Battery life for your Smart Lock can vary significantly depending on your individual use.
Quick overview on how to save battery
Do you want to optimize your power consumption? Try those tips:
- Keep your firmware updated: Make sure your Smart Lock always uses the latest firmware.
- Connection to your Smart Lock: The power consumption is lowest when you control the Smart Lock via Bluetooth. If you want remote control, we recommend using Remote Access via Thread. Thread and Matter are designed for Smart Homes and save the most energy.
- Integration into your Smart Home: We also recommend using Remote Access via Thread to integrate Nuki into your Smart Home.
The following article you will find more detailed information on those and further factors influencing battery life.
Firmware update
Make sure your Smart Lock uses the latest firmware. We recommend allowing automatic firmware updates. To check your firmware, tap on the Nuki device in the Nuki App and select "Settings" > "Features & Configuration" > "General" > "Firmware update"
Connection to your Smart Lock
The battery life also changes depending on the connection to your Smart Lock.
The power consumption is lowest when you control the Smart Lock via Bluetooth.
The power consumption is slightly higher when you enable Remote Access via Thread.
The battery life is shortest when you activate the built-in Wi-Fi module.
Optimize power consumption with Remote Access via Thread
The connection stability decreases if many devices are within a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth network. The Smart Lock exits the battery-saving sleep mode to reconnect to the network. The opposite is true in a Thread-network. The higher the number of connected devices within the network, the more reliable and stable it is. If one device fails, another can step in to maintain stability. This saves energy. You can use remote access via Thread with your Smart Locks Ultra and 4th Generation.
Optimize power consumption when using the Built-in Wi-Fi
The power consumption of your Smart Lock depends on your network and the number of integrated devices.
The devices in your Wi-Fi are connected to each other via the router. Your Smart Lock, therefore, also receives data from other devices in the same network.
Connect your Smart Lock to a guest network
Especially if many devices are connected to the same network, we recommend configuring a guest network and connecting your Smart Lock to it.
Increase connection stability
The stability of the Wi-Fi connection influences not only the remote access. It also impacts battery life. If the Wi-Fi connection is frequently interrupted, the Smart Lock exits the battery-saving sleep mode to reconnect to the network. This requires additional power and reduces battery life.
Therefore, ensure that your Smart Lock has a good Wi-Fi connection to your router. Reduce the distance between the router and your Smart Lock to optimize the Wi-Fi signal strength.
The Nuki App provides information about the connection quality (“Settings” > “Connection status”). Ensure that the connection between the Smart Lock and the router is very good (green).
Note: The connection quality is calculated when the Wi-Fi connection is established. Only when the connection is re-established, the connection status is updated.
Smart Lock 4th Generation and previous versions: Use the Nuki Bridge
Alternatively, you can use the Nuki Bridge instead of the built-in Wi-Fi module to connect your Smart Lock to your network. The power consumption of your Smart Lock will not be negatively affected by the integration via Nuki Bridge.
Note: It is not possible to use the integrated Wi-Fi module and Nuki Bridge in parallel.
Frequent requests
In sleep mode, the Smart Lock requires very little power. If the Smart Lock stays active, power consumption increases.
Smart home integrations
Smart Home applications can use frequent status queries. This "wakes up" the Smart Lock every time. It is therefore worth checking the setup if your battery life is shortening.
We recommend using a Smart Home Integration via Thread. It significantly saves power compared to other smart home integrations.
Door Sensor state changes
If the door sensor status changes between "Door open" and "Door closed", the status change is communicated to the Smart Lock. The Smart Lock exits sleep mode when this happens. Therefore, check if the door sensor works properly when battery consumption is high.
Battery type
The batteries of your Smart Lock Ultra, as well as the Nuki Power Pack, have been designed for the optimal power supply of your Smart Lock. With those batteries, you can reach a battery life of up to 6 months. Find out more about the different types of batteries for your Smart Lock.
Smart Lock 4th and previous generations: check the battery type
Your Smart Lock Ultra batteries are permanently installed, so you don't have to service or replace them.
Your Smart Lock 4th and all previous generations try to detect which battery type is being used automatically. This optimizes the respective thresholds for the battery warning.
If an incorrect battery type is set or detected, the battery life will be shortened, and/or battery warnings will be sent at the wrong time.
To set the battery type manually, select the desired Smart Lock in the Nuki App and open the settings. Then go to "Features & Configuration" > “Battery”.
Locking actions and door properties
Number of locking actions
The more locking actions the Smart Lock performs, the faster the batteries will drain.
Open door
Do you have a knob or bar on the outside of the door? To open the door, the Smart Lock pulls the latch. This not only requires more force. The locking distance is also longer than when only unlocking the door. Energy consumption is therefore higher.
Check for stiff door
The Smart Lock can also open doors that are difficult to open. However, the more sluggish the door is, the more electricity must be used to power the motor. This will also make your batteries last shorter.
We recommend checking regularly if the key can be turned without force when the door is closed. If it doesn't, a professional can adjust your door for you.
Low temperature
Batteries drain much faster at low temperatures. In addition, significant temperature changes often lead to door deformation. If temperatures fall, doors often deform and become more difficult to move.