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

[Mnasta]

I don't have a nest smoke alarm but was think about getting one . Could this battery problem be more the location on the alarm and battery draining because of a low Wi-Fi signal.  So smoke alarm keeps searching for a signal.  Draining battery  

[Heynowguy]

Absolutely not. I believe it’s a software problem that nest/google refuses to address. One of mine is about 8 feet above my router. Also, if you test the batteries after nest says “replace batteries” you will find that the batteries are perfectly fine. They are not being drained. The detectors are randomly telling you that they are for some reason. I’ve had this problem with each of the 6 that I own. I have even replaced each of them at one point or another and still have the problem. Save yourself the expensive headache. DO NOT BUY THESE. 

[NorCalNestPro]

Do you have a battery tester that can test Lithium Metal batteries?

Lithium Metal batteries don't loose voltage untill they are completely dead. Meaning if you measure with a multimeter ams get 1.5v that does not  mean they still good.  & using a battery tester meant for alkaline or rechargeable batteries won't test a Lithium Metal battery properly either.

[Heynowguy]

No i don’t have a lithium tester so maybe it’s just draining them. However multiple packs of brand new lithium batteries lasting a few days doesn’t make sense. At first I had alkaline batteries in my detectors for almost a year before getting the low battery warning. Swapped out for fresh alkalines. Two days later, low battery warning. (Usually around 2am of course) Tested the batteries and they are fine. Then one by one every other day, a different would say low battery. After swapping batteries it would happen again in a day or two. The batteries were always fine. It was massively frustrating. At this point I decided to read the instructions which told me lithium (energizer) was recommended. Very expensive but I bought enough to do all my detectors. Within days, same low battery warning. Two days later on a different one. Then a different one. You get the idea. So I took the batteries out, waited a few minutes and put the same batteries back in. It would be fine for a week or two. That was when I went to the forum. After finding all these people with the same complaints I was surprised to find that google offered zero help and zero solutions not just to me, to dozens with the same problem. So I bought all new detectors again, swapped them out and returned the old ones. In the new ones I only put lithium in the beginning. Within a month, the same problems repeated again. One at a time. So one at a time, I buy a new nest protect and return the old one that was reading low. Few weeks go by, the next one goes and repeat. I can’t tell you how many returns it has taken but after months of swapping and returning I’ve finally had a good run of almost 9 months without a warning. If you search this problem, it is extremely common and nobody has been successful at getting help from google. Is it possible that it is actually draining the batteries rapidly? Of course. I’m mainly going off of getting so many warnings on perfectly fine alkalines then having the exact same issues with lithiums. How many times at 2am do you want a loud warning for low battery waking up your family? I can’t count the number of times it happened to me. Haha. I hope this helps you in anyway. I’m not a google hater or anything. Everything in my house it run by google. If you do buy them, I wish you nothing but good luck friend. 

[NorCalNestPro]

That is definitely crazy, I personally have mot had a battery issue like yours (i het 4-6 months from a set of batteries butni keep pathlight set to high and it geta activated very often) also none ofmy clients for whomever I have installed about 50 nest protects have mentioned  anything to me....but I see enough people online talking about issues similar to yours that I would expect google/nest to be looking into figuring out what's causing the issue....especially with having multiple replacements have issues makes it even more odd.......

[Gregstarr]

I have the exact problem too! I have 2 hard wired nests and just replaced all the batteries and TWO days later one is chirping saying the batteries are very low replace NOW…. Something has to be going wrong with an update or something surely! Has anyone actually had a response from Google/nest in relation to this?

[CDHEN123]

No response from Google! I guess we just need to wait for this problem to happen to an attorney or hire one (class action). Aren’t there lemon laws out there?

[Rockgunner]

Same here! And I just tested the supposely drained batteries, and batteries are still good.

I’m thinking to get a cheap smoke detector, and the Ring listener and never look back to Nest junk.

[MarkThewessen]

I’ve had the same problem over and over again but now after a full factory reset i’m already 2 months up and runninh

[Rockgunner]

Factory resetting in 3,2,1… Let’s hope it will work. 
Thanks!

[Granobles]

I do have the same problem with my 3 next protect. I had changed batteries 4 times for the 3 of them.  What is Nest going to do about this? 

[Stafford]

I’m afraid you can add me to this list, I have 3 protects and need to change the energiser batteries every 2 months, and rechargeable ones don’t work! Any suggestions? 

[hugoboss]

i think this is the problem of "shrink flation battery capacity" and "made in China". All batteries are made in China include Energize and Duracell. The battery few yrs ago with a lot of charging capacity now even with Alkline batteries "made in China" it is of lower quality and reduced amps and only 50% capacity. so i am going to buy batteries made in Japan and see wha happens.

[hugoboss]

i think this one will do the job. https://www.amazon.com/HR-3UTHCEX-4B-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00OOTXHFS/ref=sr_1_10?cr...

[Gregstarr]

After days of Facebook messenger chats and email chats they have said ‘Sorry it’s out of warranty’ conveniently just out of the 2 year period… they are scammers, and these products obviously self destruct outside of warranty to make you buy another one. I’m reporting them to consumer affairs Australia. Oh and ‘Hi Google’ I’m sure you read all of this but nobody EVER has the guts to jump in! What a scam

[paul0605]

Same issue here. After swapping out the original batterys twice now two of mine (2018) are having the issue. The other 4 I have were bought later, yet to need batteries replaced.

[Gregstarr]

After many many emails back and forth

including Google suggesting that the new batteries I bought were low cola and faulty. 
after never acknowledging that there is a problem or that nobody else is having an issue they basically gave me the middle finger and said sorry they are out of warranty (just) I have since binned them and bought another brand. Bye bye google never again

[Ave8ter]

Same problem, except ours is hard wired.  We get almost exactly a year.  First time I used IKEA Akaline and second time I used Energizer Litium.  Got about 2 extra weeks out of the Lithium.

