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Ikea refers to several of their zigbee remotes as dimmers. This is the older one that I've had issues with: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimme

Ikea refers to several of their zigbee remotes as dimmers. This is the older one that I've had issues with: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimmer-smart-white-10408598/ https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimmer-smart-w... This is the newer one: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/rodret-wireless-dimmer-power-switch-smart-white-80559800/ https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/rodret-wireless-dimmer-power-sw... I have a few SmartThings motion sensors that are at 2-3 years battery life, though they use big lithium cells so that isn't surprising. A few sonoff temp/humidity sensors on coin cells seem to be heading for at least a year battery life as well. So far it's only the Ikea buttons that have issues.

avel 3y ago
You probably have battery issues because you are using SmartThings as the zigbee hub and it's polling the remote way too much. I have switched to HomeAssistant with a Zigbee USB adaptor and there are no more battery issues. SmartThings are aware of the issue but do not care enough to fix it.
- twisteriffic 3y ago
  I do use a few SmartThings branded zigbee sensors but not the hub. I'm using homeassistant with the sonoff efr32mg21 dongle. I'm well aware of how terrible SmartThings the company is. I'd suffered through their inadequacies until April 2023 when they deleted my account during a failed backup purge. After 3 months of waiting on their support to unlock my hub I gave up and went to homeassistant.
sowbug 3y ago
Understood. This won't help you much, but I don't think I've ever had to change a remote's battery in the three years since I switched over to Zigbee. I assume their radios wake up only when the button is pressed, which is at most a few times a day, so the battery drain should be minimal. I use Home Assistant with a Sonoff Zigbee-USB coordinator, just as you do. Those Ikea buttons look pretty ordinary, so I can't think of why they'd have such poor battery life. But they seem to be the only difference between our respective systems. These are the buttons I use most: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802252738635.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802252738635.html

avel 3y ago

You probably have battery issues because you are using SmartThings as the zigbee hub and it's polling the remote way too much. I have switched to HomeAssistant with a Zigbee USB adaptor and there are no more battery issues. SmartThings are aware of the issue but do not care enough to fix it.

twisteriffic 3y ago
I do use a few SmartThings branded zigbee sensors but not the hub. I'm using homeassistant with the sonoff efr32mg21 dongle. I'm well aware of how terrible SmartThings the company is. I'd suffered through their inadequacies until April 2023 when they deleted my account during a failed backup purge. After 3 months of waiting on their support to unlock my hub I gave up and went to homeassistant.

sowbug 3y ago

Understood. This won't help you much, but I don't think I've ever had to change a remote's battery in the three years since I switched over to Zigbee. I assume their radios wake up only when the button is pressed, which is at most a few times a day, so the battery drain should be minimal. I use Home Assistant with a Sonoff Zigbee-USB coordinator, just as you do. Those Ikea buttons look pretty ordinary, so I can't think of why they'd have such poor battery life. But they seem to be the only difference between our respective systems. These are the buttons I use most: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802252738635.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802252738635.html