Battery Tracker

Overview

Battery Tracker is a Control4 driver that finds every battery-powered device in the project, follows its battery level over time, estimates how long each battery will last, and warns the owner before it runs out. The warning says exactly what to prepare: the battery type, the quantity, and a picture of the battery.

• Finds locks, motion and contact sensors, thermostats, remotes, shades and any other device that reports a battery level.
• Estimates remaining life from each device's own history, not a fixed guess.
• Sends events, variables and messages you can use anywhere in Composer Programming.
• Includes a touch screen page with the device list grouped by room.

Trust a Level Only When It Is Real

Cold weather fools sleepy devices. A sensor can die in the cold, go offline, then reconnect in the warm and report 100% again, even though its battery is flat. Battery Tracker does not trust that number.

• A sleepy device that goes quiet while it is cold outside, then reports full, is shown as unverified until you confirm it.
• Pick an outdoor temperature source and a Cold Below threshold in Celsius or Fahrenheit (set from the project units).
• A real battery change is recognised from the jump in level, or you record it yourself.

Track Devices Whose Drivers Report No Battery

Many Control4 drivers never expose a battery level, even though the device has a battery. Battery operated Somfy shades are a common example. Battery Tracker can now read those levels from the manufacturer's own system, so they are tracked like any other device.

• Somfy TaHoma integration: enter the TaHoma box address and a token once on the touch screen page, and the driver reads the shades' battery levels automatically.
• Levels are collected every few hours and feed the same history, estimate and alerts as every other device.
• Pick the Level source for each hand-entered device. Matching names are linked automatically.
• Products that report no number (some remotes, or only a word such as "good") stay hand-entered.
• Built to accept further systems later, so other devices that report their battery elsewhere can be added the same way.

Devices With No Battery Level

Some devices, such as rechargeable shades, report no level at all. Add them by hand and Battery Tracker still tracks them.

• Type the current level as a percentage or in millivolts, as often as you like.
• Record each charge (level before and after).
• The driver learns the real discharge rate from your entries and improves the estimate over time. You can set the manufacturer's expected life per device as a starting point.

Know Which Battery to Buy

Choose a battery type (AA, AAA, CR2032, CR123A, 9V, Rechargeable and more), a quantity and an expected life for each device. Alerts then read like this:

"Front Door Lock: replace soon. Battery: 4 x AA"

Devices of the same model share their battery settings. Set the type, quantity and life once and every other device of that model follows, including devices added later, unless you set one separately.

The picture of the battery and a combined batteries needed list are available as variables, so a message or a shopping routine can use them directly.

Built for Advanced Programming

Everything the driver knows is exposed to Composer Programming.

Events

• Battery Low, Battery Replace Soon, Battery Level Unverified
• Device Silent, Battery Replaced, Battery Reminder

Variables

• Counts: tracked, ignored, low, replace soon, unverified, silent and needs attention.
• Lowest battery (percent and device), next replacement (device and days) and outdoor temperature.
• Last alert: device, message, LAST_ALERT_BATTERY_TYPE, LAST_ALERT_BATTERY_COUNT, LAST_ALERT_BATTERY_ICON.
• BATTERIES_NEEDED plus ready-made attention and status reports.

Commands

• Record Battery Replacement, Accept Reported Level, Set Device Tracking
• Scan for Battery Devices, Send Battery Reminder
• Set Integration, Scan Integration, Link Integration Device
• Set Manual Battery Level, Record Battery Charge, Add Manual Battery Device, Set Device Battery

Touch Screen Page

• Device list grouped by room (or by status), opening on Needs attention, with an All filter.
• Per-device history chart, battery type, quantity, expected life and manual level entry.
• Integrations card to connect a TaHoma box and choose each device's level source.
• Mass replace: tick several devices and mark them replaced in one step.

Settings You Control

• Low battery and replace-now levels, replace warning days, default battery life.
• Silent-after hours, suspect-rise threshold, reminder interval and reminder hour.
• Battery variable keywords and excludes, plus a device picker for anything you want tracked by hand.

Trial and Licensing

Try Battery Tracker free with the trial period shown on this page. A license is required after the trial.