I finally gave up on wireless sensors for a whole house retrofit in Portland

Client insisted on no new wires, so I used a full wireless kit on a 1938 build. The old lathe and plaster walls blocked half the signals, causing constant false alarms. Anyone else run into this with older construction, and what's your backup plan?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris_jones891d ago

My neighbor in southeast Portland had the exact same problem with her 1936 foursquare. We found out that the old knob and tube wiring in these houses can actually act like a giant antenna, interfering with the wireless signals in ways nobody expects. She switched to a z-wave system on a different frequency band and it cut the false alarms in half. The plaster and lathe is definitely part of it, but the old wiring might be messing things up just as much. Might be worth checking if your panel has any of that original wiring still live in the walls.

the_betty22d ago

I mean, wireless sensors can be a pain in old houses, but I've had them work fine in my 1940s place. Maybe it's just me, but I wonder if the kit placement was the real issue. I put my main hub in a central hallway, not a far corner, and it made a huge difference. Sometimes you gotta test a few spots before giving up on the whole system.

gonzalez.vera21d ago

Oh totally! My last place had plaster walls and it was a nightmare for signal. I ended up putting the hub on a bookshelf in the living room, which was way better than the closet where I first tried it. You really do have to play musical chairs with the thing.