Batteries - typical life and which type?

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  • DorrisMancer
    Automated Home Guru
    • Nov 2017
    • 129

    Batteries - typical life and which type?

    My system is approaching 15 months old so I'm starting to think about battery replacement. I've got 26 HR92s so that's a lot of batteries.

    Having looked at battery specs and reviews I'm undecided about which brand, and whether to go for Alkaline or Lithium. Few batteries seem to have specified capacities and most reviews are subjective, not based on controlled measurements. Currently I'm leaning towards Energizer Ultimate Lithiums, but £65 (ouch!) for 50 is the best price I can find.
    Clearly battery life will depend on usage, but it would be useful to know which batteries people have tried and how often they typically need replacing in HR92s and the CS92?
  • roydonaldson
    Automated Home Guru
    • Jan 2013
    • 205

    #2
    I've used Lithium batteries before, but only for locations that were difficult to access. I'd consider just buying a pack of standard AA's and going for those. Have a look at these for instance:



    80 for £20. You can get about 240 batteries like this for £60, so nearly 5 times as many.

    Comment

    • paulockenden
      Automated Home Legend
      • Apr 2015
      • 1719

      #3
      Originally posted by DorrisMancer View Post
      Currently I'm leaning towards Energizer Ultimate Lithiums, but £65 (ouch!) for 50 is the best price I can find.
      There's a (good feedback) seller on ebay offering 24 for £20, and looks like they accept offers too. At less than £1 per battery that's a good price. Free postage too.

      P.

      Comment

      • dty
        Automated Home Ninja
        • Aug 2016
        • 489

        #4
        I tend to use Energizer Ultimate Lithiums too. I picked up 50 for £40 from eBay before Christmas. They last about 2 years here - depending on how often the HR92 has to adjust itself.

        Worth pointing out that you should adjust parameter 9 to match your battery type. (Set it to 1 for Lithium - I wrote "9=1" on my box, which confused my 10 year old!)

        Comment

        • dty
          Automated Home Ninja
          • Aug 2016
          • 489

          #5
          Originally posted by DorrisMancer View Post
          £65 (ouch!) for 50 is the best price I can find.
          24 here for £20: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X-24-AA-E...2ruC:rk:3:pf:1
          100 for £80: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X-100-AA-...ruC:rk:21:pf:0

          So, that's 80p each. Or £1.60 for a pair for a single HR92. And if they last for 2 years, that works out at 1.5p per week. Seems like a bargain to me.

          Comment

          • G4RHL
            Automated Home Legend
            • Jan 2015
            • 1580

            #6
            I use the orange industrial ones sold on Amazon and buy them in bulk. They are the same as standard Duracells I believe but cheaper. I have tried different types but no noticeable difference amongst them - apart from the price. With most HR92s I get a little over a year out of them apart from one which consistently asks to be replaced every three months. Rather than wait to be told they are going down, as the system is not over clever at doing that, I have a diary note to replace all once a year.

            Comment

            • paulockenden
              Automated Home Legend
              • Apr 2015
              • 1719

              #7
              The lithium batteries last at least two years. Or rather, they do here.

              It's more about convenience than cost for me. I don’t mind paying slightly over the odds if it means fewer battery changes.

              Comment

              • filbert
                Automated Home Guru
                • Oct 2017
                • 162

                #8
                My system (13 HR92s) was installed in Oct 2017 and the batteries are GP brand - seems to be the sort you can get cheap in 'pound shop' establishments. They have started to fail. I have replaced 3 sets so far over the last couple of months.

                I am replacing using GP batteries as I had them in stock and replacing, as and when the system tells me they need it, is not a big issue as all are easily accessible.

                Comment

                • G4RHL
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Jan 2015
                  • 1580

                  #9
                  It is being told batteries are failing I have an issue with. Yes a warning appears on the Panel, but only for a short time, if you don’t look at the Panel very often you will miss it and there is no warning in the app. My wife would certainly not have clue batteries may be failing. With other systems dependent on batteries, my outside cameras for example, I get a warning in the app of impending failure. Hence I decided to adopt the practice of change all once a year - except my study which seems to be every VAT quarter!

