4 Messages
Entry sensor battery died and triggered alarm
The alarm was triggered at 1:30AM while we were sound asleep. It showed our exterior garage door had been opened. The door was locked and secured. It appeared the entry sensor battery had died and therefore the system assumed the door had been opened. I opened and closed the door a few times and the blue light did not flash. How do we avoid this in the future? There was no warning of a low battery.
Official Solution
davey_d
Community Admin
•
5.7K Messages
2 years ago
Hi @melislo ,
The way that the Entry Sensor works is that the only way it can trigger an alarm is if it sends an "opened" signal while your system is armed. If the battery on that sensor was dead, that means it cannot send a signal at all - so false alarms shouldn't be possible.
Of course, if an Entry Sensor's battery was low, you should also be getting a "Low Battery" warning from the system, which leads me to believe that this issue is something else.
Like the Captain, a big clue for me is that you have this sensor installed on a garage door. You did already confirm that it's installed on a regular door, not a rolling garage door. But is that door made of metal (either iron or steel)? The Entry Sensor works by detecting the smaller magnet piece. So if you place either piece on a ferrous surface, that could cause the magnet to demagnetize. That would result in that persistent "open" signal, and the sensor going in and out of function.
The solution is to add a bit of padding underneath both pieces of the sensor - perhaps pieces of wood or plastic cut to size. You just need to put a physical barrier between the sensor pieces and the metal surface.
Hope this all helps!
(edited)
0
0
melislo
4 Messages
2 years ago
Our alarm was triggered at 1:30 in the morning. The keypad showed the exterior garage door had had been opened. We checked the door and it was locked and secured. It appeared the entry sensor battery had died so the system registered the door as open. I opened and closed the door a few times and the blue light did not flash. We did not get any warnings regarding a low battery. How do we avoid this in the future?
0
0
captain11
Captain
•
6.1K Messages
2 years ago
@melislo this is a tough one, as using the entry sensor on a garage door (to be specific, a door that opens so you can drive your car in and out of the garage) is not, at this time, a manufacture's approved use of that sensor. Now that is out of the way, I and many others do use an entry sensor (motions too) to protect their garages.
I have experienced myself low batteries causing connection issues, but never causing an alarm. Are you sure that the gap between the entry sensor and magnet did go beyond the maximum gap? Windy that night? How do you have the entry sensor mounted? I had mine original on door hindges but now use a nylon sensor holder I purchased on Etsy that is beautiful in design and works like a champ.
There was a customer who used an entry sensor mounted on a metal band but I found that not reliable and could cause false alarms.
If you don't think the install setup was an issue, suggest calling SS support and see if they can provide any insight; of course, Simplisafe, you are more than cordially invited to add to this thread!
2
0
cincode5mayo94
2 Messages
2 years ago
Pretty sure this same thing just happened to me. 5:53am. Scared the hell out of us.
1
0