Typical battery lifetime for Fibaro Heat Controller

[Hajo 0]

What's typical Battery lifetime for Fibaro heat controller or how often do I have to reload the battery?

[I.Srodka 4]

Hi @Hajo!

 

The battery in our Fibaro Heat Controller should last around the full season or even a little more ; )

 

Of course it depends how often will you change your radiator settings.

[jakub.jezek 370]

Hi @I.Srodka,

 

What is mA consumption of Fibaro heat controller? Because, if i have heating season for 7 month (213 days -> from October to End of April), then consumtion should be something about 1,9 mA in idle state.

 

I need this to know, because customer often ask me, if Fibaro's heating season is Poland heating season, Scandinavian heating season or mediterranean sea heating season.

 

Here i found some battery calculator:

Please login or register to see this link.

 

Sorry, if its dumb question, but i would like to know the answer, so i can calculate exact count of months for them.

 

King regards,

Jakub

[petergebruers 1,268]

44 minutes ago, jakub.jezek said:

Hi @I.Srodka,

 

What is mA consumption of Fibaro heat controller? Because, if i have heating season for 7 month (213 days -> from October to End of April), then consumtion should be something about 1,9 mA in idle state.

 

I need this to know, because customer often ask me, if Fibaro's heating season is Poland heating season, Scandinavian heating season or mediterranean sea heating season.

 

Here i found some battery calculator:

Please login or register to see this link.

 

Sorry, if its dumb question, but i would like to know the answer, so i can calculate exact count of months for them.

 

King regards,

Jakub

 

Can  I say something, although you are not addressing me? I toy with Z-Uno so I have full control over power consumption. I've build a FLiRS LED lamp:

 

Please login or register to see this link.

 

Idle current on my test board is about 100 uA at 3.6 V (typical lithium cell, e.g. lithium-cobalt) and around 70 uA at 3.0V (nominal LiFePo4 cell, less common). My test board has a few components that use some uA but you get an idea.

 

By "idle" I mean, the Z-Uno is able to respond within 1 second, it is a true FLiRS. So purely on standby, a 1400 mA charge should last 14000 to 20000 hours so lets call that 1,5 year.

 

Of course, it sometimes has to change the valve, measure the temperature, talk to the BLE probe, the controller sets its value and so on. So I think that is why they say "a season" and this means 6 months to me. Z-Wave communication uses, ballpark, 40mA for 1 second, each time you set or poll the device. I have no idea how much "actuating the valve" costs...

 

Does this help?

 

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by petergebruers

[I.Srodka 4]

@jakub.jezek, maybe I like warm too much because heating season for me starts in September and ends also around March/April (and I live in Poland).

 

 

@petergebruers, combining the rest of the year in idle state, the Heat Controller should theoretically last for a full year (heating season and the rest of the year in between heating seasons).

 

After all, recharging our Heat Controller is not so much of a hassle, am I right?

[jakub.jezek 370]

@I.Srodka, charging it is not problem for me, if i will remember to charge up my powerbank , because i do not heave outlet nearby my radiators. Only Window to place powerbank there.

 

@petergebruers, great info about that Z-UNO usage. I will probably start to mention it in Fibaro installer trainings, that i lead.

 

Back to heating season. I belive that my heating season could be for 6 - 7 months (i like warm too, that is wh i have fluffy carpets). But when i present this to my parents (seniors), for them heating season is for them 10 monts .

[petergebruers 1,268]

15 minutes ago, I.Srodka said:

(...)

 

@petergebruers, combining the rest of the year in idle state, the Heat Controller should theoretically last for a full year (heating season and the rest of the year in between heating seasons).

 

After all, recharging our Heat Controller is not so much of a hassle, am I right?

 

Thanks, so I calculated idle time in an optimal case for my LED to be around 1,5 year. You say 1 year because of the extra stuff going on the Fibaro thermostat. Not bad at all (for both of us - LOL). That seems plausible, I think it took engineering some effort to optimise the code 

 

Recharging is no more hassle than buying batteries and replacing them, at about the same rate... I expect this design choice to offer a few benefits, like good control over battery status and consistent power. Something you do not get with replaceable (primary or secondary) cells.

 

Some voiced their concern about the lifespan of such a cell. Personally, I own several LiIon cells that approach 10 years of useful life, so I'd say 10 years is quite possible. My Nikon D700 battery is from 2008, it still has about 75% of its original capacity.

 

Do you have an official statement regarding expected lifespan of the cell?