‎Entry sensor out of range, but should not be | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
jc5830's profile

Sunday, March 24th, 2024 4:38 PM

Entry sensor out of range, but should not be

My sensor is perhaps 30 to 40 feet away from the base station, by the walking distance.  It is down the hall, hang a left, and through a bedroom door on the window.  All standard drywall and stick construction.

This sensor does not have good connectivity, but based on the distance it should. I didn't get a low battery warning.  Any thoughts on what I should try to fix this?

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

8 months ago

Hi @jc5830, 

Do you receive any error messages for this Entry Sensor, like "Not Responding" or "Offline?" As a first step, I would recommend replacing the battery in the sensor to see if that is the culprit, but if you continue to receive error messages for the sensor there could be something impacting its communication with the Base Station.

To troubleshoot how the Entry Sensor and Base Station communicate, I would first look at the placement of the Entry Sensor. If either piece of the sensor is placed on metal, that can inhibit the strength of its signal. In that case, we would want to add a buffer between the Entry Sensor and the metal surface -this can be anything like placing a second piece of adhesive, cardboard, or velcro.

But if your Entry Sensor is not on metal, we would then want to look at the placement of the Base Station. We recommend putting it in a central area of the home, and at least 3 feet off the ground on a non-dense material like wood or glass. If the Base Station is on a denser material like metal or granite, that can impact its communication to sensors. If you visit this article in our Help Center, we provide additional details on finding the best location for the Base Station.

21 Messages

8 months ago

the entry sensor is on a window frame. the window frame is vinyl. it's about 8 ft off the ground

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@jc5830​ thanks for the further info. The next step is to try swapping that Entry Sensor with a different Entry Sensor (just the main sensor piece) - assuming you have multiple in your home.

If that same sensor continues to have trouble in the new spot, then we'll know the sensor itself is malfunctioning and our Support team should replace it.

But if that other sensor in this position starts having trouble, then we'll know there's definitely something about that particular spot, and we'll need to continue troubleshooting.

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