My entry sensor is not responding.

@scottturner​ thanks for checking in. Have you already been troubleshooting for sources of interference? Our Support team can also help with troubleshooting step by step.

Same problem, removing it and adding it back, worked.

That worked for me too

Re installing worked for me. Not knowing what causes the problem is a bit of a worry. What if this happened again whilst I was away on holiday?

worked for me too

@nanakatie​ in case you were experiencing the issue over the past week, where older responses were not displaying correctly, here's what we wrote back in April:

If you're getting a blinking blue when you open or close that door (or window), that means the sensor is definitely sensing the magnet. So the issue is not with that.

The "Not Responding" error means that the sensor is having trouble checking in with the Base Station. Since we know that the sensor is definitely still powered on, it's sounding like the main issue is with interference - something is getting in the way of that signal.

Interference can be caused by physical objects literally getting in the way, like dense walls (brick, adobe, metal siding, etc.) or heavy appliances. It can also be caused by other wireless signals drowning out the sensor - think of simpler devices like remote controlled garage door openers, wireless weather stations, or some baby monitors. So the first thing you want to do when troubleshooting is identify all of the possible sources of interference between that sensor and your Base Station, and then we can figure out how to decrease its effect.

@Glenn,

The sensors communicate with the Base Station via local radio. The Base Station connects through WiFi and the cell network (if you have monitoring), but that's only used for communicating with the service.

That local radio that the sensors use is able to communicate at over 800ft over open air. In a typical home, with walls and other obstructions, the range would be decreased, but should still be okay at half that range.

If you're getting the Not Responding warning for several sensors, then we'd want to investigate what they have in common. For example, if they're all on the same side of the house, there might be a particular wall blocking off the signal. If the sensors are all in different sides of the house, then that points more towards wireless interference, so you'll want to look for other transmitting devices that might be a problem.

The problem when I arm my system and I get the message that several devices are not responding, I have no way to identify which of the devices had the problem.  When I immediately look at what devices are off line after arming my system, the app shows all devices are online. 

Ah, thanks for the follow-up. If you're getting the "Not Responding" voice prompt, you can check the notification area on the Keypad, by pressing the [!] on the screen.

On the app, you can go to Menu > My System > Device Settings. Then you should tap the Refresh button on the top right, which will pull the most recent status from the system and all registered sensors. You can then scroll down to see the status each sensor (you'll see Offline for any sensor that is not communicating).

FIXED MY ENTRY SENSOR COMMUNICATION WITH NEW NAME BRAND BATTERIES

@willscotmont​ I did confirm with our fulfillment team in case there had been a change, but I am assured that all our sensors are still sent out with Duracell brand batteries. That is, except for the Smoke Detector, which is sent out with Panasonic to meet UL requirements.

Could it be that you just needed to power cycle that one sensor? I know it's probably long gone, but if you still had the older battery, it might be worth putting it back in to test. Or perhaps that one battery was bad, and needed to be replaced. I would just hate for you to replace the batteries for the entire system for nothing!

@krstrick​ 

I agree that you should not have to suffer the frustration that you describe.   SimpliSafe has always provided us with fast, first class service.  I have no doubt that if you call their customer service line that they will help you find the solution.

Scott

@willscotmont 

I wish I shared your confidence, calls to their customer service are pretty much useless in my experience. I mean they are nice... but they can't fix mine at least so far. 

My daughter has an original SS and it doesn't give her any trouble - I bought it for her years ago... it weighed heavily into our decision to get what we did, but we made a huge mistake - the gen 3 is a mess...

@krstrick​ I strongly disagree. Interference is a problem with physics to which no wireless system can ever really be impervious. After all, wireless signals still need to pass through the physical environment, as well as interact with other signals in the area.

What we're talking about when we mention "interference" is that certain things within your home can literally get in the way, or even block signals. So that's why it's important to methodically troubleshoot, and then take steps to mitigate.

