Batteries Draining Rapidly in Nest Protect

[rgaila]

Disclaimer: This thread was migrated from our previous version of the Google Nest Community. You can continue to receive updates on your thread issue here or simply ask, browse or more in the new Google Nest Community.

Original Poster: JBryan 

Hello!

Somehow your the response to my initial post went to my junk mail back in March! That post has been locked, so starting a new one here. Bummer.

HISTORY

Bought 4 new Nest Protects in Jan/Feb from Costco. No problem with 3 but after only a month installed, 1 complained of low battery. After I did not receive a response to my initial post here (so I thought), I ordered a new set of Lithium batteries in late March 2021, assuming it was just a bad set of batteries that came with my unit and that maybe you did not want to replace the batteries for me.

With the new batteries, everything went well until early AM on August 18. This Nest Protect began chirping, telling it had low batteries. In the middle of the night, I could barely think straight so I just removed the batteries so we could sleep.

After looking at the app just now, I reinserted the batteries and it checks out OK. Based on previous experience in Feb/March, I assume it will determine these batteries are low again in the next couple days.  At this point, I do NOT think the batteries were the problem but instead there is either a bad sensor on this Nest Protect OR this Nest Protect has some other problem causing it to drain lithium batteries VERY quickly. Maybe this unit is bad? I have owned another Nest Protect since 2016 without a single battery problem and it's still going strong. So what's the deal with this one?

I will also answer your questions here (from your previous response) and include pics.

Is your Nest Protect wired or battery-powered? Battery ONLY, NOT wired.

What happens when a Safety Check is run? (a screenshot is needed) Once I reinserted the batteries, the Safety Check went fine. Again, I do not expect this to last long. (See attached screenshot of Safety Check before batteries reinserted.)

What error messages (if any) does the Nest app show? History of Error Messages shows the battery flagged low starting at 12:17AM, again at 2:51AM and twice more at 4:39AM & 4:59AM, all on August 18. I removed the batteries at 4:59AM. (See attached.)

Has the Protect chirped? Yes, as described above telling us the batteries are low.

Please send us a photo of the batteries you’re currently using so we could take a closer look. Included a photo of the original set of batteries that came with the Nest Protect (at left) and the replacement set we purchased in late March (at right).

NEXT STEPS

Please advise. The biggest reason I moved to Nest was because of the low maintenance, hassle free promise. The first Nest Protect I purchased in 2016 delivered on that promise but this one has not.

Sincerely,

Jason

[pdxhondo]

Add me to the list of disgruntled customers. This problem has been happening for years. I'll get three to four months out of my batteries most of the time, but a only few weeks on some occasions. With my latest set of Energizer L91's, only got one week. When I have to spend >$100 per year on batteries for a single smoke detector, it's time to search for another alternative.

[Chabye]

This is not an answer. Units are draining batteries 10x faster than advertised even when using supplied/recommended batteries.

Please read the post and provide a real solution.

[mikeyking]

Not worth filling out the form tbh. They do nothing - Google knows they have a faulty product but claim it's out of warranty so tough. Great customer service right?!

[DrNest]

Hello, I have, or hopefully, had the same issue with drained batteries every two weeks. I'm saying hopefully, as I just tried the factory reset and need to wait and see if it does the trick.

One thing I realized during the reset is that it actually doesn't delete the smoke detectors in your app. They still show up, and I thought they would be connected. But the reality is even though they show up, they're actually not connected at all!!! And they probably haven't been connected for two years because that's when I got a new wifi router and probably never updated the wifi connection. Which I now hope was the reason why the batteries drained so fast. 

So basically, you have to do the reset on the smoke detector, then delete the smoke detector in your app. And then add a new product/smoke detector in the app. 

Crossing my fingers that this will do it, and if you don't hear from me again, it did. 

[DrNest]

Okay, unfortunately that didn't do the trick either. I had enough of this stupid battery issue. Bye bye NEST Smoke detectors, I just ordered new $25 design smoke detectors on amazon with a 10 year battery life. Why bother with google if no one seems to care. 

[bramski]

I am also getting this constant battery alerts, and I did check the batteries with multimeter and they are completely full. 

Just did a factory reset as well. fingers crossed it will work.

[Alex38888]

I just got a new router, installed my 6 nest protects ( just added 4 new ones from Costco last month).  After installing them , less than a week later, 1 of the old ones (mfg 2016) started chirping at night without any warning.  WTF.  No low battery warning in app, no voice warning of low battery, nothing.  I've also recently changed the batteries on these.  YES I'm using the recommended Energizer Lithium batteries.

