1 Message
Base Station too far away
I have an existing system with paid monitoring. I just bought several new sensors, water, temp, entry, but they are too far away from the base station. According to SS there is no way to extend the base station range. The solution is to move the base station, but then I would be out of range from existing sensors.
Can I buy a new base station/keypad, connect the new sensors and monitor the water, temp, etc. with the phone app? I do not want to pay for extra monitoring. Can I add another base station to my current account, or do I have to have separate app access?
Official Solution
davey_d
Community Admin
•
5.7K Messages
2 years ago
Hi @rickplayamx,
The SimpliSafe Base Station is the central hub of the whole system. You can think of it as the system, and all other components just report to it.
So as such, it's not possible to have multiple Base Stations added to the same system.
Similarly, each Base Station would have its own monitoring account. So if you had a second Base Station, you would need to have a separate monitoring account for it (or keep that account under Basic App Control - more info on your Plan options can be found here).
The sensors are able to reach the Base Station at a range of 800ft or more over open air. In a typical home situation, the sensors should still be able to work at half that distance.
The biggest impact to range is interference, which can be either from other wireless signals competing for the same airspace, or dense physical objects that are literally in the way of the signal. If your home has walls made of brick, stone, or with mesh in the insulation, that could do a lot to prevent signals from getting through.
When troubleshooting, it might help to move the Base Station to different spots, where big obstructions may have less of an impact. You can also move your components; just a little bit of a different position might make a huge difference for each sensor.
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manningtx
1 Message
2 years ago
Same basic issue. sensors at one end of house or the other constantly have errors. Also, just extended to detached garage 17 feet from my house. I ran internet access point to garage, exterior cameras would not work nor the door sensors, but indoor cameras would work. I then bought a second base station, and everything works and sends notices to my phone, but I will have to pay another fee (double the current fee) to have the system monitored.
Bottom line unless you have a relatively small house, Simplisafe is very poor solution for home security needs.
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marcos9999
5 Messages
1 year ago
This is precisely my problem. Cannot get a sweet spot where all sensors work, even though the camera on the back says "not connecting to base," but it works fine. This isn't very reassuring. I cannot understand why the base has to have its own communication with sensors since they receive plenty of internet signals. Why can't the base get its data from the Net? I'm no electronic engineer, but it seems silly.
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