I knew there was a problem with updated battery status in zigbee devices, but two of my battery powered z-wave devices report 1% battery with fresh batteries. I just checked them with a voltmeter, and they’re fresh and should report 100%.
Is this a known problem? Couldn’t find anything about it…
It all depends on the brand, some brands are terrible or very intermittent with sending updated battery levels (IE: Fibaro, Nodon, older Eurotronic).
Some devices work pretty good for some people, some devices not at all for some (IE: neo coolcam).
But some brands work brilliantly (IE: Aeotec, at least not seen anyone mentioned theirs not reporting their battery).
Here I have multiple Aeotec z-wave devices. They where NOT reporting there battery state. But after enabling wake-up interval (very responsive and friendly support!) it was working great
I tried setting the wake-up interval on both of my devices. The first one didn’t have it set and reported “invalid node” when I pressed save. Since it wasn’t part of any flows I removed it and added it back. It was then possible to set the wake-up interval. For my fibaro eye, however, the wake-up interval is already set - but when I tried changing it I got the “invalid id” error for that as well. The strange thing is that it detects motion and starts the correct flows - but I’m unable to change the wake-up. Strange…
I also tried restarting the apps and even restarted Homey. No change.
If you want to change some settings of battery powered Z-Wave devices you have to wake them up manually first and then click the „Save“ button. Normally you will get an info, that the settings are saved. But the message „invalid node“ is not normal.
Could you please check in Developer Tools → Z-Wave if there are some node IDs marked as „Unknown“ in the column „Route“.
Btw, testing a battery with just a multimeter can give you a (more or less) false volt value. Here is a YT video how to test batteries correctly:
So they have to be tested under load.
But normally really new batteries should work of course.
I actually have a few with unknown route - most of them are disconnected (plugs), but a couple of them also show as unknown devices. ASFAIK, all my devices are working properly, but I guess I’ll have to check closer as at least two of them apparently do not
As for batteries, I’m aware of the problem. For new batteries, I usually just do a quick check, but I also have a dedicated battery tester. The latter only shows “good”, “poor” and something else with a red light that I cannot remember the name of. For unused batteries that have been in the shelf for a long time I just check the voltage real quick, but when in doubt I also use the tester. The batteries I’ve used now are straight out of the box they came in.
I ended up just removing and readding the two devices I was struggling with, and that seems to have fixed it. Luckily, these sensors were just included in a few flows, but it would be nice to have a solution in case it happens again - and it would be a chore to change flows and stuff.