Have been using my new Yale Assure lock now for about 2 months, and have already replaced the batteries 3 times! I can not figure out for the life of me why they are draining so fast.
My schlage smart lock (now on the back door) can go almost 2 years without needing new batteries.
Anyone have this same issue, or any ideas as what the problem could be?
The lock is amazing, and want to keep it obviously, but this is crazy.
I put new batteries in yesterday around noon, it is now showing at 86%!
That is very fast drain. How strong is your zigbee mesh? FWIW, the batteries in my Yale Assure locks have lasted over a year.
Probably also want to make sure there’s no resistance to the deadbolt sliding in and out. That’ll usually cause the lock motor to try harder and burn the batteries more.
How far is your lock from the Hubitat hub? Are there any mains powered devices such as smartplugs that are near the lock that can act as repeaters? If the radio wave connection between the hub and the lock is not strong enough, traffic between the devices will have to be repeated multiple times. That can drain the batteries.
Make sure the lock is aligned properly with the strike on the door frame. If there is any binding, it will take a lot of force to drive the deadbolt home. Also make sure the bolt is clean and lubricated using a lightweight machine oil.
The lock works very smoothly by hand, no resistance at all (I was actually very proud of this because I installed the new door at the same time and normally is a disaster haha).
As far as distance, I would say maybe 20’ max, I can see the hub and lock from the same seat.
Only powered zigbee device between the two is a peanut plug (there is a zwave repeater as well for the Schlage lock).
I have tons of hue lights, but don’t think they repeat?
They do work as repeaters/routers. They’re actually terrible repeaters for zha devices like your lock. Do you have them paired to Hubitat or to a Hue bridge? The general recommendation is to do the latter.
FWIW, my zigbee Hubitat has about 21 routers for 30 end-devices. I suspect your zigbee mesh isn’t very stable.
Just because you can see both the hub and the lock from your chair does not mean the hub can see the lock. Zigbee uses a higher frequency than Z-wave, so it does not penetrate through walls as well.
I suggest you place a good Zigbee repeater within a few feet of your Zigbee lock. Although some smart outlets are great Zigbee repeaters, everything I have heard about the Peanut plugs is that they are lousy repeaters.
While Hue bulbs are repeaters for Zigbee lighting, they are not effective repeaters for home automation devices.
I understand that the Tradfri signal repeaters from Ikea are supposed to be good. They are cheap and also serve as USB chargers. They are inexpensive.
I have some Centralite smart outlets that do a good job as repeaters. Be careful when purchasing smart outlets, however, as there are several with similar appearance that support Wifi and Z-wave rather than Zigbee. You need a good Zigbee switch.
I’ve never had problems with my other zigbee devices. I have a few a dozen or so contact sensors, multiple motion sensors, and a few leak sensors, all running flawless. I know these are all battery powered so do not repeat, but never had issues with performance or battery life?
Any suggestions on how to make my mesh stronger?
Sounds like maybe a zigbee repeater could help?
My hue lights are paired to the hue hub and can control it in hubitat. Never really understood how the two interact, but finally have them working nice so hope I don’t need to do anything here.
A few (3-5) would be better. Here are a few inexpensive powered zigbee devices that work well as zigbee routers with Hubitat:
Tuya zigbee 3.0 signal repeater - $13. Can be plugged into any 1A USB power supply. They're small and discreet.
Ikea Tradfri signal repeater - $13. I prefer the Tuya units to these, but they are also pretty good.
Thanks for the help, I ordered 4 of the plugs (they seem the most practical for my needs and limited outlets to begin with).
Once I get them paired up will I need to do anything else?
Nothing else - just give your mesh 24 hours to stabilize.
The eWeLink zigbee plugs look a lot like the Peanut plugs, but I do not know if they share similar electronics. Plugs that are shaped like that do not have much room inside for a proper antenna. Thus, I question how effective they are as repeaters. Maybe that is why you need several of them.
You are one of the few people that I have read that has recommended Tuya devices. I know they have joined the Zigbee Alliance, but I do not know much about specific devices. They are starting to develop Zigbee 3.0 devices which should be fully compliant.
Although I have not used one, there are many people who recommend the Tradfri repeaters. Because it is not an outlet, it is able to maintain a compact size.
I put energiser lithium batteries in my 2 SL door locks and they both still read 200% capacity a few weeks later. 
My Zigbee mesh is mostly Samsung smart plugs I bought on sale when they pulled out of the smart home market.
Yep agree with @aaiyar - My Yale YRD256 with the zigbee module is at 72% (just checked). I think I replaced the batteries 4-5 months ago maybe longer - of course this is a basement lock so doesn't get used all that often but the point is rapid battery loss is definitely not normal.
You were wise. I wish I had done the same.
There are plenty of good zigbee 3.0 repeaters on the market now (at least in the US). Outlets, bulbs, relays, and dedicated usb repeaters.
They don’t suffer from the issues that several zha1.2 routers/repeaters did.
Just connected and plugged in 4 new zigbee plugs and spread them around the house. So I now have 8 total (3 in the basement and 5 upstairs). The battery on the lock was at 51%, that’s a drain of almost half in less than a week.
I will give it a few days and hopefully this helps!
If not, I am completely clueless and think I may need to contact Yale. Possibly something wrong with zigbee device? No idea just thinking ahead.
Possible. Can you post a screenshot of the output of:
Download the Hubitat app
