Ok so now the top line of the keypad on the front door lock, the one that’s eating batteries and continues to do so, has stopped working. Clearly there’s a broader issue with that unit. I need to return this one for a replacement. Is that done through you or through Yale?
If you purchased the equipment through suretyDIY, we handle manufacturer warranty replacement. See our return policy here.
I did purchase it from you but since it’s a front door deadbolt it looks like I need to purchase one first since I can’t leave the door with a big hole in it lol.
I’ll purchase a replacement and then RMA the defective one, yes?
SuretyCAM will send you the RMA deadbolt lock first, but you have to pay, then when they get the defective one, they refund.
if you would like the replacement shipped prior to the defective equipment arriving at suretyCAM 2) you can purchase a replacement for us to ship out, the cost of which will be refunded once the defective equipment has been returned to us.
Yes, that is correct. Upon arrival of defective unit with all parts, the replacement purchase is refunded.
That’s fine. It looks like I’ll just fill out your form when I send the broken unit back yes? Doesn’t seem to be any sort of advanced Rma process on there.
Correct. You may note on your order that it is intended as a replacement.
Done.
I don’t have a Yale, I’ve got another brand. But as soon as I put in brand new Duracells, the lock says 80% battery. After about a week, I get the low battery alerts and beeps from the lock.
I just keep the same batteries in the lock and it keeps on working. Granted, it’s not cool hearing those beeps everytime you open the door with your code and I just turned the low battery alerts for the lock off.
Right now, the batteries are at 20% and have been at that level for months.
That is true, I suppose it is always possible the battery reporting is off in certain cases.
In this case though, when the battery level reports low enough and you activate the power lock/unlock function, the lock burps and plays the “Welcome to Yale Real Living” jingle. This would indicate an actual power shortage and not a reporting issue.
We’ll see if the new unit behaves the same way in the same location. The back door continues to drain at a much slower rate than the defective one did although still not at a rate approaching the advertised one year life.
Yes, typically you will know if power is actually really low, as the bolt will struggle to retract and extend.
Hi All,
I just wanted to chime in on my experience with the Yale lock and battery usage.
Mine has absolutely no mechanical drag on the bolt and was killing a 2000mah set of Eneloops about every 9 days.
It generally wouldn’t warn of low voltage before just dying completely. The voltage of the rechargeable batteries is different from alkaline, so the battery level reported is not accurate.
This lock is on the most heavily used door, and probably goes through as many as 10 powered lock actuations/day. The batteries wouldn’t last much more than 9 days even when we were out of town for 4-5 days. So I don’t think powered lock actuation was a big factor.
By contrast, the Schlage lock in the other door has had the original set of alkaline batteries for >6mo and still shows 93%, but it doesn’t get used much.
I called Yale and went through their tech support, which recommended two things before sending it back:
1- removing it from the z-wave network and rejoining with the alarm panel in close proximity to the lock, and then leaving the panel close to the lock for 5 minutes after joining.
2- make sure there is a repeater device within 10’ of the lock.
So I rejoined it to the z-wave network as instructed. The lock was ~24’ from nearest z-wave repeater and is ~30’ from the panel, so installed a z-wave wall switch about 7’ from the lock.
I don’t know which of these two things made the difference, but now several weeks later, the result is that a set of 2000mah eneloops is projected to last ~6.5 weeks (the lock consumes about 300mah per week now). This is still not the battery life I had hoped for, but I can stomach 6 weeks between battery swaps. I have not benchmarked to see if alkaline would last substantially longer; but even if they last twice as long, I’d rather run the rechargeable batts.
Either could affect it, from what I understand. In discussions with Yale, I do believe they mentioned the lock will attempt re-transmission of status if signalling is problematic. If the lock fails to enter rest mode and instead is “Always On” at transmit power levels, that would chew through the battery.
Likewise, that proximity when learning in the devices is necessary. Locks send and receive a great deal of data comparatively when learned in. Failing to follow this (with pretty much all device types) is probably the number one cause of network issues.
Make sure to run a network rediscovery as a last step after adding devices to the network and moving your controller back to its permanent location.
Here is another clue to possibly help figure out the root cause of the battery eating Yale locks:
I have two of the same Yale Pushbutton Deadbolts that were installed at the same time (~Nov 2014). They both have the Z-Wave modules, and are in a Z-Wave network with the 2GIG as the controller. This system has not been monitored until January 15th when I started with SuretyDIY. Both doors are within 15 feet of the 2GIG controller.
The first door is still on its original set of batteries, and is at 63%. (under 10 feet from 2GIG controller)
The second door had its batteries replaced, also on January 15th when monitoring started. It had just started to indicate low battery from the original set of batteries. However, this brand new Duracell Alkaline battery set has now went in to low battery mode. All four cells where reading just under 1.00 volt when taken out and tested. I have now put in four new batteries from the same lot purchased at Costco.
Is there any change in how the Z-Wave polling would be working now that I have the system being monitored? Any suggestions? One month battery life will not work for this situation. The door may have been opened with the motor at most 30 times during the battery life. There is very little resistance when turning the knob, all of it internal, none on the door strike. The other door does not seem to have changed its battery usage, and seems normal.
Thanks for any help and suggestions.
John
Monitoring would not affect the usage of the lock, (24/7 monitoring that is) though yes, using Alarm.com to send codes/commands does interject a new component. However, additional status polling doesn’t really account for that in and of itself. This would indicate an error in addition. That lock may not be reverting into power save mode efficiently.
If one lock has no ill effect, but one chews through a set of batteries, it may be communication that is the issue. Try running a network rediscovery.
Also, did you test this last set of batteries prior to adding them to the lock? It would be good to know the starting point.
Thanks, Jason.
I will try the network re-discovery, easy enough. The new batteries are confirmed good by test before installation. I’ll track both doors every few days and hope for the best.
Well hoping for the best is good, but we can troubleshoot further of course 
If you notice the same continuing, I would recommend removing and re-adding the lock to the panel. If all else fails we can try a factory reset.
Something is causing the lock to fail to enter “sleep” mode.
Jason,
Re-discovery did not make a difference. Down 2-3%/day on the new batteries. Will try removing and re-adding the lock. Can this be done all from the 2Gig panel, or do I need to remove it from the door lock to ensure it changes states?
Thanks,
John
Bring the 2GIG panel and lock near one another. On the 2GIG panel: services, zwave, wrench icon, installer code, remove device. Perform the pair process on the lock (if yale, should be programming code, pound, 7, pound, 3, pound.)
Then wait a moment, verify the 2GIG panel removed the lock, then add devices on the 2GIG panel followed by the pair procedure on the lock (this time should be programming code, pound, 7, pound, 1, pound.)