Stopped trusting those cheap wireless sensors after a false alarm callout cost me $350 last month.

Had a customer in Wichita who kept getting false alarms from a wireless door sensor. Ended up driving 45 minutes to find the battery had a loose connection. I've been installing alarms for 12 years now and I see this all the time. The contact points on those budget sensors get corroded after about 6 months in humid basements. Replaced it with a hardwired one and not a peep since. Why do people keep pushing wireless when they fail so often?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley_fox922d ago

I hear you, but honestly I think cheap hardwired sensors are just as bad. Had a brand new hardwired contact fail on me after three months. The wire itself got pinched behind the door frame and shorted out. Wireless at least lets you test the battery and swap it in two minutes without running new wire. Plus if you're paying $350 for a false alarm callout, your monitoring company is ripping you off, not the sensor technology. Corrosion happens to anything if it's in a humid basement. That's a install problem, not a wireless problem.

hollym822d ago

Ha, jokes on me then because I'm pretty sure I've installed more dud sensors than anyone here. I once had a wireless contact that worked perfectly for like eight months, then started chirping at 3 AM every single night until I literally threw it in the trash out of spite. You're right though, the monitoring fee thing is a separate nightmare, but I guess I'm just so used to cheap stuff breaking that I assume it's always the sensor's fault. I just wish someone would make a wireless sensor that doesn't feel like it's held together with hopes and prayers and a single piece of scotch tape.