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emmylbright's profile

Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 12:29 AM

Unknown cause of alarm triggering - help!

I was just out of the house and got a notification that one of our entry sensors and one motion sensor had gone off. The first was the entry sensor (a window) followed by the motion sensor (several rooms away from the window entry sensor) - these happened within the same minute. 

We checked everything - the window sensor was completely in tact. No part of it had moved, and it’s not placed on metal. The window itself was undamaged and there was no evidence of a break in at that window (cops came and looked at it too). In the room with the entry sensor, there was no heat source or light (like a laser printer, etc) that would have set it off. We have two small cats but it is in pet mode and they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near where the sensor’s field of view. This all happened at night so there is also no direct sunlight. Either way, it’s weird that the motion sensor went off then the window entry sensor… all within the same minute.

Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated!!

Captain

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6.2K Messages

1 year ago

@emmylbright Two small cats may account for the motion sensor, but the entry sensor is a head scratcher.  I would put both temporarily on secret alert only and if you have a SS camera put them in the same room as the two sensors, pointed at the window and the center of the room where the motion is located.  

Back to the two cats, even with the new SS3 Gen2 sensor you are going to have issues. I have seen my daughters two cats defy the law of Physics and get into places I would have believed unless I saw it with my own eyes. Glass break and entry sensors are the way to go with cats.  Another thing to try is calling SS to troubleshoot and possibly ask them to replace the offending entry sensor. Also, how far apart is the entry sensor? If close to 2 inches, try and get the two sides closer

together.

One last thing: When you do call SS see if you can still buy a original SS3 motion sensor. You can mount them upside down and set sensitivity to low and try that with setting on secret alert and see if cats don't set it off.

(edited)

2 Messages

@captain11​ thank you! I’m less concerned with the motion sensor as I am with the entry sensor. It’s just so weird that the window entry went off after the mention… any thoughts on this? The sensors are in the correct placement.

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

1 year ago

Hi @emmylbright, 

Entry Sensor false alarms can be caused if they're placed on metal (and I know that yours is not,) but they can also be caused if the sensor and magnet become more than two inches apart. As temperatures are beginning to dip, that can cause houses to shrink, and the gap between the sensor and magnet can increase. 

Regarding your Motion Sensor, false alarms could also be triggered if the sensor is vibrated or moved. If the sensor is placed on a cabinet or shelf and your cats were able to jostle it while playing, that could cause the Motion Sensor to vibrate and trigger a false alarm. And if a small insect was able to crawl right in front of the sensor, that could be another false alarm trigger.

Our Support team is also always able to take a deeper look into your account and provide additional insight.

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