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julianbenz's profile

Thursday, October 8th, 2020 8:14 PM

Alarm trips when entry sensor is closed in Home mode

From what I understand, you should be able to arm the system in Home (and maybe even Away) mode with an entry sensor open (e.g. window), close that entry sensor at a later time, and the system will then monitor that entry sensor for future opening events.  This works if the system is armed and the entry is closed within a few minutes of one another.  However, I have found that when the system has been armed with a window entry sensor open, and then I close that window a couple of hours later, the system will trip and start counting down to an alarm.

Any thoughts or is the system supposed to behave in this way?

Community Admin

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536 Messages

4 years ago

Hi @julian.benz,

You are right that you should be able to arm the system, and then later (regardless of how long) close a window without triggering the entry delay. We have communicated your report over to our dev team to see if we are able to replicate the issue. Thanks for letting us know!

SimpliSafe Social Team
SimpliSafe Home Security

8 Messages

Thanks for looking into it.  I just looked at my timeline from last night when I ran into this issue to provide a bit more context.  The system was armed a little bit over two hours earlier than I had closed the window and tripped the system.  I tested it again when I re-armed the system and closed the window a few minutes later, which then did not trip the system.

8 Messages

4 years ago

So after a bit more testing with my system off, I figured out that the way I had adhered the entry sensors on my windows was potentially the cause of tripping my alarm when closing the windows after the system was armed.  I had installed the entry sensors on my sliding windows similar to how it is pictured in the bottom two example images on the following page (https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030162491-How-do-I-install-my-All-New-SimpliSafe-Entry-Sensor-).  Mine however were a bit closer when the window was closed.  I noticed that sometimes when closing the window slowly, the LED light on the sensor would blink twice indicating it was closed but blink an additional time indicating it had registered an opening event.

I repositioned the sensors so that sensor and magnet will now separate in a direction parallel to the short dimension of the magnet.  I think that may resolve the issue I was having.

1 Message

@julianbenz​ 

Hello,

I believe I have the same issue.  When I close the window I get a double hit (closed/open), so the alarm sounds.

Can you elaborate on how you positioned the sensors?  Maybe a pic?  It's not very clear to me.  I want to ensure I'm re-mounting them correctly since I need to do all the sensors (doubled sided tape fails after awhile...). 

Also, if there is any adice on how to accurately test this positioning without full arming would be appreciated. 

This reply has been converted into a comment

1.3K Messages

4 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to really bottom this out and acknowledge it was installation rather than a "SS problem". Very refreshing, thanks again.

1 Message

2 years ago

@julianbenz​ 

Hello,

I believe I have the same issue.  When I close the window I get a double hit (closed/open), so the alarm sounds.

Can you elaborate on how you positioned the sensors?  Maybe a pic?  It's not very clear to me.  I want to ensure I'm re-mounting them correctly since I need to do all the sensors (doubled sided tape fails after awhile...). 

Also, if there is any adice on how to accurately test this positioning without full arming would be appreciated. 

This comment was created from this reply

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@dcurtis101​ it looks like julianbenz had posted their comment 2 years ago, so they might not be able to come back and reply.

But are you comfortable with sharing a picture of how you have yours set up? I'm thinking that when your window is fully closed, the magnet gets separated from the main sensor again. In the completely closed position, the two pieces should be exactly aligned.

One more note: has it been a few years since you installed your sensors initially? The Command Adhesive that we use should be lasting a very long time - though might have trouble in 90%+ humidity. Our Support team at 800-548-9508 can help by sending you some extras.

8 Messages

@dcurtis101​ Guess I was still subscribed to this thread so here goes:

I had initially installed my window sensors as shown on the page I referenced in my follow up post (https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030162491-How-do-I-install-my-All-New-SimpliSafe-Entry-Sensor-) but was having the double-hit issue with the sensors when closing the windows.

I now have the sensors installed so that the two parts separate similarly to how Simplisafe shows the door sensor/magnet separating on the example shown on the referenced page. In other words, the wide side of the magnet (i.e. the longer side with mark/indent) should separate from the sensor in the direction the window opens so the wide part of the magnet part does not slide past the sensor.

Here are two examples to show what I mean. In this first picture, my vertical window slides to right away from the wall:

In this next example, the window slides up away from the window sill:
This configuration should hopefully solve your issues.

(edited)

31 Messages

2 years ago

Whew, all this talk about leaving windows open.  We just don't do that down here in the Southern US.  Overnight low temperatures of the low 80's still too hot for me!

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