About battery lifetime

Debonheur

We have a holiday home in Equevillon, Jura, France. We liked the Tado system because it enabled us to control the temperature in the house when it is un-occupied & especially maintaining it above 0C to avoid water pipe freezing during the winter when it can be minus 10C outside. We purchased 16 pcs TRV radiator controllers & 4 pcs thermostats together with the internet bridge early in 2018 & the installation went "live" in March 2018 (Tado-UK ref S0039871, 28/02/2018). Since then we have never had a long battery life with either the TRV or thermostats batteries as compared with another manufacturers system (of an earlier vintage without internet control, which is installed in my house in the UK). Typically the batteries in either the TRV or 'stat units last <4 months & often about 2 months. This has been particularly difficult during the pandemic lock-down, when we have been unable to visit (from the UK). Tado claim (& have claimed since mid 2019!!) that this is a software problem which they know about, but that claim is now 2 years old & still nothing has improved. IT IS JUST NOT SATISFACTORY. We are thinking of claiming back our original investment as the product does not live up to expectations.

HOW MANY OTHER TADO USERS HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM?

It is about time TADO did something about the poor battery life compared with earlier systems.

on6702

Sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction. I can imagine how frustrating this has been. It will be interesting to hear what others say but my experience is that I've had much longer battery life than you have quoted. My TRV system went live 12 months ago (October 2020) and in that time only one TRV has flagged a low battery warning. I'm in the process of moving to rechargeable batteries as they are now supported by the V2 TRVs and it will be interesting to see how long they last. As for some constructive ideas can I suggest that you:

(a) check that all your devices are running the latest firmware (you can check in room settings)

(b) consider trying another battery type. e.g. high-quality premium alkaline like Duracell, or lithium Ultimate Energizer (expensive but have very long life in other devices) or a premium rechargeable battery . I'm about to experiment with the IKEA Lada 2450mAh rechargeable batteries which seem to fit ok in the TRVs and should I hope last well given their large capacity (but only the Eneloop 1900 mAh are formally supported by Tado).

(c) perhaps experiment with the location of the internet bridge especially if this a large property with thick walls. I'm wondering if the need for stronger transmission signal depletes the batteries more quickly, but that is pure speculation.

Hopefully, others will also provide some useful feedback and ideas. I hope your problems are resolved soon.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

on6702

Hi @GrayDav4276

Yes, I have. I can confirm that they fit, but it's a snug fit and the tolerances are very tight and I could certainly foresee a situation where any small plastic burrs on the casing or imperfections or swelling of the batteries would cause a problem. I wouldn't recommend buying a large number until you have performed your own tests. I don't yet have any data on how well they perform but I think it should be rather good based on their characteristics.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

gary333

I got around 9 months from the provided Duracell batteries. Battery life will depend on how many changes you make to the temperature / position of TRV pin as i would think it’ll be the servos that use the majority of the battery capacity.

grassi2000

I have 6 TRVs and one of them started to last for only 2-3 weeks in September. Tado support is no help at all. Heating is not used at the moment, connection is fine, so there's no reason for battery life like this. I'm using Energizer batteries or other expensive batteries without any help. Today Tado asked me to send in a video to proof I have tried different types of batteries. 🤷 They're just trying to sit this out.

Last year one TRV ran out of battery without any notification and it fully opened at this moment. Luckily we were at home and noticed it very quickly. Being away would have been an expensive surprise.

I'll throw out Tado in spring and until then I'll replace the batteries before going on holiday or beeing away for more then a few days.

mojomoomoo

I know this post is 6 months old now but a thought occurred to me when reading this. I note that the OP mentioned the property in France was being kept above freezing.

If standard alkaline batteries are being used they do not perform well in the cold, you may find the batteries would work again once warmed up. Duracell quote -20C as the minimum temperature but that drops as the battery is used. Also at 0C batteries are have 20% less energy than a warmer battery.

For use in cold climates, Lithium batteries are best. They are more expensive but generally, Lithium will last longer and have good cold performance, down to -28C.

