I am using six Phillips Hue zigbee motion sensors with Hubitat C7 (Hue Motion Sensor drivers). These generally work fine, reporting motion activity illuminance, etc. However the battery level status always reports 100% in Hubitat. I've gotten accustomed to changing the batteries once the sensors stop reporting motion (i.e, when the controlled lights no longer automatically turn on). But this doesn't give me any advanced warning of the batteries going dead.
Does anyone have similar experience? Is this a known issue or limitation with the driver? Is there a way to get these sensors to report correct battery level status to Hubitat?
Interesting. I discovered this last night, when the temperature sensor showed an incorrect reading.
Battery level was at 100%, however I did remember that in the past it did show it decreasing, and also alerting me to the fact that it was going down.
But now, it seems to stay at 100%
Three curiosity questions:
What battery chemistry? I ask due to different discharge curves (image stolen from althephoto.com)
Indoor or Outdoor sensor?
How long was the lifetime of the batteries?
Not a direct answer to your question, but I did learn recently that if you use the HA > Hue bridge integration, you get access to input devices like buttons and motion sensors as well as lights.
My preferred method of using my Hue outdoor motion sensors with Hue lights is via the Hue Bridge. I've been using the HE > Hue bridge integration for many years, and while it's been working fine for my needs, the HA > Hue bridge integration illustrates that the Hubitat integration is in need of an overhaul. Where updates take between 30 seconds to 1 minute with the Hubitat Hue bridge integration, they are instant with the HA > Hue bridge integration.
More related to the post topic, with the HA > Hue bridge integration I can bring Hue motion, illuminance, temperature and battery events into HE via Home Assistant Device Bridge, and simultaneously use them with the Hue Bridge. However, I don't see any change in the Hue Motion sensor batteries level in either the HA > Hue bridge integration, or my iConnect Hue app. Perhaps if @user2527 and I are always seeing 100%, then Philips buggered this up in a firmware update at some point. In the past I did have a Hue outdoor motion sensor directly connected to HE and the level was reporting correctly.
Here are a couple of points for clarification based on the above post replies:
I am using the indoor sensor:
I use alkaline batteries.
I don't use the Hue Bridge; I just pair directly to the Hubitat C7 via Zigbee, so this may boil down to whether the Hubitat 'Hue motion sensor' device (driver) is capable of reading the sensor battery level.
Welp, that doesn't bode well for me then. Also using alkaline and a C7. Only a handful of my devices seem to have useful battery readings, so I am not horribly surprised.
I find they report battery % well.
The batteries last a long time.
I've had the Hues in a Package Bin and Mailbox where the temps got over 120f.
I've had one in the Fridge's freezer for 2.5 years, never missing a beat, and it's still at 54%-and those are alkalines.
Can you provide any details on the upgrade process? Fair warning: I'll probably ask some stupid follow up questions!
I don't have any experience with zigbee or zwave firmware updates. How is an update done?
I tried the 'update firmware' button on the device page in Hubitat Elevate, but I don't see any indication that anything is/has happened, although I'm not sure where to look (nothing in events or log entries about updates). I see some old posts about updating that seem very complicated, lengthy and prone to failure. Here is one such post:
Hubitat can get firmware somehow from Hue, but I don't know how robust that process is (does Hue send it proactively, or does HE have to periodically ask, etc).
The firmware HE has is probably pretty recent but may not be the most recent.
If you really want to have the latest, you need to use a Hue bridge to get it. That can be a pain since you need remove & re-pair x2 to do it. For the few Hue things I have directly paired, I don't find it worth the effort unless I've somehow learned my device is way behind.
But I keep the vast majority of my Hue stuff on the Hue bridge anyway (then bring into HE via CoCoHue), so I get the latest Hue updates that way.
For instance, there's a Hue bulb update from April or May that's not available in HE yet.
For now it looks like my path of least pain is to just change the batteries when the sensor stops reporting motion. Maybe some future update will resolve the issue.
