Wyze Lock battery life horrendous

Ask the Community
#1

Anyone else getting terrible battery life with the Wyze Lock? I’ve using 2800 mAh rechargable batteries that don’t last longer than a week. When I put them in the Lock the app initially shows the life as being 60%, even though other devices I put the same batteries in will say they have a full charge.

I just got the warning again saying the battery is low after replacing them last Thursday, less than a week ago. It currently says 9% life. I’m going to leave them in until they die to see how long they actually last and if it’s an issue with the Lock not accurately reading the life.

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How long are your wyze lock batteries lasting? I am about to go through my second set already
Wyze Lock - better battery life
#2

I have had the lock installed since 1/9/20 and I am only down to 70% battery with all of the auto functions on and using the batteries that Wyze shipped. I suggest using the batteries Wyze shipped or get some good Duracell/Energizer batteries. Rechargeable batteries tend to lose charge quicker than standard non-rechargeable batteries. I tried using rechargeable batteries in a gaming controller and ended up charging them every couple of days vs non-rechargeable Duracell batteries that lasted a few weeks.

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#3

Are your rechargeable batteries either NiMh or NiCD or lithium ion?? if so, it would be perfectly understandable for them to almost immediately read low since they are 1.2 volts. An AA Alkaline battery is actually about 1.65 volts when brand new and a device like the lock measures battery percentage by voltage. Even at 1.5 or 1.4 volts, it would read as maybe 60%

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#4

I’ve already used the ones that came with the lock. They lasted about a month.

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#5

They are NiMh, which could explain the issue. That would mean that just the reading is wrong and the batteries should last longer than the life reading is suggesting, correct?

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#6

Typically yes. It’s been a while, but if I remember correctly, a standard alkaline battery is considered spent between 1.3 and 1.4 volts.
Also, I seem to recall @WyzeJonathan saying rechargeable batteries weren’t recommended but I don’t know if that was due to the percentage meter or something else.

On a side note, I installed my lock on January 10th and mine were reading at 60% the other day when I checked which isn’t great for something that’s supposed to last the better part of a year. Although, I don’t know how accurate the gauge is.

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#7

The 4 AAs in my kwikset keypad lock last a year. No power sucking wifi module though.

#8

I could be mistaken, but I don’t think the lock works on WiFi, I think it’s the Zigbee Bridge that has the WiFi connection

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#9

Wyze Lock comes with the Wyze Lock Gateway—a Zigbee hub that connects Wyze Lock to your 2.4GHz WiFi network.

#10

Yes, exactly. What I meant was that I don’t think the lock even has a power sucking WiFi module that ob2s mentioned at all. That’s in the Zigbee hub and the lock itself is low power when not actually turning the motor, so batteries should last quite a while.

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#11

The most power draining is running the motor , locking or unlocking and then again it depends on on the installation

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#12

Can concur that your choice of using rechargeable batteries is the cause. Switch to the recommended alkaline batteries. I imagine you’ll see vast improvement. Our lock has been installed since 9 Jan, battery life is at 67% with a minimum of 7 lock cycles per day.

#13

Again, I already blew through the batteries it came with in less than a month. That’s why I switched to rechargeable, because I’d rather use rechargeable if regular batteries aren’t even going to last a month. Based on what I’m reading here though, it sounds like my regular batteries should have lasted much longer. And thus my rechargeable batteries probably should be too.

The door is left open throughout the day, for the dogs to come in and out. So the lock is only cycled twice a day most days.

#14

I have the same issue, my batteries only last about a month. I worked with @WyzeJonathan and determined it was due to my lock being UNLOCKED 99% of the time. I rarely lock/unlock. I don’t understand it but apparently leaving your lock unlocked causes the batteries to drain faster.

#15

So let me get this straight, the main functions of the lock are to lock, and unlock. And leaving it it one of those functions drains the battery much faster than the other? Who thought in their right mind that was a good idea?

That’s very disheartening as there are many situations where someone would want to leave the door unlocked. Like my case of wanting pets to get in and out freely and safely. Surely they would have thought of these possible situations and if so, then they actively choose to still have the door being unlocked drain the battery more, for whatever reason. Again, very disheartening.

#16

I don’t think this was intended but a bug…He did say it will be addressed in a future firmware update

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#17

That’s great to hear. Thanks for the info. Glad it’s not a broken device that has to be replaced.

#18

My point about the kwikset is that it locks and unlocks 2 to 6/day and the alkaline batteries last a year. So the vendor who makes Wyze’s lock uses a bad design.

#19

Hello @theindiearmy,

What @Ken.S said was correct. Leaving the door closed but unlocked will drain the battery life.

Is this your use case?

We will be addressing this issue in a future update.

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#20

It is, yes. I leave the door open and unlocked to let the dogs in and out throughout the day.

Glad to hear a fix will be coming in the future.