False Alarm from Qolsys Window Contact Tamper

With the dual batteries Qolsys advertises that this sensor has “up to eight years of battery life.” They recommend replacing the batteries every five years. But if this happens again with another sensor I’ll probably just go ahead and replace all the batteries as a hopeful preventive measure.

It shouldn’t happen again with this sensor. I’ve moved it to Group 25 in hopes of not being awaken by another false alarm tonight.

I think we’ll need to discuss with Qolsys. Do you mind if we follow up with you tomorrow on this?

It looks like you’ve already changed the sensor type to non-reporting so it shouldn’t cause an alarm tonight. If you don’t mind, I’ll also disable tampers from sending signals to the monitoring center until we get this figured out.

Sounds good, Roy. Yes, please disable tampers from sending signals to the monitoring center for now. Thanks.

Could you post a photo of the sensor as it is on the window while closed?

Hmm, well I don’t see any issues at all with installation, and if you did not use the optional tear-away tamper screw mount inside there shouldn’t be a reason for a tamper.

The iON Plunger G sensors are 319.5mhz frequency and were installed in the house when we moved in with an older Simon XT panel that I promptly ripped the hell out. I’ve wondered at times whether the sensor sent a tamper instead of a low battery…

There is actually precedent for this, though I wouldn’t expect this in other cases: The older Resolution Products RE111 Mighty Mouse window sensor would send tampers instead of low battery when a low battery occurred.

Sounds good, Roy. Yes, please disable tampers from sending signals to the monitoring center for now.

Note that disabling tamper reports to the CS won’t actually stop tamper alarms if they occur, changing the sensor type to non-reporting will do that though.

I’ve reached out to Qolsys to see if they have any known issues with any production runs of that model of sensor, or any known firmware issues.

We’ve received one other report of an IQ DW Mini recently that sent tampers at odd times with no discernible cause. They were also using IQ Panel 2+ firmware 2.4.2. I think it would be good to be sure to upgrade to the latest available version.

There is no known issue like this according to Qolsys. If you notice repeated tamper alerts from a single DW Mini, Qolsys believes it would likely be a damaged or defective sensor.

I would try firmware first, but replacing the sensor would be the next step it sounds like.

Updating to the latest firmware now. Regardless, I think I’ll go ahead and replace the sensor. I’m just hopeful this is an isolated incident and not something that’s going to start occurring with my other sensors.

Does Qolsys have any interest in this sensor for failure analysis? I’d be glad to send it to them if they’ll provide a shipping label.

I don’t believe so at this time, but it might be good to hold onto it just in case.

It is unlikely you would see other sensors behave this way unless it actually is an issue such as reporting tamper instead of low battery. That is much less likely.

I’m a little late to the party, and quite frankly I’m very glad to find this thread.

I have a friend with an IQ2 and the same sensor mentioned in this thread, along with his next door neighbor with the same setup. His neighbor had this same thing happen on 3 separate sensors within a few months. They replaced batteries to no avail, then replaced the sensors.

I just received call of someone in a town an hour away (for service) who had 2 of the sensors do the exact same thing. Tamper after about a year of problem free operation. No low batteries, no physical trauma.

3 locations, each with this same symptom with the same Qolsys sensor. I’m starting to think there may be a problem with these sensors after a few months-years of installation.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If you are an installer and are seeing multiple instances of tamper, I would recommend contacting Qolsys and letting them know. Give them as many details as you can. If an issue exists with a production run the sooner they prove it the better. They are pretty good about issuing TSBs for widespread issues.

If you are not an installer, have your dealer report these instances with the model and transmitter id of the sensors to Qolsys.

As far as what might be happening, again I have seen an incorrect signal being sent from a different manufacturer’s sensor before, where tampers get sent instead of low battery.

Another possibly more likely possibility is a physical defect with the tamper switch on a run of sensors.

