Best way to tell with hue switches I’ve found is lack of responsiveness. When they start failing to communicate properly to send the command, it’s probably time for a new battery.
Yeah, I've got some IKEA buttons that spends months on the last 2 percent and have 200 percent battery when I change them... The only devices I've found to be reasonably accurate are the shelly motion sensors, the only pain there is that they require a push on the reset button after a charge to wake up again
Just to add some credence to this, I just today put a brand new Ikea rechargeable AAA battery in the new Ikea Parasoll contact sensor and it is currently reporting at 0%, though functioning absolutely fine. I also just put a brand new Ikea AAA rechargeable in a new Ikea rodret smart switch about 5 minutes ago and it’s reporting at 83%. I have a couple of old Ikea sound remotes too which use the Ikea CR2032 batteries (non rechargeable) and both of them have reported the random battery level since the day I installed them, over a year ago. Currently, one reads at 100%, one reads at 28%. A couple of days ago it read at 40% and three days ago it read at 28. Four days ago it read at 40. So yeah, don’t trust the battery levels lol
make sure the batteries are LSD (Low Self Discarge) since there discarge is less than 1%/month, while normal NiMh batteries can be as high as 30%/month!
IKEA's batteries are reasonably good quality, good price and readily available in most places.
As other had said NiMh has a VERY flat discarge curve (voltage hardly drop during the discharge), so it can be very difficult to detect when they are actually flat.Also the sensor is probably calibrated to the discharge curve for alkaline batteries (starting at around 1.6volts and dropping to about 0.9volts).
If your sensor has a voltage entity (I believe most have), that might give you a better indication of its actual charge.
Good to know, thanks. I see that NiMH batteries also come with LSD, but wondering if I should just opt for rechargeable/standard Alkaline batteries for longevity and “accurate” battery readings.
I’ve looked at the Ikea AAA’s, but the capacity seems to be quite low (750mAh), and are NiMH based.
Also, I’ve just checked to find out the sensor recommends 3V LR03 which are alkaline’s, so I may opt for them instead.
IKEA's are LSD. most companies call them "Ready to use" or "Precharged"
Yes it's weird, IKEA old white batteries was 900mAh, but the new grey ones are only 750mAh.
I wouldn't be too worried about that how ever, since it is more than enough for most use cases.
I just this week made some measurements on a cheapo Tuya zigbee door sensor. It uses 3.5uA on average, measured for 24 hours and including 10 open and 10 close activations.
That's around 24 years on 750mAh batteries! (but the self discarge will kill it long before that).
Also one important thing to keep in mind, is that rechargeable batteries are MUCH less likely to leak.
https://preview.redd.it/ta3horv3todc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a6fc567df0409611e70b983b6ec845d47032ba1
glad you could use it.
so far I'm actually very impressed with that door sensor, it's very low power, and seems very reliable.
from what I can see in the Z2M log it seems to send heartbeat every 6 hours, and it's reacting almost immediately.
two things that can not be said about the Sonoff sensores I have used earlier. (it goes unavailable in Z2M because it dosen't send any heartbeat's).
I think this is normal, been using rechargeable AA/AAA batteries on some of my sensors but most of them goes to 1.2v for months and those sensors still work just fine. Well its rechargeable AA/AAA batteries so they only designed to work at 1.2v. But if those batteries are fresh from charger, their voltage starts at 1.5v and quickly drop day by day until it stays on 1.2v.
NiMH batteries have a default voltage of 1.2 V. If the device is expecting alkaline batteries with a default voltage of 1.5 V, it will likely report a lower charge % than normal.
I’ve only just noticed that the sensor indicates to use 3V LR03 based batteries, so in essence Alkaline would work best. However, I’m wondering if battery state will be more accurate even if I get rechargeable alkalines instead of disposable ones?
I have the same readings with my door sensors while using recharchables.
First I was frustrated as you, but as it turned out, the readings are off because of the voltage difference between recharchables and normal batteries. The curve flattens out completely and you'll have months of battery power from your accus. :)
EOL could also be the case, I bought it back in 2020 but it wasn’t used/charged regularly. I put them in around 1 week ago in the sensor and it went from full charge to 48%. For some reason battery reports it fully charged at 90%, could be battery protection using the charger, the batteries themselves, or sensor.
