2gig take over module lost of check in signal

Symptom: one of two take over module occasionally reports malfunction for all the wired sensors connected to it. The two take over modules are in same place and only one of them is having the issue. Even if we added a signal repeater, the problem appears better (once every few days vs once every day), but is still happening. At the same time while system reports those wired sensors malfunction, if I manually trigger the sensor to be active (eg open and close the window), the check in message sent and the those zone come back online. Or if I wait one or few check in circle the sensors come back online it self. Battery and voltage are checked so we can rule out those possibility.

Question:

  1. When those sensor reports malfunction, I now can not Arm the system. The panel says not ready to Arm unless I bypass those zones (which I don’t want to). It used to be if I click acknowledge it will still allow me to Arm. is there a faulty counter for that so it does not allow me to Arm anymore?

  2. If the system is Armed, and those check in message lost, what will happen? will the system disarm?

  3. Can I just disable the sensor supervision for those sensors which connected to this take over module? Because those sensors is actually working fine.

Google brought me here, and read I can get help even if I am not a surety home customer. Thanks a lot.

Is that TAKE-345 closer to a large source of metal like the old alarm panel can?

If it is close to metal or high voltage wiring, try moving the TAKE-345 on the other side of the functional one, if wiring allows, I would expect enough slack to move 6 inches or so at least.

If it is truly attenuation related (as it is unlikely range) a small adjustment may improve the signal reliability.

You could just disable supervision, but then you lose out on a warning if and when actual signaling trouble or wiring resistance issue occurs. I would try to get to the bottom of the issue before disabling supervision unless you are just not looking to troubleshoot further.

Thanks for replying.

The location of the take over module could not be changed as all wire goes to that location. The strange thing is with two take over units, only one reports lost of supervision (once in few days) and another one just works fine. We already added an 2gig official repeater but still happening (less often than without repeater). From GC2 panel manual, we can adjust check in time to 12 hours / 24 hours (in this discussion you mention it ), but not for Edge, looks like I can only disable the supervision or enable it in Edge.

BTW, It will be highly appreciated if you could address above 1st and 2nd question.

If a sensor is in malfunction it will be bypassed when arming, this is expected.

No, a malfunction while armed is still a malfunction trouble, it will not disarm the system automatically.

The location of the take over module could not be changed as all wire goes to that location

I understand that it might not be able to be moved far, but if it has a little slack you can at least troubleshoot by moving it 6 inches or so, or pulling it off the wall mount temporarily as a test. Given your description I would recommend this.

If you have a multimeter/ohmmeter I would recommend testing the resistance on the sensor circuits going to that TAKE-345. Is the resistance near or exceeding 3k ohms? That may be the cause of the issue.

It will not disarm, but the panel will automatically bypass those sensors, right? Will it auto cancel the bypass when the sensor comes back online?

My TAKE report malfunction, but comes back 36 minutes afterwards. I thought the minmum check in message would be 70 minutes. This is again strange to me…

BTW, I read This looks like the OP did not resolve the LOS problem at end and swap all his TAKE to wireless sensors.

It will not disarm, but the panel will automatically bypass those sensors, right? Will it auto cancel the bypass when the sensor comes back online?

No, I don’t believe so. By default it works for remote arming and force bypassing on open sensors. The panel will auto unbypass that zone if it restores the open condition. A bypassed sensor won’t auto-unbypass until it closes.

Testing it, it looks like a tampered bypassed sensor will not unbypass when tamper is restored, but then if opened and closed while bypassed, on the closure the bypass is removed.

I understand the behavior is odd, but there are basically two causes of supervision malfunctions which might apply to your case. It is not likely the TAKE itself, but you could always try another one, or, better yet try swapping the circuits from one TAKE to the other.

If the malfunctions occur on the different TAKE by the same sensors it is likely the resistance of the wires causing the issue. Could be the wiring route/length, high voltage lines running close beside them, or resistors were left on that have just too much resistance.

If the malfunctions occur on the same TAKE with different sensors, it is likely the TAKE’s specific location (or potentially, but I wouldn’t bet on it, just a failure of the TAKE).

If it will not unbypass itself, and LOS continue to happen, my best option right now is to turn off sensor supervision for the Zones on that TAKE. It at least won’t auto bypass those zones regardless LOS.

The two possibilities that you mentioned could only be the 2nd one. There are two TAKE on the same location, one connected eight zones is just fine. The 2nd TAKE is having three windows zones and three wired motion detector zones. When LOS happening, all three windows zones report the malfunction at the same time, while motion detector zones never reports problem as those always open and close. With windows zones in question, if I manually open and close it will clear the faulty. If line issue, why all three lines have same issue while all other lines goes to 1st TAKE are fine. If location issue, why 1st TAKE just no problem. All these point to the 2nd TAKE is having weak signal than the 1st one.

One more question on the bypass and unbypass. What if I DisArm and Arm on the alarm.com app? I have seen if I Arm while those three zones went offline, it will Arm but bypass those zones, if I disArm it will unbypass those zones even those zones still offline. So if zones go offline and auto bypass while Armed, if I disArm from app what will happen?