@davey_d 

Well obviously i'm a little cheesed off ATM, but I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that point.

I just feel like from a customer point of view that "interference" is used as a get out of jail card when no one can figure out what's wrong, and that a wireless security system should be designed in such a way as to be able to overcome any interference, obstacles etc that might be found in a typical home ... my house is neither very large nor atypical construction, a wireless system should be install and forget IMO.

@krstrick​ on that part we agree. The Gen 3 system was specifically designed with a more efficient signal; so it should actually be faring way better than the Original!

But certainly no, we talk about interference to explain what's happening, so that we can get to an actual solution. Troubleshooting is a kind of science, where it's about eliminating possibilities until we get to the right problem to solve.

In your case, there's something that we're missing and not accounting for. But as long as you're willing, we won't give up in getting this figured out.

@Cmac23 ​ If interference isn't at play here, there must be another factor that's causing these sensors to intermittently show as Not Responding. I've gone ahead and opened up a ticket with our escalated support team on your behalf. A specialist will reach out to you soon to get to the bottom of this. 

@Cmac23 ​ any luck on fixing this issue?

My system does the same all the time. And I get the interference part and why not, but when I open the window, the base immediately responds to the open sensor. In my case is always the same front sensor. They randomly stop transmitting. Like you, I am on the same boat. I have multiple camaras, ton of entry sensors and water sensors. But only a few have the same problem. I even tried to switch them around, but in place, the front ones start acting up. It's very frustrating with all the money invested in the system and the monthly monitoring cost (which has gone up twice since I became a user) which we pay for, and still have camaras that sometimes pick up activities, and sensors not responding randomly.

@Apolac​ These front sensors that keep experiencing this issue, are they in the same area of your home? If they are, this is most likely a sign that the Base Station is having a hard time communicating with them from its current location.

I would recommend adjusting the placement of your Base Station and move it closer to these sensors to see if that helps.

@jaime​ When a sensors displays a “Not Responding” error message, that means that the device cannot check in with the Base Station. This can either be due to a low battery, or interference. You mention that multiple sensors in different parts of your home display this “Not Responding” error, so I believe that interference may be the culprit here. There’s two different types of interference we want to look out for: physical and wireless.

Physical interference is caused by objects getting in the way between your sensors and the Base Station. This can be anything like thick brick/stone walls, or heavy appliances. Physical interference can also occur if the Base Station isn’t in an optimal location. We recommend putting the Base Station in a central area in your home, and on a wood/glass surface that’s at least 3 feet off the ground. If the Base Station is in a cabinet, on a metal shelf, or on a dense surface like granite, it can impact its communication with your devices. To troubleshoot for physical interference, I would try placing your Base Station in different areas of your home to see if that helps.

Wireless interference comes from other wireless signals drowning out your sensors. This would come from simpler devices that broadcast the same frequency as our devices, like wireless weather stations, remote garage door openers, some baby monitors, and ham radio stations. To troubleshoot for wireless interference, I would scan the area around your Base Station and sensors and see if there’s any other wireless devices in their path. If there are, it can help to slightly move them to a different location.

@emily_s Hi, in my house, I have 2 door sensors - each door is about 3 feet apart (in other words, side by side). Both doors are approximately 30 feet from the base station. Both doors have the same setup, so there is no difference in objects getting in the way. In one of the doors, starting about a month ago, I get multiple notifications each day about the door sensor not responding. Some days, the notifications happen repeatedly within a 10 minute span, and then stop. Other days, it's sprinked throughout the day once at a time. I've replaced the battery twice, using two different sets of fresh, non-expired batteries, and that has not fixed the issue. I have had both sensors for over 8 years, and this issue is only happening recently to one of the two sensors. I have already tried deleting the sensor and adding it back, and that only fixed the issue for about a week. No, I have not introduced anything new that would cause an interference to one door but not the other. May you please assist and provide possible reasons and a fix?