I installed three Aqara smoke detectors in mid December. Since then, the battery level dropped from 100% to around 35% at the moment. I already read that Aqara devices seem to “loose” a lot of battery in the first months but then stay at around 50% - however, mine are now well below 50% and keep falling (although it gets a bit slower):
I have the fear that these are nowhere near the 10 years of battery life - unless something magical happens soon and the battery level is frozen in place…
So is that a normal behavior or did I misconfigured them somehow?
The main reason that most batteries that come with devices tend to crap out early then they are meant is usually due to the difference between them being manufactured and then put in to storage to be sold.
It’s usually best practice to just let them be used up then replace it new ones.
For most batteries here in australia I usually go with energizer branded ones as they tend to last the longest even with regular usage if they have the type avaliable.
Looks like here we mainly have these brands to work with for those CR17450 batteries:
I contacted the aqara support and they replied me basically saying: if you use the product on a third party Integration and not with an aqara hub, we cannot guarantee the battery life that is advertised. They also said that battery life may be estimated different and thus it may look that bad.
But is HA actively polling the devices? Or configuring them to report extremely often? I also wonder how HA should calculate battery life differently? Isn’t that just the value the device reports?
I subscribe to the discussion, as I have the same issue, 5 Aqara smoke detectors installed last December and batteries are between 28% and 41%.
Using Z2M
Battery life usually is reported everytime the device wakes from the activity is is designed for and setup with, this should be the same rate regardless of the integration or platform used.
If its an active poll from the hub side then it will drain battery rate more than the passive wake only push from the device on activation.
The value is calculated by the voltage of the battery at the time of the poll when it wakes on activation.
It as stated should be the same for most if not all battery based devices that have the values available to be monitored.
Batteries not lasting long might also be due to how long they have been sitting unused before the device has been powered on after manufacturing date when its one that comes with them out of the box.
This is why it’s best to let that battery fully use up then replace it and start properly checking how long it lasts with the new one installed instead of basing this estimate on the ones that come with them.
If the same issues persist then its either a firmware update if available should mitigate it or an investment into converting it to a mains powered device with a battery backup is in order depending on how importent it is for the setup.
Thus, in reality the device is at 66% with 2.9V (?) - which would match reports of other Aqara devices that they stay at around 50% for very long time? And 2.9V is I guess perfectly fine?
Batteries not lasting long might also be due to how long they have been sitting unused before the device has been powered on after manufacturing date when its one that comes with them out of the box.
I would need to check that but as far as I remember, the battery manufacturing date was in close range to the sensor, i.e., both end of last year.
If they really get empty soon, I need to buy new ones any ways and can compare how long they last.
If the same issues persist then its either a firmware update if available should mitigate it or an investment into converting it to a mains powered device with a battery backup is in order depending on how importent it is for the setup.
Mains power is certainly not happening - even though it would be nice. It is a residential building and I cannot put mains through the ceiling…
I do not see a firmware update in HA - is there a firmware available anywhere else?
Also interesting, aqara changed the fine print:
***The estimated battery life is based on testing at 25°C, 50-65% humidity, with one 5-minute alarm every 30 days via Aqara Home. Third-party platforms may increase power usage and display inaccurate battery levels. For accurate readings, please rely on Aqara Home’s display and real-world usage.
The latter two sentences were not there two week ago (see post above)
I recently bought one from Aliexpress to see if I could switch to that. The battery was already only at 80% to begin with (it had originally been sealed in foil) and lost almost 10 percent within a few days. At the same time, I also bought several other Aqara and Sonoff Zigbee devices, and they still have 100% battery. Furthermore, Google searches reveal various posts about battery issues with these smoke detectors, which seem to have been going on for about 3-4 months. Perhaps it was just a bad battery batch, if others with the same firmware don’t have the problem? Hopefully, it’s not the smoke detector’s hardware.
edit: ZHA tells me (I have activated z2m ota) that I have installed the latest firmware with version 0x00000013
So far, it looks like everyone that has this issue in this thread also bought the sensors in December, thus indeed, it could perhaps just a bad batch of batteries.
I checked, I also have firmware 0x13. Do you need a specific plugin for that? My HA shows me the firmware and also announces that it is the most recent one…
No, sorry, was not clear enough, I’ve only added the modify zha/zigpy_config code to my configuration to make sure it uses the GitHub repository of the zigbee-OTA collection.
I haven’t seen any info or issue as to how or why the older version is now apparently being offered via the repository again, but if it’s not a bug, it could be an indication of problems with the latest firmware and with a bit of luck an updated version might be coming soon - yes I know, a lot of wishful thinking involved.
