7 Messages
Low Battery on New Sensors
I have this issue on a new system I installed. Two of the sensors are showing low battery and I doubt there is any interference; they are installed in windows with one of them being adjacent to two other windows that have no issues. One worked for two days, then said low battery, the other about a week. I unfortunately tossed out a perfectly good battery on the first one to find it also didn't like the new battery. I swapped batteries with adjacent window, and it was ok again for about a day, then the error returned so the problem follows the sensor, not the battery. Next, I swapped locations of the sensors, and the problem still follows the sensor.
I can pull the battery and put it back and it will be OK for a day.
I have 19 of these sensors - I hope this is not going to a "thing".
SS is already sending one new sensor, so now I must call about the second one.
captain11
Captain
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6K Messages
2 years ago
@stevepow137 I will go with some of the compenents were in inventory for awhile. Yeah, a theory only but my SS3 system with 43 compoents all are fine and battery performance is what Simplisafe advertises, except for the outdoor camera, which I expected and use AC power on both outdoor cameras from the start. SS will stand by their products and will send replacement sensors to make sure they are not defective.
In my instance, I have a spreadsheet (used one with SS2) with a listing of all of my components, date installed, expected battery replacement, and actual replacement date. Absolutely necessary, no, but I don't mind doing it. Over the past 4+ years batteries have lasted about what SS say they will. I am proactive, for example, that when we went on a two week vacation just prior to the pandemic I replaced both of our keypads and aux siren's batteries just to make sure we had no issues.
Bottom line: I wouldn't worry, solid performance.
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stevepow137
7 Messages
2 years ago
I think these must be defective sensors as changing the batteries doesn't help, so it's not a dead battery or battery life problem. And it's not a location/interference problem - I can move them to another location and that doesn't help either.
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davey_d
Community Admin
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5.6K Messages
2 years ago
Hi @stevepow137 ,
Thanks for reporting. "Low Battery" is a different signal/warning to "Wireless Interference Detected", or even "Not Responding" (i.e. if the Base Station was not receiving signals from the sensor).
So it's unlikely for this to be an issue with connectivity.
When you first set up those sensors, do you remember if they still had the battery tabs attached? If the tabs were removed, the sensors could have been active (even if not connected to an actual system yet). So that might explain the battery drain.
However, it could also be possible that the Base Station just interpreted signals incorrectly - a known issue from very old firmware versions. I would suggest updating your Base Station's firmware just in case.
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stevepow137
7 Messages
2 years ago
There is no battery drain. It's a spurious error message. I can move the batteries around to different sensors and the problem follows the Sensor, NOT the battery. So far only two have done this, so I'm going to write it down as luck of the draw and get them both replaced.
And yes, the Sensors were new out of the box, wrapped in plastic, and with the battery tab in place.
(edited)
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vin56
2 Messages
1 year ago
I had the same issue. Earlier this month I added a new entry sensor. Within a few days I had notification that the battery was already low on it. Considered it a fluke, I swapped batteries from a different sensor and the same new entry sensor gave the warning and the existing sensor with the "low battery" never complained. I tried even removing the device and re-adding it to the system. I tried new batteries. Nothing was successful. I chatted with support and they sent me a replacement which was received today. (refurbished one) But in the mean time my system had a firmware update. Wonder if the sensor was just defective or the firmware update will help my situation.
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