Zooz ZSE40 Current Draw

Hi

Does anybody have an idea what the current draw of the Zooz ZSE40 4-1 sensor is?
Like everybody else I have atrocious battery life with this device.

I am however able to tap a power source with ease…
I would like to hard wire a 3V wall-wart to the device, and need to know the MAX current draw to size the wall-wart output appropriately.

Thanks in advance
J

Edit:
@TheSmartestHouse

I’d assume less than half a watt, so less than 150ma. You don’t have a multimeter?

A plug-in USB / 5V will probably work instead. I solder these to battery devices many times, and I haven’t smoked any devices yet.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking it would be less than 500mA as well.

The device takes 2 1.5V batteries, so 3V total.
Assuming no rechargeables are used, regular alkaline batteries, when brand spanking new fresh deliver between 1800 to 2400 mA… but I doubt this device pull as that much.

I was thinking about a USB thingy as well, but they deliver 5V, and I’m not willing to a) risk the higher voltage and b) mess with soldering (I think) diodes in-line to lower it…

Still hoping @TheSmartestHouse will chime in here…

J

it is not practical to imagine these batteries being able to deliver 1800ma. At that load they will quickly heat, melt the label, and be dead in a few minutes.

2 volts difference is insignificant.

Good luck.

Hi @GatVlieg, sorry for the late reply. The sensor can take up to 3V so we don’t recommend wiring a 5V adapter to it. There are 3V power adapters available, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/SMAKN-Premium-External-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00R5BT2O2
But they would require some DIY modifications to safely power the sensor.
Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to hard wire the device but we’re working to modify the sensor in the next version so it either uses more powerful batteries (although they will be more expensive like in the case of the CR123) and/or a USB power adapter.
Let us know if you have any other questions and feel free to contact our customer service for quick answers to any technical inquiries: http://www.thesmartesthouse.com/pages/contact-us

How many Zooz ZEE40s can run off of 1A. I am looking to hard-wire the 40s and wanted to know the amp draw as well. Figured I would tie them together and plug up in the attic using the 3v adapter you posted above. Would it be as simple as negative to negative, positive to positive twisted together at adapter using 22/2 alarm cable?

The sensor draws 200 mA at most so our estimate is up to 8 devices on 1A since they’re mostly asleep and it’s very unlikely they would wake up all at once to draw maximum power.

The set-up you described will work with 22/2 cable, just remember about matching neg > neg and positive > positive as mentioned in your post.

If you run into any questions, let u know. Good luck with the project!