I told a few people I was going to do some benchmarking on the power usage on the old Zooz ZSE and new Zooz 800LR models (as I have time).
ZSE41 700 Series Open/Close
Idle Current: 1.15 uA
Active Current Sending Messages: 8.5 mA
Battery Capacity: 225 mA (CR2032)
20% Drain Safety Factor
50 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 1236 days
This is higher than I'm seeing IRL (I get around a year), but I also don't think I've ever had a whole battery run in which I didn't also do a firmware update, which sends many thousands of messages and skews the life dramatically.
ZSE41 800LR Open/Close
Idle Current: 0.48 uA
Active Current Sending Messages: 5.01 mA
Battery Capacity: 225 mA (CR2032)
20% Drain Safety Factor
50 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 3806 days (3x more than the old model)
ZSE42 700 Series Leak Sensor
Idle Current: 1 uA
Active Current Sending Messages: 6.610 mA
Battery Capacity: 225 mA (CR2032)
20% Drain Safety Factor
2 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 1135 days
This is higher than I'm seeing IRL, but I also don't think I've ever had a whole battery run in which I didn't also do a firmware update, which sends many thousands of messages and skews the life dramatically.
ZSE42 800LR Leak Sensor
Idle Current: 0.5 uA (50% less than previous model)
Active Current Sending Messages: 5.360 mA (20% less than previous model)
Battery Capacity: 620 mA (CR2450)
20% Drain Safety Factor
2 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 3856 days (3.4x more than the old model)
It obviously won't be THAT long in real life. But directionally this is looking AWESOME from a battery life standpoint, no matter where exactly it ends up.
My existing ZSE42 last well over 1 year... So these should easily get 3 years+ (depending on message count and temperature used in).
ZSE44 700 Series Humidity and Temperature
Idle Current: 58 uA
NOTE: This is REALLY high. Not sure if it is a coding issue on Zooz end, or if they picked the wrong/poor components for Temp/Humidity (I didn't have time to look at the sensor models used)
Active Current Sending Messages: 8.51 mA
Battery Capacity: 620 mA (CR2450)
20% Drain Safety Factor
12 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 419 days
This is higher than I'm seeing IRL (I get around 230 days), but I also don't think I've ever had a whole battery run in which I didn't also do a firmware update, which sends many thousands of messages and skews the life dramatically.
And maybe my 12 messages/day assumption is low? I used 12 based on my running sensors history, but maybe there are periods further back they update more often...
ZSE44 800LR Humidity and Temperature
Idle Current: 3 uA (dramatic improvement from 700 series model)
Active Current Sending Messages: 3.9 mA (About 60% less than previous model)
Battery Capacity: 620 mA (CR2450)
20% Drain Safety Factor
12 messages/day on average yields battery life of: 5299 days
insane improvement over the 700 series model. Whatever was wrong in the original ZSE44 [firmware? component selection? other?] appears to be completely fixed in the 800LR model
There is something very wrong with the ZSE44 700 series model, in my opinion. Idle power usage shouldn't be that high. I tested on multiple units, and all on newest firmware as of 2023-01-06. I have no idea if it was poor component selection, or if it is a firmware issue.
The ZSE42 800LR model has much lower idle power usage, and lower transmit power usage, than its predecessor. This is a really good sign for battery powered Zwave 800 devices, in my opinion. I hope we see similar gains in the other Zwave 800 devices when I get time to test them.
I haven't tested power usage in Zwave LR mode. I expect idle will be the same, but transmit could be different. So don't expect drastic changes, as most power usage on these types of sensors is the idle, not active, power usage.
That's my hope too... It is a definite possibility, as the current 700 series model results are just BAD.
I've built quite a number of temp/humidity sensors at this point on a number of platforms, and I don't have ANY battery operated ones that are anywhere near that high in idle power usage... So it seems like a mistake, not an intentional design choice.
Honestly, they haven't seemed real interested in low level feedback in the past when I've given it to them. They have tended to just ignore all references to measurements and data, and just give back canned recommendations on reducing reporting frequency via the settings.
But in any case @agnes.zooz , if interested see the comments on the ZSE44 700 Series in this thread...
Added results for ZSE41 700 series Model in OP.
Added results for ZSE41 800LR Model in OP.
Added results for ZSE44 800LR Model in OP.
The ZSE44 800LR is dramatically more battery friendly than the 700 series model was... I'm tossing my 700 series models in the drawer at this point as they are junk compared to the new version.
I currently have one of these mounted inside a gun safe. I got just over a year on the first battery, I'm about 5 months into the second battery now. The one I've had terrible battery life out of is the tilt sensor (ZSE43?) . That goes through about 2-3 batteries a year. They even replaced one, same result.
Those last a long time if you have shock reporting set to low/off and turn off shock reporting... AKA only use it in tilt reporting mode. I've never ran mine in shock mode.
That doesn't help if you WANT the shock reporting though, obviously.
I didn't Think I had shock turned on, but it's entirely possible I overlooked that. While I haven't had issues with the temp /humidity sensor, i may just go ahead and replace it with the new ones. Until I got the C8, whenever I looked it was always four hops. With the C8 it has been about 70% direct, 30% two hops. Am I thinking correctly that the 800 chip would continue to improve that?
I'll add that I was really surprised that it worked at all from inside that safe.
800 chip has (a little) longer range, so may connect directly instead of hopping. That said, hops aren't really "bad" (although 4 is a lot, and would concern me). They slow the messaging down like 15ms, but nothing crazy. And they don't really impact battery life in any meaningful way. Sure, direct is better, but a hop or two (not 4 ) doesn't really matter in 99.999% of situations.
If/when the Hubitat C-8 supports Zwave LR - now that might be a different story altogether. LR has dramatically increased range, and can better adjust radio strength/duration when reporting so can really improve battery.
On the older 700 series model of the ZSE44 Humidity/Temp I can't get more than 7-8 months on a battery... So battery life was a real issue for me on those. Looks like the new 800LR model fixes that though.
yes. any other device I would be as well. This one I never really was concerned about when you consider where it was mounted. On the C7, about 70% of my devices were 1-2 hops. On the C8, this is the only device that isn't consistently direct. I finally got irritated enough with the tilt sensor. I removed it and replaced it with an EcoLink garage door tilt sensor.
I just put 4 zse41 800 series on some outside gates a couple months ago. One is already at 20% battery, the other 3 in the low 40s. They are all making 2-4 hops, report battery level a couple times a day, and the gates are only opened a couple times a day. 2 of them haven't been opened since the day of install.
Is it possible the cold weather might be the cause of this excessive battery usage, or maybe the readings are not accurate due to the cold affecting the 2032 battery?
The cold is definitely not helping -- lithium is way better than alkaline in the cold, but still. Plus, the 2032 is a small battery to begin with. I guess Zooz deems small form factor most important for contact sensors (understandable perspective) based on the assumption they'll be used indoors.
Extended temps <32F degrade the capacity some (20-30%).
Temperatures <4F degrade the life/capacity significantly (can be 50%+).
Just is what it is.
If Hubitat adds Zwave Long Range (LR) support it would be worth trying to re-pair them in LR mode. It should be more efficient transmitting at edge distances, which could lengthen battery life too.
Yes, I think it's the cold affecting it. We went into sub zero temps late this afternoon, and when all the gate sensors did their scheduled daily power report about an hour ago, they are all below 20 percent. 2 are below 10 percent.
) doesn't really matter in 99.999% of situations.