The same thing is occurring with my some of my IQ DW sensors recently. They are about 4 years old now. Checking the open-circuit voltage of the batteries will not produce a valid result and they can still read near 3v when weak. They should be checked under an equivalent load … or better yet, checked in-circuit when the circuit is fully active, looking for a voltage droop below 3v. I need to experiment with this type of testing since these sensors generate a pulsed load when they wake up to transmit a new heartbeat event. Btw, the open-circuit voltage for a new CR2032 is typically around 3.25 to 3.3v and not the nominal 3v stated.

This issue reared it’s ugly head again this morning with another false tamper on a (different) Qolsys QS1135-840 IQ Mini-S. Luckily this time I was already awake and the system wasn’t armed, but it’s still frusterating.

Has Qolsys provided any additional information on this false tamper issue, or acknowleged that it’s an issue?

Is there any way to disable all tamper signals from setting off my alarm? I still have the IQ Panel 2 mentioned in my original post.

Has Qolsys provided any additional information on this false tamper issue, or acknowleged that it’s an issue?

Not that we have seen/heard. How old is the sensor in question and how old are the batteries?

Does the internal tamper switch stick at all?

Is there any way to disable all tamper signals from setting off my alarm? I still have the IQ Panel 2 mentioned in my original post.

No you cannot locally stop all sensors from generating an alarm during tamper. You can switch individual sensors to Group 25 local safety but they would not generate an alarm signal at all, this is good for testing sensors, or for when you want an alert, but to not generate an alarm state.

When troubleshooting, you may want to place your 24/7 professional monitoring account on Test Mode during troubleshooting to avoid any false dispatches.

You can do this by calling monitoring operators directly at 855-348-0367 or from the Professional Monitoring tab in the System Manager section of your Surety account.

The sensor, and the batteries, are about five years old. I’m at the recommended time for battery replacement (although Qolsys says this sensor’s batteries last us to eight years), but wouldn’t think this would be related to battery level.

The internal tamper switch doesn’t stick at all or have any indications of damage.

I put the sensor in Group 25 to avoid being awaken with a false alarm, and will order a replacement, but this doesn’t resolve the bigger issue that these sensors obviously have a problem and it seems Qolsys doesn’t have any interest addressing it. Without the ability to stop all sensors from generating an alarm during tamper I’m left with a security system prone to false alarms, which is a really annoying thing to live with.

Any other recommendations of how to address this?

The sensor, and the batteries, are about five years old. I’m at the recommended time for battery replacement (although Qolsys says this sensor’s batteries last us to eight years), but wouldn’t think this would be related to battery level

QS1135-840 batteries are good for 5 years according to Qolsys

Low battery level shouldnt cause a tamper on this sensor, but batteries should be replaced every 5 years or as needed based on low level alerts.

There are no technical service bulletins from Qolsys regarding a DW Mini tamper issue. However, I have reached out for confirmation. If i hear anything postive I will follow up here.

Are you getting the tamper all the time, or intermittently?

Any other recommendations of how to address this?

Replace the battery and monitor. Consider deleting from programming and re-adding. If the tamper continues, replace the sensor.

Has the issue occured on sensors that are all around the same age/purchased at the same time?

The false tamper is intermittent. On this sensor it has only occured twice.

I have about 20 of these sensors and all but one were purchased at the same time, around 5 years ago. I had this same issue with one other sensor, and that occured about two years ago. I disposed of that sensor and replaced it with a new one.

It’d be really nice if Qolsys would add an “ignore sensor tamper” setting to the panel. I get that the tamper switch is supposed to be a security mechanism, but in this case I’d gladly forego the tamper notifications to avoid the false alarms.

I had this same issue with one other sensor, and that occured about two years ago. I disposed of that sensor and replaced it with a new one.

Have you experienced issues with the new one?

Yet again last night I was woken by a false alarm due to a false tamper from another Qolsys QS1135-840 IQ Mini-S sensor. The is the third sensor I’ve had fail this way and it’s incredibly frustrating. Not just that Qolsys fails provide any remediation or mitigation, but that they won’t even acknowledge there’s a problem. Tamper disable per sensor at the panel would be a simple software solution. It’s obvious from this thread that this is not an isolated incident. My failure rate on these sensors is approaching 15%.

Has there been any update from Qolsys?

Could you open up the one that tampered and show a photo of the back plate where it is attached to the wall?