I have a number of Bali (Somfy) Z-wave solar shades in my home. Integration/operation with Hubitat has been solid - no issues. However, what I've noticed is that the batteries in the basic 2-button remotes that come with the shades drain incredibly quickly. On average, batteries are only lasting about 3-4 months. What's odd to me is that I only rarely use those remotes to operate the shades. I almost exclusively operate the shades using voice commands through Alexa. In my primary and guest bedrooms, the Somfy remotes never get used, as I've installed some Zooz 6-button Scene Controller/Switches and use buttons on those to operate the shades.
What, exactly, is that remote doing, when it's sitting idle, to cause such rapid battery drain? The remotes are obviously included in Hubitat as devices, so my only guess is that they're being polled a lot for status, perhaps? Of course, the shades still operate fine with a completely dead remote battery, but as always seems to be the case, the rare occasion I do need to use the Somfy remote to operate the shade is when I find it dead
I noticed the same things with my Bali layered shades using the premium 12 channel remote. According to the Hubitat device log the remote is waking up and reporting its battery level approximately every 3 minutes. I also noticed the lighted display on the remote "wakes" up at intervals for no apparent reason. The remote is currently assigned the default Device type. I have no idea what other driver type I could use here. I am completely new to Hubitat so i can only guess here.
My guess is that I needed to pair the remote to the hub in order to associate the shades with it (after pairing the individual shades to my hub). Once that is done, I really have no need of the remote device in Hubitat, so I tried disabling it in the device list. This does not seem to interfere with how the remote interacts with the shades but I am wondering if it will reduce any battery draining interaction between the hub and the remote.
As I said, this is complete speculation on my part and I would be happy to be corrected by anyone with more knowledge. Let us know if you learn anything more.