My second old one (mfg 2016) is also showing a yellow bar.  App shows connected, and battery is ok.  There is something wrong with these units, probably a potential software issue it seems even though they refused to admit it.  LAME.  These two units have been working fine for years, up until i reinstalled them on a new network.  Overpriced non reliable garbage, and a support team that will leave you hanging.

These 4 new nest protects are going back to Costco.  Shame on you nest, you lost my trust.

[JacCritter]

So I think the answer here from Nest is clear: we've had your money now get stuffed. So the product will go straight in the bin while I research a smoke detector that has low battery usage.

[etos]

Same issue here, i've just bought 3 devices and am not going to replace 18 batteries every month lol

[Lehnhof]

I’m experiencing this problem with one of my three nest protects.  After putting new batteries, it seems that the sensors have become much more sensitive, causing the light to go on very frequently, and stay on for a while.

I put new Duracell batteries which should give extra long life, compared to other brands.  In a few days though, the batteries were empty…. (So don’t give me a reply that there is a problem with the batteries, they’re best in class)

My guess: sensors suddenly became too sensitive, causing way too much activity.  And I don’t see any option in the Protect app to reduce the sensitivity.

Weird that this happens now, I have my Protects since 8/2018, and they have been functioning well for over 4 years.  Was there a software update or something causing this?

[GMROD]

Same rapid battery drain problem here with 3 out of 4  Nest Protects we purchased in 2019.  I would expect a class action suit…

[talk2dang]

Same thing here.  I will try to do the factory reset and see.

[Lehnhof]

I did a factory reset, and when configuring again, I switched off the light option.  Now the batteries are ok.  I have the feeling batteries got drained because the sensor had become too sensitive.

[Heynowguy]

Same problem here. Is the company really telling us to just go buy a new one? I spent thousands on nest products in the past. I will be moving on to a different brand as soon as financially possible. Unreal 

[marymcc]

Yes, I had communication with someone from NEST protect and that's exactly what he told me, I need to purchase a new one! 🙄.   Nice response, Google Nest.   Fix your dysfunctional product!

[Zerostar]

Yep same problem, started chirping at 4am, and I replaced the batteries teries a few months ago already 

[apcaputo]

The battery only Smoke/CO alarms appear to be prone to extensive battery drainage if there is a network connection. The alarms will use extensive energy if the network connection is an issue.  The importance of the reliability of the network connection has not been properly addressed by Nest.  This is a critical flaw in the device design as not only is there extensive battery drain the detectors are not interconnected as required by most Fire Codes!!!!!

[ChuanSE]

Same issue here where I used to change batteries once a year, now one out of 12 drains battery in 2-3 weeks... why?

[ChuanSE]

I removed the Energizer Lithium batteries for about 10 minutes, then refitted them (the same ones!).... We are now 7hrs later and the nest protect is OK, let's see if this lasts.... Maybe one of my batteries wasn't fitted well.... no idea, it works now.

[Heynowguy]

Even more interesting than Nest/Google not addressing the problem is that when I remove the detector, I test the batteries. And they are fine. So I don’t believe the batteries are being drained. I believe it’s some software problem. But what do I know. 

[apcaputo]

Here is an interesting point. I also have Nest Thermostats. I noted that one of the thermostats was not lighting up. My thermostats are a two wire system (i.e. one or off) so there is no power from the house to power the thermostat. There is an internal battery to the thermostat that needs to be recharged dependent on the drain for use and/or searching to maintain connection to the network. Removing the thermostat, I noted a usb charging port.  I simply recaharged the thermostat for an hour, plugged it back into the base, and now all is fine. That same charging port is on the back of the smoke/co alarms. I removed all six batteries from the unit to make sure it was fully dead. I then plugged in the charging cable and the Smoke/CO alarm came to life (not fully but enough to introduce itself). So by trial and error it appears there may also be an internal battery in these alarm devices that will alarm as low battery when it cannot draw sufficient current for the 6 batteries. Of course there is no info from Nest so I am going to do a recharge via this connection, reinstall the 6 batteries, reconnect to the network, and see how long the existing batteries work. Like you i will test each battery for voltage before I reload.

[NestNaTrashcan]

Bottom line these things are trash! Who the hell wants to spend $1200 a year on batteries. I might as well hire a 24 hour personal security guard. Last product I'll be buying. In a big market you think that they would do better to help out the customer. Oh well!!

[Dolson55]

Same issue with me as well. Never had any issues with smoke detectors until I switched to Nest. Extremely frustrating and a huge waste of money to keep replacing batteries. Given the lack of movement from Google, I’d say this is a known issue but due to the size of their company, they do care to dedicate resources to this problem. All you can do at this point is let friends and family know of the situation so they do not purchase this product.

