Before you give up, consider swapping out the electronics module (the oblong plastic piece you see when you remove the inside cover) with electronics for BE469ZP, but only if you have a C-7, which can do S2 security (1/3 packets of S0). I was seeing similar short battery life on my two BE469, until I replaced my modules with BE469ZP. Batteries are now 98% after just over 6 months:
I’m expecting well over a year between battery replacements. I’m very happy after changing the modules for Z-Wave Plus ones.
You can get them on eBay, all BE469ZP modules are the same, regardless of lock model. Replace with 3 screws.
Occasionally you can find the inside-door piece sold separately from touchpad, or find one with broken touchpad. Just watch out for early firmware versions. One of mine is 0.11.0, other is 0.10.9, both work fine.
One was $39, other was $49. If you get one with just inside part, make sure you get the door mounting plate, or at least, as I did on one of mine, a photo of the sticker on the door side of the mounting plate, because that’s where the S2 DSK key is, needed for S2 inclusion.
Yep. Except that you could swap for the Zigbee version (BE468GBAK), which is also interchangeable. I’ve never used the Zigbee module, but it can’t be worse than the BE469.
Another option is the Yale Assure Lock. I have the YRD226-ZW2-605 (Brass) but it also comes in a Bronze finish. While it's an S0 device (sadly), I've had it over 2 years with no problems at all and I think I've only changed the batteries twice so far. It's been extremely reliable.
It's interesting for me to hear you're happy with your BE469ZP locks. I have 2, with Z-wave Plus switches right next to them and a strong mesh throughout the house and these locks constantly fail to send their status changes to the hub when manually locked or unlocked. One of the locks is even 7 meters from the hub with 2 z-wave plus switches between the lock and the hub.
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on why yours are so reliable?
Install the Reliable Locks app and enable the option to "retry commands if the lock doesn't respond the first time". Once I did that my four Schlage BE469ZP locks got very reliable. I still sometimes face some long delays in responding to commands, but they always respond with this app installed and option enabled.
Thanks for this advice, my locks almost always respond to commands, they are reliable that way, but what they fail to do regularly is send their status updates back to the hub. Mainly if a door is unlocked or locked manually, they fail to send that status change to the hub.
The same Reliable Locks app also solves this issue auto refreshing the lock status on a configurable interval as well as refresh X seconds after last command. I use once every 10 minutes for the app to auto refresh each lock for status update. Give the app a try, I literally think it will solve all your problems.
I don’t know. I don’t know whether your Z-Wave switches near the locks are beaming repeaters, which seems to be required for the FLiRS locks. When I migrated to Hubitat from Wink just over a year ago, April Brandt, one of the forum members who has since been banned, recommended beaming repeaters near the locks, and that fixed my problems. I initially used Aeotec Range Extender 7 repeaters, and they worked fine. I later changed to Ring Alarm Extender Gen 2 repeaters because the Ring devices have internal battery backup and also report power fail so that an appropriate rule can shut the hub (on a UPS) down cleanly if the power doesn’t return in an appropriate time.
I was seeing similar issues, short battery life and missing response. The beaming repeaters fixed the reliability issues, moving to BE469ZP with S2, and changing my hub to C-7 (the C-5 could only do S0) fixed the battery life issues.
I’ve just accepted that the Hubitat’s antennas don’t seem to have the gain that the Wink and SmartThings hubs have, shrugged my shoulders, and put good repeaters throughout my house.
I don’t use any Reliable Lock or similar apps to compensate for issues.
I use the BE469ZP with a C-7 and all z-wave plus devices in my house and the lock has been rock solid with 98% battery going on 7+ months now. 95% of my house are Inovelli 2nd gen red and black dimmers and switches. Not using anything special as far as apps go beyond the built in lock manager, and no dedicated repeater devices.
Thanks for taking the time to reply with your experience. I too had no issues on Wink and have struggled with the locks since moving to Hubitat. Battery life isn't a big issue for me, but the inconsistent reporting of statuses is an issue. I've had it on my to do list to order Aeotec Extenders and see if that helped so I think I'll try that now. I guess I was being a litltle stubborn in hoping all of my Leviton DZ6HD Z-Wave Plus dimmers (and similar quality Leviton Switches) would have built out a strong enough mesh network that I wouldn't have to resort to occupying electrical receptacles with range extenders.