[Np489271]

It would be helpful if a Nest engineer would actually weigh in on this problem, but my working theory is that some of the devices are not connecting well with wifi and its drains searching for the signal (similar to a cell phone in remote areas that is constantly refreshing and searching). If this is the case, it has to be a hardware or software problem with Google/Nest, because it only happens to 1 out of 4 of mine that have no material difference in terms of physical obstacles to the router.

FWIW, the problem device has now made it past the 3-month mark and I'm at 6 months without needing to replace batteries after leaving it immediately adjacent to the router. After a lengthy service call, they had suggested this as a method of getting the device to receive its software update. Worth a shot if your patience has not (understandably) worn too thin.

Again, though it would be nice to see an engineer on here explain what is going on. They can't blame the consumers' routers because most people have multiple Nest devices and only a fraction of them have this issue.

[MTaylo]

My smoke detector closest to my router is the one with rapidly draining batteries. The one furthest away is doing fine.

[Fpirisi]

Hey Google looks like 42 replies mean a lot of people has the same problem and it's not an isolated one.  Being a large company you should take a closer look at this and take better care of your customers...

[Egentry]

I am having the exact same problem.  I have 6 Nest smoke detectors, wired with backup batteries.  Two of them keep beeping and giving the low battery warnings about every month.  I will never buy Nest products again.  It’s pathetic that this company is ignoring the issue.

[Egentry]

I just finished a chat with one of the Google Nest people.  They basically told me there's a problem with the smoke detector and I need to replace it, but of course, since the warranty ended, I have to buy a new one myself.  So this detector only lasted 5 of its 10 year life span.  This stuff is too expensive for such a short warranty.  This company needs to do better than this!!!!!

[Rudierieck]

Solved! Just dont put in the 6th battery. So only 5 batterys! If you open up then put 3 left and 2 on the right side. You will notice that it starts up normally and if you do a system check it will give a ok for all the tests.

[Ton2]

Sound worth trying. How long ago did you try this? What is the uptime of your Nest Protect?

[Ton2]

Unfortunately, my Protect is not running on 5 batteries. Your solution doesn't work for me.

[Rudierieck]

I tried it with only 5 batterys and leave the 6th (right side down) open. I can tell 100% it solved the problem. There is some kind of faulty contact that causes the problem. With only 5 batterys it works flawless like if it does with 6 batterys. Try it and you wil see it works!

[Bigad]

I have the same issue. I had a nest for 3 years I have to replace the batteries every 3 months. I have tried lithium too. With lithium I get a few more weeks.   I am very unhappy with this. I have other nest products that also have their own problems.  I would love some help with this alarm issue or I am just going throw this thing out. The money I would save on batteries would pay for a regular alarm in lest than a year. 

[wrightn81]

The same problem for me, I have 2 nest smoke detectors, one is fine, the other goes through batteries after only a week or so. 

[Mog]

Same problem here. These batteries aren’t cheap and to have to replace them every 2-3 months is ridiculous. Not all of my detectors have this issue, but the same ones have it consistently.  What’s the solution here?!

[mikeyking]

I had a similar issue with my Aria Bathroom scales with battery drain.  Figured out it was because they couldn't connect to the wifi in their remote location so got a wifi booster and fixed that issue.  Looks like my Nest Protect has a similar issue, although it's not because of wifi signal strength. The one downstairs closest to the wifi point stops connecting to the wifi and the batteries then drain really quick.  The one upstairs has no issues whatsoever.  The issue I think is the loss of wifi from the device that then drains the batteries.  

[MarkNS]

Same problem here with 2 nest protect 2106 models. Didn't used to happen, but now I have to replace the batteries every few weeks... 

It's a safety hazard really, since it's hard to always remember to have replacement batteries in house. Also very expensive. 

Pretty annoying, and google should at least give a response here given the number of complaints.

[Gcasson64]

I’m replacing my batteries every few days. My nest thermostat is only one year old. Who knows what to do. Keep getting a common wire problem. HVAC tech checked it out and everything is wired up correctly with a c-wire. HELP! 

[PHS13]

Battery issues, need replacement. 

[MoTheSeeker]

Same issue batteries drain quickly, any solution yet?

[MarkThewessen]

I had the same problem over and over. I read somewhere that it could be a stuck or faulty automatic firmware update.. I did a complete hard reset to factory defaults, had to reset and redo all the settings of course. But it's now been up and running for more then a year without the batteries draining every 2-3 weeks.

[MoTheSeeker]

Thank you @MarkThewessen , I did a rest, but don't know how to hard rest to factory default. I will search on web, however, if you have this information handy please share. Again thank you 

[MarkThewessen]

1. Press and hold your Protect’s button. It will chime and glow blue. Continue holding the button down.
2. Release the button when your Protect starts to say its version number.
3. Your Protect will start a verbal countdown and tell you it’s erasing all your settings.
   • To cancel the factory reset, press Protect’s button again during the countdown. 
4. After a few seconds your Protect will reset to its factory default settings. You can then go through setup with the app and add it to an account again.

[MoTheSeeker]

Again thank you! @MarkThewessen for sharing the steps. I still have the same issue even after the mentioned procedure, and I repeated it a couple of times but still no luck.

[srice101]

Same issue here. Battery only version of Nest Protects bought in 2017-18, and 1 of 4 units reports low batteries after 3 weeks of replacing expensive AA’s. Very disappointing. Looking to replace all units this week I suppose. No other solutions being offered by OEM.