RemoteLinc Batteries..

[CopyRon]

Used to be the batteries in my RL's would last about a year.

Now they are dead in weeks.

What happened?

[MikeB]

Hey Ron -

 

Some have reported RemoteLincs eating through batteries very quickly (a week or 2), and a replacement has fixed the issue for them. How many weeks are you talking? I believe my RemoteLinc goes about 4-5 months on a set of batteries with fairly infrequent use, and I think that's normal.

 

You might want to give Smarthome a call.

[thomgibb]

I also have had major RL battery consumption. I bought 4 units and have all 4 replaced so have new units from a second batch from SH. I have four units, only 2 put in service to date. As I was having problems again I asked for 4 more replacements so actually have 8 now as I haven't returned the second batch yet. I used to get 7-14 days on a set of batteries.

 

Here is the peculiar part. I have taken the same two units and replaced the batteries twice more and they last betwen 7-14 days. Then I have taken them out of their normal use area but still within communication and the damn things seem to last a lot longer now. I have 10 weeks out of one and 6 weeks out of the other. I operate a couple of their switches every day that I think of it just to try to get similar activity as before. So they are still going fine. Just for the heck of it I put batteries into the two units that aren't linked to any device just to see how long the batteries last. So far they have gone 10 weeks with me operating their switches as before. The third batch of 4 units is still sitting in their box.

 

The unfortunate part of all of this process is that it all takes time to verify. I plan to return one of the two RLs to its original environment but was waiting for it to die or last longer before I changed the test parameters prematurely.

 

I will keep you posted what I find but it all takes huge amount of time.

[IndyMike]

Back around the Christmas time frame I changed the setup on our Family room RL. This is the "better halfs" device and it is used daily. Two days later the batteries were gone. Thinking that it was just their time, I replaced the batteries and returned the RL to the Boss lady.

 

You guessed, within a few days the batteries were dead again (Boss not happy - can't turn on fireplace). When I looked over the scenes that I had linked to the RL I noticed that I had mistakenly linked into a kitchen scene that included another controller (3 way circuit). I normally only use one controller per scene.

 

I corrected the kitchen scene link by linking to the scene where the RL was the only controller. That was 3 months ago and the batteries are still going strong. Not at all a scientific test, but I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed similar problems.

 

IM

[RLIKWARTZ]

My remote batteries seem to last forever. The remotes aren't used constantly through out the day. I do think you have to be carefull about your linking. I think it can cause activity that you don't want to happen on the remote so it doesn't go to sleep and conserve energy like I think it's supposed to. I've had mine since I think the silver ones first came out and they had some deal where if you upgraded your access points they gave you a remote or something.

[Rob]

I had an original silver RL that lasted months on a set of batteries. After the i1/i2 linking problems during the December ISY betas it started chewing through batteries every couple of days. I got it replaced at the end of Jan. and the batteries are dead again after extremely little use.

 

Most of my RL scenes have multiple controllers and have from the beginning. I wonder if this is a problem with the newer RLs. I have another RL that's over a year old that gets much more use and I only recently replaced the batteries in that for the first time.

 

The only other thing I can think of is I recently (a week or so ago) moved an AP that was in the same room as the battery-hungry RL to the other side of the basement. I'll put the AP back to where it was when I replace the batteries and see if that makes a difference.

 

Rob

[RLIKWARTZ]

I have the current beta installed so we'll see if it causes a problem with battery life.

[thomgibb]

I definitely do not have, nor ever had, either programmed controller cross-connected to the other. Of course the two that have batteries installed but not programmed for anything are still working as noted previously.

 

Still monitoring.

[NewTech]

I am also having problems with my RemoteLinc eating through batteries and I'm tired of sending them back only to receive a replacement that does the same thing. I am on my third RL since Christmas 2008 and now this one is costing me a fortune in batteries. I also have a problem with batteries leaking when installed in the RL. These batteries are not cheap- they're the Durcell Pro brand. Anyone else experiencing leaking of the batteries?

 

I'm thinking about doing away with the RL and opt for the purchase of the IRLinc http://www.smarthome.com/2411R/IRLinc-Receiver-IR-to-INSTEON-Converter/p.aspx. I was wondering if this would be a good alternative for the defective RemoteLincs?

 

Thanks!

[Rob]

I finally created new scenes where the RL is the only controller as I tried everything else to no avail. I also bought rechargeable batteries. It's only been a few days since I created the new scenes so I won't count a success until the batteries last more than a month.

 

I haven't had any problems with leaking batteries nor have I read anything about others having that issue.

[ergodic]

To improve battery life try unlinking the RL scenes and just running the RL controls via programs. You could also consider using either the X10 keypads and an X10 RF pickup, or a universal RF remote (if you have a /IR ISY) and running control through programs.

