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How is the typical battery life on the ZSE41 800LR?
Literally days before we left our northern house for the winter on October 28th, I installed a new, out-of-box ZSE41 800LR (with original battery that was included) on the side door to our (unheated) garage. I noticed earlier today the Z-Box App is reporting its battery level is 24%–which clearly won’t last until spring. 
Is a likely cause of poor battery life a weak Z-Wave path back to the hub?
There are 3 other Z-Wave devices in the garage, but they are all battery powered–so no help there with the Z-Wave mesh! Two mains-powered devices–a ZEN77 800LR Series S2 Dimmer and a ZEN55 800LR Series DC Signal Sensor–are located inside the house within maybe 50-60 feet of the door sensor. I don’t believe the walls have much metal, but no doubt there some amount of attenuation of the signal due to sheetrock and insulation. (Anecdotally, I had a similar issue with a ZSE42 v1.0 water leak sensor in our basement eating batteries like crazy until I added a mains-powered device nearby–and later a ZAC38 Range Extender/Power Outage Sensor nearby in the basement.)
Obviously, there’s not much I can do until returning north in the Spring, but perhaps another mains-powered device inside the garage–a ZAC38 Range Extender/Power Outage Sensor may be a candidate–could be helpful. Thoughts? Any comments from actual users happy with the ZSE41 800LR battery life?
Thanks! 
Thanks for reaching out!
A lack of repeaters can definitely contribute to battery drain for a mesh device.
Another potential cause could be temperature related, as you noted this is on the door to an unheated garage, depending on the temperatures experienced. While the sensor can be installed outdoors with the waterproof case, remember that the operating temperature of the sensor is from 32° to 104° F. You’ll want to ensure the temperatures do not drop below 32°F. While CR2032 batteries can technically operate down to -22°F, cold temperatures reduce ion mobility, increasing the batteries’ internal resistance and dropping the output Voltage. No energy storage is lost, it’s just that the energy doesn’t get to the device, it dissipates internally. So in cold weather it may stop responding but once it warms up, it should still operate and respond. The sensor needs a substantial amount of Voltage (2.6) from the battery to sustain the Z-Wave chip and report to the hub. When that energy is dissipated due to the cold, you get a loss of function until the battery is warmed.
Further on this, @Sara, do you have any data comparing battery life on a hub with LR support? I was having a conversation with someone who suggests an LR path back to the hub is not only more reliable, but easier on the battery in a device such as this. Once the Z-Box supports LR, this could also be an option?
This would definitely be an option that could help here. Z-Wave Long Range (ZWLR) devices automatically adjust and optimize the radio output power at every transmission. ZWLR employs dynamic RF power, meaning that for nodes situated close enough to the hub, only sufficient RF power is utilized to reliably communicate with the controller, thereby extending battery life. This dynamic power algorithm is integrated into the Z-Wave protocol, which entirely eliminates the need for manual management.
We cover some of the specifics and technical details regarding ZWLR and battery life in this blog post, and there are more details as well through the Z-Wave Alliance.
