Evohome Controller - Rechargeable Battery life

[SteveP]

Probably a question for Rameses or suppliers of evohome but what is the expected battery life of the controller rechargeable batteries?
Why I ask is that last night I went to remove the controller from the cradle and it went blank. I put it back onto the cradle and it did a reset. To cut a long story short, the rechargeable batteries appear to have failed. I did the following tests:
1) Checked power into the unit – 4.26v
2) Checked the battery voltage 1.12v
3) Even after charging for 12 hours the display still shows batteries at 50%
4) As soon as I remove the unit from the cradle the battery low display flashes up and within 2 secs the unit goes blank. Sometimes the display blanks immediately I remove it from cradle.
5) Place unit back on cradle and a reset and resynch occurs
6) Swapped the batteries for some non-rechargeable (did NOT Put back into cradle as batteries will explode) and controller showed 100% battery and worked fine.
7) Put the unit back on cradle with no batteries in and message appeared stating “there are no batteries please refer to your supplier”
The unit is now back on cradle with the duff rechargeable batteries in
I purchased the item new from amazon on 6th Nov 2014.
The previous Mark I unit I had for 2 years never had a battery issue and the batteries appear to be the same brand.
If the batteries are replaceable under warranty I don’t really want to send the whole unit back and be without heating.
Your advice appreciated

[Rameses]

Sorry seems like you are correct. Log a call with customer services - they will send you some new batteries. Email [email protected] - mention you spoke to rameses on the forums. New set will be sent out.

[SteveP]

Sorry seems like you are correct. Log a call with customer services - they will send you some new batteries. Email [email protected] - mention you spoke to rameses on the forums. New set will be sent out.

Thanks Rameses. Glad you also believe it is the batteries and not the controller :-) I will follow your advice
Cheers

[Wally©]

Battery life is not a major concern to me... Life expectancy of the HR92's is far more important... Any idea how long these things are supposed to last..?

[Rameses]

We state 2 years with good quality batteries. Could be more (2 heating seasons at least). This was covered in another post. Also describes battery types (use of rechargeable and settings on Hr92)

[G4RHL]

Had to change the batteries in one of my HR92s two weeks ago. They were new in November. I have another, also new November, showing the batteries are now at 50%. Much depends on how old the batteries were in the first place. Had no issues with the rechargeables in the controller but do find the controller does not always seat properly in the wall mount and need to make sure charge is occurring. I would advise a set of spare rechargeables is always kept. Your local Currys or PC World will sell them. Which reminds me I must look at lithium rechargeables as they may have a better life span; need to check the power out first though. I am sure rechargeables in the HR92s are not advisable, the voltage out is lower and you will find yourself frequently recharging them. Plus if like me you have 12 TRVs then it could well be a regular exercise changing batteries and of course needing to have spares always ready.

[SteveP]

Had no issues with the rechargeables in the controller but do find the controller does not always seat properly in the wall mount and need to make sure charge is occurring. Which reminds me I must look at lithium rechargeables as they may have a better life span; need to check the power out first though. I am sure rechargeables in the HR92s are not advisable, the voltage out is lower and you will find yourself frequently recharging them. Plus if like me you have 12 TRVs then it could well be a regular exercise changing batteries and of course needing to have spares always ready.

1- controller not seating properly - yes when I was running my test yesterday I observed that sometimes the controller wouldn't seat spot on and there was no power coming through. The give away was that the backlight brightens when power is received as I normally have it set on full night mode (I like the dark background display) but at 50% brightness
2 - Lithium rechargeable - the batteries in the controller are NIMH so are less prone to memory affect than NICAD but not free of that as with Lithium. I feel that I have hit the memory affect with these batteries due to their behaviour. However, the last set lasted 2 years with no issues. Lithium would remove that possibility though of memory affect.
3 - batteries in the Rad valves - I had a similar experience when I replaced the batteries last autumn and for some reason the new ones only lasted 6 weeks. I then went back top my normal procell batteries and all has been fine since. Certainly lasted nearly 2 years the first set I put in. I do think though that the batteries in the Valves are the one major weakness of the wireless system. I have a number of rooms with multiple rads and when I get the low battery warning at the controller, I have no idea which valve is the culprit and so end up changing them all in the zone. I do wonder if the valves could have rechargeables and a recharging power socket. If the valves could show their level (Ideally at the controller) then if the power adaptor had a long lead you could just plug it in to the nearest socket and let it charge back up. You could do that as each valve maybe gets to 50% so there is no major effort. The big advantage for me is that some of the valves I have to remove to replace the batteries and then I have to reset the actuator cog position. I appreciate that the rechargeables have a lower voltage and so need more regular topping up. Is there any reason that the valve could not have a fixed larger capacity battery so that infrequent recharging was required? I am sure Honeywell have already been through this exercise and arrived at alkaline batteries being the best solution.

[HenGus]

My controller has never left the powered mounting bracket on the wall. I am not sure that this is good for re-chargeable batteries that are designed to be used and re-charged. Rameses -any thoughts?

[SteveP]

Sorry seems like you are correct. Log a call with customer services - they will send you some new batteries. Email [email protected] - mention you spoke to rameses on the forums. New set will be sent out.

Rameses - I sent email as you suggested to evohome Support UK <[email protected]> at 11:08 on Monday - other than an automated response no other communication as yet :-(

[sharpener]

My controller has never left the powered mounting bracket on the wall. I am not sure that this is good for re-chargeable batteries that are designed to be used and re-charged. Rameses -any thoughts?

Used to be a big problem with NiCads, not nearly so much with the newer nickel-metal-hybrids. (Also they suffer less from self-discharge in storage.)

How do you set up yr system and investigate the numerous issues you have reported without moving the controller about the house? But don't let the batteries go completely flat or you will have the same problems as me!

[HenGus]

Used to be a big problem with NiCads, not nearly so much with the newer nickel-metal-hybrids. (Also they suffer less from self-discharge in storage.)

How do you set up yr system and investigate the numerous issues you have reported without moving the controller about the house? But don't let the batteries go completely flat or you will have the same problems as me!

Thanks. The issues are as reported in the Faults Log: I am not sure what value there is in moving the controller around the house. After further discussion with Evohome and my installer, it has now been agreed that the BDRs need to be moved to the top of my airing cupboard away from anything that looks vaguely like it might be metal. There was also a question raised about the BDRs themselves which, I am told, have been updated. The installer is also going to double check that all the old control systems have been fully isolated.

[sharpener]

The issues are as reported in the Faults Log: I am not sure what value there is in moving the controller around the house.

I've found that when re-binding all 8 actuators (which I had to do last Saturday and again on Monday) it's quicker to take the controller round the various rooms than run backwards and forwards pressing the Bind buttons or taking all the actuators to the central position.

There was also a question raised about the BDRs themselves which, I am told, have been updated.

Grateful if you would post here anything you can find out about this, I have had unexplained boiler firing and suspect my BDR is the culprit

[G4RHL]

I've found that when re-binding all 8 actuators (which I had to do last Saturday and again on Monday) it's quicker to take the controller round the various rooms than run backwards and forwards pressing the Bind buttons or taking all the actuators to the central position.
Grateful if you would post here anything you can find out about this, I have had unexplained boiler firing and suspect my BDR is the culprit

......errr is not that the way to do it anyway - take the controller to the TRV?!

Not sure if anyone else has noticed it but of late it seems the annoying bleep from the controller when out of its charger does not start up as soon as it used to.