For the people looking for experiences I will explain mine: After finally getting in touch with customer service they refunded me 1 sensor. Past weekend the sensor they replaced with a new one had the same problem and the batteries went dead very quickly. I now asked for them to refund this sensor also. I have been waiting for a reply for 3 days now.
If the engineers are investigating this issue, they should not replace sensors, but just refund them until they have fixed the problem. I have wasted time and (also important!) batteries on these devices, they are not what they used to be. Be aware they do not reply within 24 hours, it can take up to 4 days before you get a reply!
I have sent you a message to help me, but you have not responded yet. I have been waiting for 8 days for customer service to respond now. I am considering getting my money back by cancelling my payment in my creditcard account.
Please understand that case investigations take some time. Please check the message I sent you. Thank you .
In addition, I have contacted the engineers and they have resolved the issue.
It is now possible to connect the device to the Engbird app and upgrade the firmware to optimise this feature.
Please understand that according to the email you provided, the last communication with support@inkbird.com was not in the recent past. I’m not sure if there is any misunderstanding here. If possible, please provide more detailed information via private message.
I understand how you feel. I also wish to seek a satisfactory solution for you as far as possible.
Thank you for your co-operation.
I have sent you a message back. My communication was with service@inkbird and they still have not responded. I provided you my order number in PM. I hope we can solve this.
-edit- As I was typing this message I received a response. They were having Chinese New Year and are going to try to get back to their customer services duties. I will update this when they have refunded me.
-edit2- Finally received the refund for both devices. Happy new year.
I had no issues with any of my Inkbird sensors from approximately 2020 until my most recent purchases, starting in April of this year.
What seems unusual is that the extreme battery drain issue appears to affect only the newer IBS-TH2 Plus sensors with the temperature-only external probe purchased between April and now. These units are all running the latest firmware, version 2.7.0, yet they are draining fresh AAA batteries in only a few weeks.
By comparison, the IBS-TH2 Plus sensors with the external temperature-humidity probe, purchased around the same time and used in similar conditions, do not show the same extreme battery drain.
This strongly suggests that the issue is not related to my usage, settings, battery type, or environment. It appears to be specific to the recent batch or version of the IBS-TH2 Plus temperature-only external probe sensors. If there were serial numbers on these sensors, I would bet they were all produced at about the same time.
If this is an unresolved issue, it shouldn’t only occur after April of this year, and only on one version. Normally, the two versions of the IBS-TH2 PLUS main unit are shared.
My current guesses are that the problem lies with: 1. The IBS-TH2 PLUS main unit; 2. The external temperature probe; 3. Increased power consumption when the IBS-TH2 PLUS is connected to the IBS-M1S.
I will try to contact the technical team. However, considering that their experimental setup will take time, perhaps we could conduct some tests.
To better determine whether the problem originates from the IBS-TH2 PLUS main unit or the external temperature probe, if the external temperature probe and the external temperature and humidity probe are swapped, will the problem follow the IBS-TH2 PLUS main unit or the external temperature probe?
If the problem is following the IBS-TH2 PLUS main unit, could you try moving the IBS-TH2 PLUS away from the IBS-M1S gateway to disconnect them, and then use Bluetooth to periodically retrieve historical data (it can be added via the INKBIRD app by selecting the ‘IBS-THS’ model)? Would this improve power consumption?
I too was also wondering whether the probe might be the cause, because the rapid battery drain occurs only with the IBS-TH2 Plus sensors using the temperature-only probe.
I also have IBS-TH2 Plus sensors with the temperature/humidity probe, purchased at the same time, and those do not exhibit the rapid battery drain. As far as I can tell, the units are identical except for the probe.
I have now started testing the following with identical fresh batteries:
IBS-TH2 Plus temperature-only probe sensor, with the probe unplugged and using internal sensors only. This unit previously exhibited rapid battery drain when the probe was attached.
IBS-TH2 Plus temperature/humidity probe sensor, with the temperature-only probe plugged in. This unit has been working normally.
I’ll report back in about two weeks if there is noticeable battery drain in either configuration. If the probe is the culprit, I would expect sensor (2) to begin showing rapid battery drain.
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