I also really appreciate your write-up about how easy it is to swap out the board in a Schlage Lock. I have a dead BE649 that I might just try and source a BE469ZP board for and see if that gives it new life! I was going to replace it with a Yale Asure Zigbee lock, as I've read these tend to be more reliable, but maybe the range extender should work.
Also good to hear you're not using the Reliable Locks App. Although that's a great workaround someone came up with, I would much prefer reliable and instant lock status updates.
Lastly, woa woa woa, April was banned? When did this happen and why? She was always so positive and active in the group! What did she do to get banned!?
I have had August lock retrofit. I had a lot of problems with it. I have been using Alfred and it works great. S2 with my C-7 works perfectly. I doesn't come on bronze but the black goes well with it as I have bronze too. I don't have a key option only the key pad.
Hey @672southmain, I've been watching for one of these on ebay. I've seen a couple listed but they are always listed as sold for parts and when I message the seller to inquire if the board works, they say they aren't sure, it's sold as is and is untested.
When you have bought these in the past, do you know the board works when you are placing the order or are you buying it and just hoping it works? Just trying to figure out if I should keep watching for one with some assurance the board actually works or if it's always a gamble. Thanks!
No special apps or drivers needed to keep it working, set codes or get notified of who and when they opened the door. Have not had a minute of trouble with it. Bought mine October 2018 and it's worked like a champ ever since. 256 code slots available. Keypad, but no key in this model. Has the feature on the bottom of the keypad (that you cannot see unless you look underneath) that lets you use a 9 volt battery for emergency power to get in, if you for some reason, ignored all the warnings and let the battery die and don't have a back door.
It’s a gamble, but both of mine that I bought worked. The usual reason they are sold for parts is either (a) something is wrong with the keypad, or (b) the seller wants no complaints/returns.
No, my sequence was: had BE469NX locks on Wink. Bought C-5 when Wink started collapsing, put everything on -C-5, locks didn’t operate reliably on C-5, got beaming Aeotec repeaters for each lock, that fixed the unreliability, saw poor battery life of BE469NX locks on C-5, so got C-7 and BE469ZP modules, swapped to C-7 and BE469ZP together solely for battery life issue of the Schlage locks.
Never ran the C-5 with BE469ZP locks.
I can’t think of a reason to upgrade BE469NX to BE469ZP on a C-5 because the C-5 can’t do S2 security.
Everything is now working well on C-7. I only use the C-5 to test code before deploying on the C-7.
I have an old BE469 (non Z-Wave Plus) lock that completely died. I know it's not the keypad because when it died, it didn't respond to commands from Hubitat either. So, based on your response that it's a gamble, I just ordered the back section of a BE469ZP lock and will try swapping out the board. If it works, I'll be pumped as $40CAD to fix the lock is far better than $200 for a new lock!
Still trying to figure out my other 2 BE469ZP locks not reliably updating their statuses. They always quickly respond to a lock or unlock command but if I manually unlock or lock the lock, the status in Habitat often doesn't update. I have a lot of z-wave switches throughout the house that support beaming so I feel like my z-wave mesh is strong but might have to try the Aeotec repeaters I guess.
Make sure, at least, you get a photo of the DSK sticker if you don’t get the door mounting plate included with your module. You need that to do S2 pairing if you get a C-7. There’s some odd combination of actions on the C-7 that someone posted in these forums to get it to show the full DSK if you don’t have the plate or DSK sticker photo. I forget, but it’s in the forum somewhere. I seem to remember that it involves hitting cancel or some such during the pairing process when you are asked to enter the DSK.
If you have trouble, post back & I’ll help.
You don’t need to swap out the board - just remove the inside piece from the door, unscrew the 3 screws, remove the entire module, put in the new. Only trick is to make sure the slot into which the locks tongue fits is horizontal, with the nib pointing up.
When you paired them, did you do so within 3 feet of the hub? If not I recommend an exclusion, factory reset then a pair. Sometimes if you don't you have this issue. Mine have been rock solid for several years.
