Tried a new brand of wireless contacts and lost a full day's pay

Last month, I took a job wiring up a small office building in Fresno. The spec called for wireless door contacts, and I had a box of these new 'SecureLink' sensors I got on a deal. Figured I'd give them a shot. Big mistake. The signal was so weak that every single one kept dropping off the panel, even from maybe 30 feet away with a clear line of sight. I spent eight hours, a full day's work, just trying to get them to stay online, moving the panel, swapping batteries, the whole bit. In the end, I had to rip them all out and go back to my usual brand, which cost me the price of the new sensors plus the lost time. Has anyone else had a bad run with a specific brand of wireless gear recently? I'm sticking to what I know from now on.

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyl5515d agoMost Upvoted

Forgot to check the FCC ID on those things. Some of the new brands are using really crowded frequency bands. Had a similar issue with a batch of sensors that kept getting knocked offline by a nearby warehouse's forklift radio system.

robinson.jake15d ago

Yeah, a buddy of mine had the same kind of mess with some off-brand motion sensors last fall. He put in a whole set at a rental property, and the tenant kept calling because the alarm would go off in the middle of the night for no reason. Turns out the sensors would just freak out and trip randomly. He lost a whole weekend driving back and forth to reset the system before he finally swapped them all out. Total waste of a weekend.

amy_sanchez1d ago

...and the worst part is, SecureLink isn't exactly a fly-by-night name either. I've used their wired stuff before and it was fine, so I figured their wireless had to be decent. Nope. I had a job a few months ago where I was putting in some wireless tilt sensors on a roll-up door at a warehouse. It was a different brand, some company called SafeGuard or something, and the signal was so touchy that the door would only close if I stood exactly ten feet away and held my tongue just right. Ended up having to mount the receiver on a steel beam with zip ties just to get it to work, and even then it would drop out anytime a forklift drove by. Spent two days on what should have been a half-day job. Now I just stick to the same few brands I know work, even if they cost a bit more. It's not worth the headache when you're losing pay like that.