                  Comment

                  • filbert
                    Automated Home Guru
                    • Oct 2017
                    • 162

                    #10
                    Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
                    ...Yes a warning appears on the Panel, but only for a short time, if you don’t look at the Panel very often you will miss it and there is no warning in the app.
                    I don't know how long the warning on the Evohome unit stays up - maybe someone else can comment?

                    It was there the other morning when I got up and still there after breakfast - an hour or more - maybe a lot longer, depending on when it first appeared. - I don't know if it comes back if you acknowledge the warning message but don't swap the batteries.
                    Then there's also an indicator against the zone on the unit, admittedly, the zone warning might be on screen two or three and not immediately obvious.

                    Maybe next time, I'll leave it and see what happens.

                    I don't use the app much, so I can't comment on that. Any family member would see the initial warning on the unit, it's very obvious.

                    Comment

                    • DBMandrake
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • Sep 2014
                      • 2361

                      #11
                      Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
                      It is being told batteries are failing I have an issue with. Yes a warning appears on the Panel, but only for a short time, if you don’t look at the Panel very often you will miss it and there is no warning in the app.
                      This has been discussed before a few times - initially the warning will only appear intermittently and go away again, but eventually it will come on permanently.

                      This is probably because the battery voltage is only checked infrequently, (hourly I think ?) and if it happens to check while the motor on an HR92 is turning loading down the battery voltage this can trigger the low battery alert. And then next time the voltage is checked and the motor is not turning the battery voltage will have recovered to an acceptable level so the low battery alerted is cancelled and removed from the screen. (However it will still be listed in the fault logbook)

                      But give it a few more weeks and the battery will deteriorate to the point where the battery warning stays on continuously. Normally I replace the batteries when I get the earlier warnings however on a couple of rooms I have just let them go to see what happens and within a few weeks the warning comes on permanently while the HR92 is still functioning.

                      So it's not true to say that the warning is only ever displayed for a short time - that's only the case initially but if left longer it will come on and stay on permanently when the battery is sufficiently drained.

                      Comment

                      • DorrisMancer
                        Automated Home Guru
                        • Nov 2017
                        • 129

                        #12
                        Thanks everyone. FYI I've now ordered 100 Energizer Ultimate Lithiums for £75.

                        Comment

                        • Tractorboy
                          Automated Home Jr Member
                          • Nov 2015
                          • 22

                          #13
                          That’s my routine too G4RHL. I change all the Evohome batteries in the 1st week of November... also have boiler serviced, so that the system is in good nick for the winter. I test the used batteries and keep those with some life left in a box labelled “ok for toys” and they tend to get used up around Christmas! I also change the batteries in the burglar alarm while I’m at it. My better half looks on and takes part so that if she has to carry on this tradition in my absence, she’ll be able to cope.
                          I have a routine for testing used batteries. I set my multimeter to DC current (high range) and briefly connect the battery. A new, branded AA should deliver about 7Amps. After a year in a Honeywell rad valve the current is about 3Amps. Anything below 1.5A isn’t worth keeping.
                          I also use this test to give me some idea of the “quality” of different brands of new batteries. Remember to dab the multimeter probes onto the battery for no more than a second! Also remember not to leave your multimeter set in any current measuring mode when you’ve done, or you will likely damage it if you try to measure a high voltage next time you come to use it!

                          Comment

                          • Stevedh
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Mar 2017
                            • 177

                            #14
                            When buying batteries of of ebay (amazon too), what do you do to guard against fakes, is it just a matter of looking at reviews?

                            Comment

                            • Tractorboy
                              Automated Home Jr Member
                              • Nov 2015
                              • 22

                              #15
                              For non critical things... toys, torches (you can tell when batts are fading), remote controls, etc I buy “cheap” and in bulk... for example a few years ago ikea own brand batteries got good reviews, so I stocked up on them.
                              For things like Evohome, burglar alarm, cameras... I buy branded (Duracell, Energizer etc) in the possibly mistaken belief that they are more consistently reliable. As I mentioned, I also change batteries on a schedule (in my phone diary), and keep them for use in all sorts of trivia that kids and grandkids seem to acquire and often grow tired of, or break, before the batteries have expired. I prefer changing batteries at a time of my choosing, rather than at the whim of the equipment!

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