 

Admittedly the X10 RF keypads are even more aesthetically challenged than the RLs, but they are small, available incredibly dirt-cheap, they have 10 vs 6 device controls, and the 4xAAs seem to last forever.

 

I have all three types and I don't find the now very small delay in program execution to be much of an issue for anything I've tried. I've even stopped scene-linking the RLs because of the hassles involved. All my remotes now just run programs and I can easily adjust the programs whenever I want without fussing with putting RLs into link mode and without worrying about a half-baked RL link.

[NewTech]

To improve battery life try unlinking the RL scenes and just running the RL controls via programs. You could also consider using either the X10 keypads and an X10 RF pickup, or a universal RF remote (if you have a /IR ISY) and running control through programs.

 

Admittedly the X10 RF keypads are even more aesthetically challenged than the RLs, but they are small, available incredibly dirt-cheap, they have 10 vs 6 device controls, and the 4xAAs seem to last forever.

 

I have all three types and I don't find the now very small delay in program execution to be much of an issue for anything I've tried. I've even stopped scene-linking the RLs because of the hassles involved. All my remotes now just run programs and I can easily adjust the programs whenever I want without fussing with putting RLs into link mode and without worrying about a half-baked RL link.

 

This does make sense. I'm wondering if now that my batteries are leaking if it has done damage to the RemoteLinc? Maybe I'll give it one more try tonight and unlink it form all of my scenes and use it only via programs. I'll post my results!

 

Thanks.

[jkraus]

If just using RL to control programs, would seem OK, but if wanted the advantage of the RL to control lights and do dim and brighten, it would be lost by using with programs I believe.

 

Joe

[ergodic]

That's correct I believe - you can use fade up/down/stop but there's no way - at least none I could find - to access the dim/brighten commands of the RL via the ISY.

 

It would be useful to be able to intercept those in the ISY (a-la IR "is held") or have them appear in the interface in some way.

[NewTech]

Since I am awaiting my third replacement Remotelinc I can't test what you suggest but if my memory serves me correctly I'm fairly certain you can dim a scene when holding down the off button or brighten it when holding down the on button.

 

I'm interested in being able to do this with one of my scenes on my RL.

 

Thanks. I'll give it a try as soon as I receive my replacement.

[NewTech]

To improve battery life try unlinking the RL scenes and just running the RL controls via programs. You could also consider using either the X10 keypads and an X10 RF pickup, or a universal RF remote (if you have a /IR ISY) and running control through programs.

 

Admittedly the X10 RF keypads are even more aesthetically challenged than the RLs, but they are small, available incredibly dirt-cheap, they have 10 vs 6 device controls, and the 4xAAs seem to last forever.

 

I have all three types and I don't find the now very small delay in program execution to be much of an issue for anything I've tried. I've even stopped scene-linking the RLs because of the hassles involved. All my remotes now just run programs and I can easily adjust the programs whenever I want without fussing with putting RLs into link mode and without worrying about a half-baked RL link.

 

This does make sense. I'm wondering if now that my batteries are leaking if it has done damage to the RemoteLinc? Maybe I'll give it one more try tonight and unlink it form all of my scenes and use it only via programs. I'll post my results!

 

Thanks.

 

My leaking batteries have begun melting the plastic on the RL. I was told by the folks at Smarthome that they had battery troubles with version 1.0 and the problem was corrected with any revision higher than version 1.0.

 

They also said that there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to program the RL into scenes.

[SteveL]

One thing I would recommend is to pull out the batteries after you have finished programming the RemoteLinc. It sounds like the wake up circuit is staying on and running the batteries down. Removing the batteries and then putting them back in after programming might help with the battery life.

 

Steve L

Smarthome

[NewTech]

One thing I would recommend is to pull out the batteries after you have finished programming the RemoteLinc. It sounds like the wake up circuit is staying on and running the batteries down. Removing the batteries and then putting them back in after programming might help with the battery life.

 

Steve L

Smarthome

 

Thanks, Steve! I am awaiting an RMA for the return of the defective RemoteLinc and have already ordered a replacement from you guys. I will try removing the batteries. Hopefully the revision level on the one I receive will be higher than level 1.0.

 

Thanks.

[SteveL]

Let me know if you have any issues.

 

Steve L

Smarthome

[Rob]

One thing I would recommend is to pull out the batteries after you have finished programming the RemoteLinc. It sounds like the wake up circuit is staying on and running the batteries down. Removing the batteries and then putting them back in after programming might help with the battery life.

 

Steve L

Smarthome

 

Thanks Steve for the suggestion, I'll give that a try. Your posts are always very helpful.