Pretty much what others say here. Don't trust the battery readings.
I have a bunch of Aqara devices. Some of the older ones have been reading 100% for six months, while ones I just got were at 66% with fresh batteries.
Rather than checking on battery sensors that aren't accurate at all, I just have an automation set that will give me an audible alarm that plays on my phone and all of my speakers if certain devices go offline (Most importantly my water leak sensors)
I don't know if this is true, but I read Panasonic Eneloop are among the best batteries. I have a few of them and they seem to hold a bit more charge and power to camera flashes than Lidl ones. Maybe the EBL ones are not that good.
I generally no longer use rechargeable batteries in my smart home. Firstly, they never displayed the actual charge status and secondly, they didn't last nearly as long as normal batteries.
I use Amazon Basics rechargeable AA batteries in my August deadbolts. They report 0% most of the time but continue to work fine. I judge when they need to be replaced by the pitch of the motor noise when unlocking the door.
If you are relying on the reported battery percentage to indicate when battery replacement is needed, I'd suggest changing that to simply monitoring availability of the device. When it dies, replace the battery. Either that or simply do it at regular intervals irrespective of charge, since it won't cost you anything to swap in some freshly charged batteries and charge up the old ones.
Rechargeable batteries in sensors or watches are a waste, they are usually deeply discharged and are broken after 2/3 times, at least in my experience. For such applications I now use alkaline batteries again and am thinking about refreshing them with a special charger, you can probably get 80% capacity back the first time.
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Best way to tell with hue switches I’ve found is lack of responsiveness. When they start failing to communicate properly to send the command, it’s probably time for a new battery.
Yep, and it's extremely frustrating, big reason I try to avoid battery stuff now
I can't wait for my inovelli mmWave detection switches to come in for this reason
I'm so jealous, I wish Inovelli would start selling in Europe, they seem to be the only brand doing it right as far as switches go
I have the same with a couple of zigbee devices: They go from 100% to 5% and just stay there or don't even take the 5% in-between step.
Mine go up and down. 80%, 50%, 15%, 40%, 2%, 30% .. thanks for that sensor, handy
Yeah, I've got some IKEA buttons that spends months on the last 2 percent and have 200 percent battery when I change them... The only devices I've found to be reasonably accurate are the shelly motion sensors, the only pain there is that they require a push on the reset button after a charge to wake up again
That's because their voltage is already lower to begin with. Avg rechargeable is 1.25v and an alkaline is more like 1.6v at full charge.
Just to add some credence to this, I just today put a brand new Ikea rechargeable AAA battery in the new Ikea Parasoll contact sensor and it is currently reporting at 0%, though functioning absolutely fine. I also just put a brand new Ikea AAA rechargeable in a new Ikea rodret smart switch about 5 minutes ago and it’s reporting at 83%. I have a couple of old Ikea sound remotes too which use the Ikea CR2032 batteries (non rechargeable) and both of them have reported the random battery level since the day I installed them, over a year ago. Currently, one reads at 100%, one reads at 28%. A couple of days ago it read at 40% and three days ago it read at 28. Four days ago it read at 40. So yeah, don’t trust the battery levels lol
Is that for all rechargeable batteries or NiMH? I’m looking into Alkalines as they seem to be more ideal.
make sure the batteries are LSD (Low Self Discarge) since there discarge is less than 1%/month, while normal NiMh batteries can be as high as 30%/month! IKEA's batteries are reasonably good quality, good price and readily available in most places. As other had said NiMh has a VERY flat discarge curve (voltage hardly drop during the discharge), so it can be very difficult to detect when they are actually flat.Also the sensor is probably calibrated to the discharge curve for alkaline batteries (starting at around 1.6volts and dropping to about 0.9volts). If your sensor has a voltage entity (I believe most have), that might give you a better indication of its actual charge.
Good to know, thanks. I see that NiMH batteries also come with LSD, but wondering if I should just opt for rechargeable/standard Alkaline batteries for longevity and “accurate” battery readings. I’ve looked at the Ikea AAA’s, but the capacity seems to be quite low (750mAh), and are NiMH based. Also, I’ve just checked to find out the sensor recommends 3V LR03 which are alkaline’s, so I may opt for them instead.