I am talking of non-rechargeable Lithium eg Energizer lithium and not rechargeable Lithium-ion which I suspect will not work well in the cold either.

SaulP

I am extremely dissatisfied with my Tado Thermometer. Batteries on it won’t last longer than 10days.

Send a message to Support team multiple times but no response.

Waste of money and I regret buying it. Attempting to give it back and gets my money back too.

Its not great item at all

bba007

I have had the system for about 15 months now and have only changed 2 sets of batteries last month all the others are still working, this is one of the reasons I moved from hive as they lasted less then a month.

All the batteries I use are Duracell pro they cheaper and better performing than standard Duracell. Worth a look on line

paul0000

I've had similar. Most of our TRV's have lasted over 12 months on batteries. I had been using Energiser Lithium batteries which were great but very expensive.

I then read (maybe on these forums) that there had been good results with Amazon basic alkaline AA batteries. I had to swap a couple out recently and so far so good with these.

Definitely not seen fast depletion of batteries, even though we have a spread out house with some probably borderline signal strength, which might cause faster drain.

Tadoornottado

New to smart controls, I just invested in Tado, with 5 TRVs, a wired controller and an extra wireless thermostat.

10 days later, my 1st low battery warning. I am using the supplied batteries.

Internet bridge is <20ft from the TRV in question. I will replace and see what happens, but I am hoping this is a "one off"

I am also wordering why every room reports (and gets) hotter that the set temperature....

mojomoomoo

@Tadoornottado before replacing, take batteries out leave for a minute, put them back in and allow the TRV to recalibrate. I had this a few weeks ago and now fine.
As for the over temperature, I've been told it's to stop the boiler cycling too much. I've also found it happens if you increase the boiler temperature as it screws with the apps calculations, eg room now heats up far quicker than anticipated.

Scummy

We get repeated TRV low battery warnings in the app and emails on a NEW system. First started within the first week and only had system less than 2 months now and still happens randomly. Batteries are the ones Tado supplied and test 100% ok in a battery load tester. Reseating and re-fitting the same batteries and head tends to resolve. At the same time I clean the batteries and cover in case of any dirt or residue, but keeps happening on random TRVs. Seems a temperamental battery compartment or the firmware is hyper sensitive to false warnings. Anyone found the same or what causes and any fitting technique to avoid this?

sclg

I installed 8 TRVs in November and have now had to replace the supplied batteries in 2 of them.

Apart from this, it's working fine! I'm hoping they aren't ALL only going to last 3 months or so....

gary333

Are you sure the batteries were actually flat though? I'd test with a multimeter. I notice my Tado's start to moan about 1.5V, however that means there's still quite a lot of life left in them.

ErtjeTheFreeze

Indeed be sure to check the voltage of the batteries when Tado reports they are low.
If the batteries are NOT low, it could be that the pin of your radiator valve is stuck or hard to push in. Tado can interpret this as batteries being low.
Remove the Tado TRV, and try to push in the pin of the radiator valve. You can use the back of a screwdriver for this. If the pin is hard to push in, lubricate it, for example with WD40, and push it in several times. If the pin is moving more smoothly now, open the battery compartment of the Tado TRV for a few seconds and close it again. The black “pin pusher” should retract and you can remount the Tado TRV.

Winnie

Brilliant advice @ErtjeTheFreeze - I will try out your suggestions. I’ve only had my new TADO system since March 11th and the heating has been off since 1st May but Tado is telling me that 2 of the valves need new batteries!!! This seems ridiculous. Tado say the batteries last approx 2 years. I suspect they are just errors but it’s been hard to get hold of anyone in the last 4 days. Both valves still showing that I should replace the batteries. Doesn’t help help my mood that various devices keep going offline. I don’t think the internet bridge is managing very well - if I hold the bridge upright for a few minutes and wiggle it about, the devices come back online! Sometimes I have to re- set the device. Hard to do that all the time if you are not at home!!! Really having second thoughts about this system.

Woodgreenboy77_

I have a tado system with 7 trv’s. Installed at least 2 years ago. Not used very much as I have a wood burner. No battery changes yet. I think it is down to usage .