I recently added a Zigbee motion sensor (Tuya-branded, I think) to my Hubitat setup, and while it’s detecting motion just fine, I’ve noticed the battery percentage isn’t updating—still stuck at 100% after several days of use.
I’m wondering:
Is this normal for some Zigbee devices?
Do battery levels only update once it drops below a threshold?
Is there a workaround or maybe a preferred driver that improves battery reporting?
I’ve tried hitting "Configure" and "Refresh" from the device page, but no luck so far.
Just trying to figure out if I should ignore it or dig deeper. Would love to know how others deal with this.
Wait - you expect that several days of use will cause the battery level to drop below 100%? Just how fast do you think these devices consume DC power?
For some perspective, the CR2450 coin cells in some of my Aqara motion sensors are still working after 3+ years. I just measured the voltage on one of those batteries - it is at 2.9V. Brand-new, these cells report around 3.2-3.3V. And when the sensors stop reporting, the batteries are 2.6-2.7V. So they are currently at about 50% usable battery charge.
So that's 50% use after >1000 days of operation. You should see no battery consumption after several days of use.
I don't know how the software or device firmware works exactly, except I understand that software looks at battery voltage and implies battery percentage from voltage. That may not be the most accurate way to do things, but I think it is the most common way for small devices like this.
Batteries and battery chemistry are odd. Batteries all have a certain discharge curve, depending upon load on the battery and whether it is alkaline, lithium-ion, and so on. The voltage on these smaller batteries often stays very flat for a large portion of the life of the battery. From there, the fall of battery voltage could be very gradual, or very sudden depending upon battery characteristics.
So it wouldn't surprise me to see 100% reported for a long time (months or years even), then you are at 50%, then suddenly the battery is dead.
The best you can do is check the battery (monthly?) regularly and if the percentage has dropped significantly from the last check, it is probably on the way out.
As @aaiyar said above, this shouldn't be reporting low battery level after just a short time. You should expect to see 100% for weeks or months.
Yes, for most battery devices. I have hundreds and that is how they work.
I often don't see the battery drop below 100% on Zigbee devices for months or a year. I have some devices (using non-coin cell batteries) that can last for 2-3 years on a single battery.
As noted above, devices compute (guestimate) their battery level from the battery voltage. But batteries don't discharge linearly. Most device battery levels drop in large amounts (like 1/6, or going from 100% -> 83%) because of these two items.
Just use Device Activity Check (linked above) and don't worry about the battery level until it is under 10% (which might be slightly too low or too high depending upon the device and the type of battery).