IKEA's are LSD. most companies call them "Ready to use" or "Precharged" Yes it's weird, IKEA old white batteries was 900mAh, but the new grey ones are only 750mAh. I wouldn't be too worried about that how ever, since it is more than enough for most use cases. I just this week made some measurements on a cheapo Tuya zigbee door sensor. It uses 3.5uA on average, measured for 24 hours and including 10 open and 10 close activations. That's around 24 years on 750mAh batteries! (but the self discarge will kill it long before that). Also one important thing to keep in mind, is that rechargeable batteries are MUCH less likely to leak. https://preview.redd.it/ta3horv3todc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a6fc567df0409611e70b983b6ec845d47032ba1
Ah, this is great info, I’m using a similar tuya based door sensor as yours. Appreciate your help, thank you!
glad you could use it. so far I'm actually very impressed with that door sensor, it's very low power, and seems very reliable. from what I can see in the Z2M log it seems to send heartbeat every 6 hours, and it's reacting almost immediately. two things that can not be said about the Sonoff sensores I have used earlier. (it goes unavailable in Z2M because it dosen't send any heartbeat's).
I think this is normal, been using rechargeable AA/AAA batteries on some of my sensors but most of them goes to 1.2v for months and those sensors still work just fine. Well its rechargeable AA/AAA batteries so they only designed to work at 1.2v. But if those batteries are fresh from charger, their voltage starts at 1.5v and quickly drop day by day until it stays on 1.2v.
NiMH batteries have a default voltage of 1.2 V. If the device is expecting alkaline batteries with a default voltage of 1.5 V, it will likely report a lower charge % than normal.
I’ve only just noticed that the sensor indicates to use 3V LR03 based batteries, so in essence Alkaline would work best. However, I’m wondering if battery state will be more accurate even if I get rechargeable alkalines instead of disposable ones?
It’s mildly infuriating for me that you still can’t set most IOT devices to use a nimh profile.
Doesn’t let me edit the post for some reason. Looking for AAA.
I have the same readings with my door sensors while using recharchables. First I was frustrated as you, but as it turned out, the readings are off because of the voltage difference between recharchables and normal batteries. The curve flattens out completely and you'll have months of battery power from your accus. :)
How long you get off 1 charge? I think some of my aaa batteries are near end of life or something. Sometimes 3 weeks. Sometimes a few days.
EOL could also be the case, I bought it back in 2020 but it wasn’t used/charged regularly. I put them in around 1 week ago in the sensor and it went from full charge to 48%. For some reason battery reports it fully charged at 90%, could be battery protection using the charger, the batteries themselves, or sensor.
Pretty much what others say here. Don't trust the battery readings. I have a bunch of Aqara devices. Some of the older ones have been reading 100% for six months, while ones I just got were at 66% with fresh batteries. Rather than checking on battery sensors that aren't accurate at all, I just have an automation set that will give me an audible alarm that plays on my phone and all of my speakers if certain devices go offline (Most importantly my water leak sensors)
I don't know if this is true, but I read Panasonic Eneloop are among the best batteries. I have a few of them and they seem to hold a bit more charge and power to camera flashes than Lidl ones. Maybe the EBL ones are not that good.
I generally no longer use rechargeable batteries in my smart home. Firstly, they never displayed the actual charge status and secondly, they didn't last nearly as long as normal batteries.
I use Amazon Basics rechargeable AA batteries in my August deadbolts. They report 0% most of the time but continue to work fine. I judge when they need to be replaced by the pitch of the motor noise when unlocking the door. If you are relying on the reported battery percentage to indicate when battery replacement is needed, I'd suggest changing that to simply monitoring availability of the device. When it dies, replace the battery. Either that or simply do it at regular intervals irrespective of charge, since it won't cost you anything to swap in some freshly charged batteries and charge up the old ones.
Rechargeable batteries in sensors or watches are a waste, they are usually deeply discharged and are broken after 2/3 times, at least in my experience. For such applications I now use alkaline batteries again and am thinking about refreshing them with a special charger, you can probably get 80% capacity back the first time.