show battery charge level as a percentage

mw9342mw9342 ✭✭✭

Please show the battery charge level as a percentage or even better show a graph of the battery charge level over time; this will provide much better info on anticipating when batteries need to be changed.

18 votes

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  • mw9342mw9342 ✭✭✭

    I’m using rechargeable batteries which work fine but due to the fact that their maximum mAh charge is lower compared to a use-once battery they appear with “low battery” reading in tado even when fully charged.

    That means I never know when they really run out of power as they easily last for 9 months in that “low battery” state.

    Use-once batteries start with higher mAh reading which then gradually declines.

    Rechargeable batteries start with a lower mAh reading but then stay there for much longer and only at the very end drop their charge quickly.

    Therefore, seeing the percentage of the battery charging level or a graph would help me decide when it's time to replace the batteries.

  • Same here, I use rechargeable batteries in my smart radiator thermostats and the minute I pop them in with a full charge the "battery low" warning is there, although they last between 3-9 months (depending on the season) easily.

    It's kind of interesting that tado is marketing themselves to conserve energy and using it to be environmental friendly and yet if I'd be using regular batteries I'd be throwing away (5 radiator thermostats*2=) 10 AA batteries every year or so.

  • mw9342mw9342 ✭✭✭

    I agree - to reduce waste it should be much easier to manage the battery levels when using rechargeable ones. It should be quite easy to implement as I'm sure tado have an exact reading of the voltage as they must know at which voltage to display the "low" message; just turning this into a percentage would an easy and quick change. They could still add the "low" message after percentage if it's below a certain threshold for one-use batteries; better would be to be able to enter the starting voltage of you battery and then tado can show a more accurate percentage and low message.

  • I too agree with all the comments above, for me this is the number one improvement I would like to see in the Tado smart radiator valves, better support for rechargeable batteries please!
  • zikiziki
    edited March 18

    I think that what the valve reads is the voltage level, not the mAh (it cannot, it can only know instant current consuming, not the capacity of the batteries). Recharcheable batteries have a lower voltage (1.2V) than alkaline (1.5V), but the batteries level measuring it seems adjusted on alkaline batteries that when they reach 1.3/1.2V are discharged and they cannot provide the needed current for more time anymore. The rechargeable batteries are full charged at 1,2V and they can provide the needed curent for long time, these I think is the reason why you can survive 3-9 months with a rechargeable battery with "low battery" notification.

  • I think this is very important. Surely Tado could provide an option in the app to indicate that you are using re-chargeable batteries and then they could tailor the behaviour accordingly. I can't believe it would be that hard to implement.

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