[Dolson55]

Not expecting any resolution, I just wanted to let whoever sees this know how disgusted I am with the lack of support on a very important, yet simple product.  I will go out of my way to avoid buying anything Google related for the rest of my life and will do everything in my power to encourage friends, family, and random strangers to do the same. Horrifying product and horrifying customer support from a company that could obviously care less. I’ve never been more unhappy with a product in my life. 

[Heynowguy]

Just a heads up… my experience has been the same as everyone here. However, I’ve been testing the batteries after the Nest says they are low. And the batteries are perfectly fine. Hard to tell if they are just low enough to annoy the detectors but they are perfectly usable. The Nest smoke detectors don’t seem to be killing my batteries. They just seem to be incorrectly telling me that they need to be replaced. I think it’s just a problem with their software or something. Problem meaning They are trying to get you to buy more energizer batteries and or Nest detectors. Nest doesn’t seem to care at all and nobody should buy another one of their products but I hope you test yours yourself so you’re not throwing away perfectly good batteries. 

also, even though I hate to buy more, I have been buying a new nest detector every time I get the low battery message. I then send back the old one for a refund. I dont like to but I’ve done this a handful of times because I refuse to have lost all that money for Nest to be doing nothing to help us. Since replacing the ones that had the problems, I’ve (knock on wood) not had the issue arise for a few weeks. Right now it’s the best solution I have. 

[ThisUser22]

Since Google Nest obviously won't answer a known problem, and I spend 15USD a pop for 6 batteries, I'm going with the 24 dollar FIRST ALERT P1210E Smoke Alarm, White

[Rotes718]

We also have the same problem. I bought a battery tester from Amazon and tested the batteries when Nest said it was low. The batteries are 100% the same as when I put them in 30 days prior.  This is obviously a manufacturing defect and all units should be replaced. If this part is defective what else in the unit is defective?

[JRinOz]

I have the same issue with 3 of 7 Nest battery smoke detectors. Worked with Google Tech support to fix but all their suggestions proved unsuccessful. Very disappointing indeed.

[NestNaTrashcan]

They 100% know about these problems and when someone's house burns down and someone becomes the martyr for bad Google smoke detectors. I hope the lawsuits hit Google like a tidal wave. For the last 3 years I've been shoving batteries in these POS until I finally thought I better Google this product and see what's up and found all of this. Google is playing with fire and it's us who will pay the ultimate price either with batteries or our life. Thanks Google for being such a stand up company. I wonder how many Google CEO's have these in their house? They better Google "Better Business Bureau" and get familiar with how they work. 

[Fpirisi]

My other NEST protect also died this weekend with same battery issue like the other one. Sadly i put new batteries which lasted 2 days and i got the same alarm. It's a shame an expensive product from a worldwide company has this kind of issues and an unexisting support from the manufacturer. I will NOT purchase any more GOOGLE products and will recomend family and friends to do the same. 

FYI: Many chinese products come with far way better warranty. Shame on Google...

[amy63501]

I wish I had known about all this before! We are renovating our house, and the contractor recommended these, so we got Nest smoke detectors less than two years ago - and one of them has exactly this problem, eating through these expensive batteries in less than a month. We have been using exactly the batteries indicated (Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA (L91).  But I am ready to throw out the whole Nest detector and go back to a normal one - I don't want to spend all this money on expensive batteries!

[Malibunester]

I am in the same position. Bought i house 9 mos ago, moved in Jan 2023 with all new Nest Smoke/CO devices. They had brand new energizer lithium batteries in them and within weeks 2 of my units began chirping. When i tested the batteries they were perfect? Its expensive and BS to have no support from Google. They just don't care. Not sure what to do but trash them. I cannot even connect them to my app, probably a good thing? They made get run down from movement OR wifi connectivity as others have said... not sure. all i know is the product looks and sounds good, but its gotta be junk.

[NorCalNestPro]

Testing lithium batteries can not be done the same way you test alkaline batteries: https://reddit.com/r/techsupport/s/jcRekysGai

[Ciso]

Same problem here with a 2017 production unit. Since a couple of months the batteries lasts only 1-2 days. Batteries are perfectly fine, so it's only the Nest Protect incorrectly telling that batteries are low.

[NorCalNestPro]

That is insane....so they worked fine for years and now they are acting this way.....I jabe only seen that when a client tries to use rechargeable batteries...but if this is happening with L91 batteries that is not cool

[Peterwb]

Same issue for me. Batteries are not actually drained I brought a battery tester and they are fine. The issue seems to be with the device itself. I have filled out the form? Did anyone find the permanent fix to this?