor. My concern is the wires through the door seal.
UPDATE: Battery said 10% then it stopped reporting. I then took the sensor out of the freezer let it warm up and then removed the battery and put it back in. It showed 75% battery. I decided to solder two leads to the sensor with flat wire then connected an external 2450 battery holder and battery outside the freezer and all is working and reporting.
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For even longer battery life, you could use a pair of AA batteries in series. A little larger, but if you can hide itā¦?
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Is there a Smart Things temp monitor with wired sensor, so batteries could be outside the freezer. #20 wire would not significantly compromise the seal?
I am using ST_Anything on a NodeMCU and DS18B20 temperature probe to monitor freezer temperatures.
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Tom
That looks great. I just donāt have time for the learning curve. Need something more, plug & play. Thank you for your insight
John
Iāve used the Xiaomi Aqara temperature/humidity sensor inside a Freezer but you will need a Custom DTH by ābsprangerā to use the device in ST.
You will also need the Ultimate Lithium Chrome CR2032 batteries mind, as regular CR2032 batteries seem to fail with the cold temperatures of a freezer. The Ultimate Lithium Chrome batteries have a lower operating temperature range.
This setup seems to work reliably for me.
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You can also use the stock dth SmartSense Temp/Humidity Sensor if you want the aqara devices to run locally.
Oh right, thatās good to know.
Iāll give it a try.
Thanks for the tip.
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Tried the SmartSense DTH and this works much better than the brspranger one. Like you, say is local but also, the tile in the ST app shows the temperature rather then the humidity.
Thanks.
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Glad to hear it! I have 6 of these and never have any issues. The only thing I use the bspranger dth for is setting the battery. Once the battery reports, I switch it over. Usually takes an hour.
Ah, I didnāt know of the battery reporting trick. Iāll keep that in mind if I get any others.
The fact that this Xiaomi Aqara devices work with a SmartSense DTH, makes me wonder if other Xiaomi Aqara devices would work with an appropriate SmartSense DTH. Do you have any experience of this?
I ask, I as I have some Xiaomi Aqara motion sensors and Smoke alarms (these have never worked properly and got retired).
Thanks again.
These are the only aqara devices Iāve ever tried, so I cannot comment on the others. Itās worth giving it a shot.
Would you happen to have a link to these somewhere? Searching for them gets me hits on āUltimate lithiumā batteries, and hits on āchromeā batteries, but no results for both together.
I have an Iris V2 contact sensor in my freezer. Iāve got it inside a tiny ziploc bag and use it just for temperature. Depending upon where I put it, it reads between -10Ā°F (bottom) and 5Ā°F (door). It gets about 9 months of battery life (CR2).
Careful about talking of batteries in sealed bags, a certain somebody may mention yet again that it will lead to the fall of the human race.
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Hi,
No probs. Iām in the UK, so link to Amazon UK.
Hope it helps.
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