It seems I have multiple devices that when the battery dies the device defaults back to reporting 100%. So using something like battery notification will, instead of reporting low will no longer report that device and shift it to the full charge section.
So the question is….is this a product of how the devices report or of how Hubitat handles the reporting, lack of reporting and a device dropping off?
I’m going to check Rule machine, but Is there a simple way to have the system notify if a device fails to check in after a period of time? I know BPTWorld has the device watchdog but I haven’t managed setting that up right and was wondering if there’s a native way?
In general (people will probably pipe up with exceptions) battery reporting on home automation devices is remarkably unreliable, and all but worthless if lithium batteries are used. I suggest getting on a regular schedule of device-specific replacement (annual, semi-annual, whatever) and just do that.
I agree with the above posts. I have also found that sometimes when a battery dies, it becomes unresponsive with a battery change. I have to to a factory reset and re-add the device. It's usually Zigbee that has these issues, and fortunately it's easy to add it back in and it keeps the same device ID.
You could try "Device Activity Check." Easy to set up. It will notify you when something hasn't checked in. You can set up separate groups for devices that report on different schedules. I have it set up so that when I wake up in the morning, if there any devices that failed to check in, I will have a message waiting for me.
Battery reporting is pretty much awful and you either have to setup a schedule to just replace the batteries regardless of status or wait for them to not check in.
The only devices that I actually use battery reporting for are my door lock and keypads. From experience, I know at what level the batteries need to be replaced.
