Zipato Mini Keypad RFID consumption problem

Edit: removed double post. This forum has some issues when using Microsoft Edge browser (the Control Center aswell, btw)

I have the keypad as well, and it is now reporting 0% battery after 3 months. I do not use rechargeable batteries. It has not been used much, since I have had some problems with my alarm setup.

The operation mode is set to NORMAL_OPERATING_MODE and reporting interval to 1440 minutes.

I hope that the enclosed battery is of bad quality, because I am disappointed with the stand-by time...

This is a know problem with this device. Even with super batteries you still need to replace them very often.

Thanks for your answers.

I buy new good quality batteries, i will test them next week.

wait an see

Thanks Hero. This reason must be bad hardware design or bad fw I suppose

I got the same issue. After 2½ months the battery is down to 6%. Last days it started to fail to arm/disarm every second time. Keypad recognize the tag and makes noise but alarm status does not change.

After 1 month with new batteries its down to 13%. This cant be right, could there be issues with my device?

same problem here, after a couple of days battery is empty.

used several different batteries, normal ones or rechargeables.

I stopped trying and don't use it anymore.

Same problem here. I stopped it using because of this high battery use. Perhaps it is possible to have a new FW for that device?

Same problem with mine. I've had it for a year and a battery replacement is needed every 2-4 weeks.

I have no high comsumption issue. Mine is 93% after 7 months of use. Association issue ? Distance issue ? (I have a wall and 2 meters between zibabox and RFID keypad)

I have no idea about the RFID keypad but I sharing a similar experience that I have had with a fibaro smoke sensor. It also had a very high battery consumption. I did not expect the issue to be the range to the controller (approx 3 meters + a wall ) but when I added an extender between the controller and the smoke sensor it began consuming the battery in a normal pace again.

I would guess that most people places the controller rather central to have good network coverage in all directions, and given the nature of the RFID keypad I would guess that it is often placed next to the entry door, thus leaving some distance and possibly also walls between the controller and the device.

I have no idea if true but my gut feeling is that the behaviour of a device that looses the network connectivity it probably wakes up alot more or retries the communication alot more till the connectivity has been regained. This could very well be the reason for the battery draining.

Thanks Jens. This is definitely worth checking up. The extender you are referring to, is it another active z-wave device? I have a Fibaro smoke sensor in the same room as the RFID keypad. The smoke sensor has free sight to a Fibaro Wall plug 4m away and no battery consumption issues. The keypad however have the same distance but with a 40 cm thick brick wall in between.

Yep, aeontech Z-wave range extender:

https://www.m.nu/range-extender-aeon-labs-p-1491.html

To make it even better (it's a hallway) i've also added a Z-wave bulb in a cieling plafond, all for the mesh network :)

Another thing you could do is to hard wire the smoke sensor. Non-battery powered devices repeats the signal and therefore extends the network as well.

Last time I changed batteries, I also connected a Fibaro walk plug,just 1 meter away. Since then it has not reported low batteries in 7 months.

I dont use it, though, I actually find the implementation quite user-unfrriendly

just a friendly reminder if a device is added "between" two devices to fix a range issue - remember to do a "network heal" in the controller. It's for the network to understand how to communicate with the devices in the mesh and actually use the newly added extending device =)

Thanks for all advices! I have added an active device close to the reader and done a network heal, Normally a battery change would be needed within 3-5 weeks. I will let you know.

Hi Everyone. Can someone please check and let me know if the RFID keypad requires 3V or 1.5V (are the batteries connected serial or in paralell)? Im going to do an installation and planning to use a power supply and solder it instead of using batteries, just need to know this information. Many thanks.

If you do so, make sure to never use batteries or solder on some diodes to prevent charging unchargeable batteries.

I have done the same thing to a siren that drained batteries. It ia working fine.

Yes, I'm planning not to use batteries and fix the unit on the wall. Thx for the feedback and the advice. Much appreciated.

Hello Attila,

Is the keypad in "ALWAYS AWAKE MODE " so you can use rfid without pushing a button first?

Regards Onedutch

Surely not, the device is designed to be battery only. The button (home/away) needs to be pressed.every time.

Installation depends on the availability of the zipatile with zigbee as apparently the models sent to the distributors are not working as they should and without newer firmware are not usable. I hope zipato will solve this problem.

Once I have done the installation, will keep you posted.

Update here. The RFID reader works on powered 3V without issues. If you plan to power it ensure that the 3V downgrade will be at the RFID side of the wall, not on the other end of the lead as over a couple of meter distance 3V drops down fairly much and I guess this can be a problem. We are running 5V from the transformer (about 7m away) and in the RFID reader placed this small 3V inverted or what. It just fits inside of the battery slot.

Perfect solution.

Something like this. Search for 5v to 3.3v inventer