Thanks…Now I am using a cell phone battery charger (5v @ 2A) and it works well … But battery level is 68% and I do not like that. So, I will change because I have just bought a dummy battery pack…to try.
Greeting from Peru
I am very interested in this idea. Batteries in my smart lock 2.0 seem to last about a month (maybe 4 openings and lockings a day) which is rather disappointing.
I have a socket near the door so could set up a battery eliminator. However, if the power goes off and on, does the lock then turn all the way in both directions (full lock and full unlock?). If so, at the unlock step my door would open and not close without being pushed, so whenever there was a powercut the door would be unlocked and open.
Wow, don’t know about this, very cool! I have already accu packs for my locks, and they I can also connect permanently to a USB charger for loading, - and for convenience, I setup a automation what charges the accu packs in one night in a week.
Can the powerpack be connected to a USB power source all the time? This seems like the easiest option for people with a socket nearby. Is having the powerpack connected all the time bad for the batteries?
Google is your friend:
… It is not necessary to unplug the cable to use the Smart Lock. This is very suitable for short rental hosts as you don’t have to care about the battery level anymore.
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@Lumo I have a SL2.0 and use random rechargeable NiMh batteries. We have I guess a dozen openings a day, and usually the batteries last 2 months (my feeling), unless I have a bad battery as part of the four batteries, which might happen as I use them frequently in other devices, so some of them are worn out. I try to detect them by using a charger that shows their capacity, like this one
Therefore, I am surprised to hear that your batteries are gone in less then a month.
I was also surprised that the batteries only lasted a month and furthermore failed to open the door while still showing 30something percent left. I contacted customer support through the app but have not heard anything back.
I guess this makes sense, in my view this is not a systematic Nuki issue. Either your door lock turns very hard, your Nuki has some leakage or your batteries are not good.
Right, I have two locks what turning hard, and so for the accupacks are going down more rapidly!
@Juergen : one thing I have never understood: if locks are hard to turn, does that theoretically impact the lifetime of Nuki, i.e does it have a clutch like in a car that might use up or does it work with gears that don’t wear out?
Unlike a car the Smart Lock never drives the motor while the clutch changes its state. Therefore there should not be an additional wear on the clutch depending on the force needed. But there could be an additional wear on the main motor (brushes and bearings) on a stiff door, because of the higher forces and currents needed.
Our Nuki was exchanged two times, the clutch did not detach again. Therefore the key could hardly be turned, it felt like turning against the motor not being powered.
Actually I am quite surprised that you mention that brushes could wear out. I was thinking that motors are more and more brushless today.
@Juergen you recommend a 5 W (5 V * 1A) power adapter to charge the power pack, but above there was also a post that 3 A is fine. Does it mean, that 15 W is also fine? I tried an USB-C PD charger (5 V * 3 A) and also a powerbank with USB-C PD (5 V * 2.25 A), but both did not work. Surprisingly the USB-A port of the powerbank (5 V * 3 A) works fine. Both, the powerbank and the power adapter work fine when charging a Thinkpad X1 @45W
Thanks, Tom
This thread originally was for direct power supply and this requires a 3A power adaptor.
The last postings have been about permanently powering the Smart Lock through the Nuki Power Pack which acts as buffer for high load situations (e.g. pulling the latch) and therefore does not require more than a typical 500mA-1A power adapter. The Power Pack does not support PD fast charging and won’t work with such adapters.
Hi Jürgen, thanks for the information provided. Then I’ll go with the standard USB-A port which works fine.
I wonder why Nuki still selling battery pack with obsolete NiMh in stead of lithium one. Would be nice to have from Nuki the stl 3D design of the original/extended battery pack in order to create new custom version of it…
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This is your own definition. NiMh battery technology is far from obsolete and given the requirements the Nuki Smart Lock has a better choice than similar sized Lithium cells.
Obsolete in some instances, for sure they exist since 1970… So why lithium cells are used in the new smart lock3 pro product if I didn’t missunderstud the specs? NiMh tend to cut power suddenly when they run out of charge, rather than slowly running down. They also self-discharge quickly. If you leave a NiMH battery sitting in a drawer for a couple of months, it’s going to discharge its energy and need recharging before use. Cost 50% less than a Lithium cell and has a per cell higher current available and for nuki engineers this is most important I think… However I still consider Lithium battery better for many applications.