Today we were away and had a false alarm with our IQ / Hardwire 16 setup. Police were dispatched. Not good. We have an all hard-wired setup - no motion, no wireless.
After looking through the history on the panel, I can see that the zone that triggered the alarm today showed “open” a few times in the last few days when we were home (2 doors and 1 window in that zone - we rarely use them) and we didn’t even notice. Something is malfunctioning - the question is what. Is it the hardwire 16? The sensors? Any reason a hardwired sensor would work mostly, and for a few months, then suddenly not? I’m not sure how to approach troubleshooting this, but having police dispatched again would be very bad.
If you notice false activations with a hardwired zone, the most common reasons for this would be loose/damaged wiring or misaligned magnet.
Since work was most recently performed (I presume) at the Hardwire 16 side, check the zone wiring there. Make sure the wires are not loose/damaged. If you did not already, it is a good idea to cut and strip the sheathing back to expose fresh wire when connecting it to the Hardwire 16, especially if it is solid cabling. Older solid cable can snap pretty easily once deformed in the terminal block. Keep in mind, the same resistance needs to be in place on the circuit as when it was learned in, so if you changed resistors, you’ll need to learn in the zone again.
If there are three zones on the circuit, any of them may be causing the issue. Check to make sure the magnetic gap is not too wide and that the magnets are properly aligned with sensors.
On the sensors, make sure the wires are not loose.
I have had a few random false alarms as well since I installed my Qolsys and hardwire 16 a few weeks ago. Every once in a while a hardwired zone will start cycling open and closed for no reason, usually a window. If I then actually go open a window and close it, the zone seems to reset back to normal. Usually it is a window that is 20 feet off of the ground, so I know it is not a real incursion. But it is frequent enough that I am a bit concerned. I switched from an Interlogix system that was not throwing false alarms, and used the resistors from the hardwire 16.
It seems to usually happen with a zone that has three or four sensors wired on the same zone. They are hard wired this way in my house, not at the panel. I have a lot of windows.
I will take a look again to make sure the wires at the panel are okay. It gets pretty tight in there when you use all 16 zones. I did strip the wires fresh, used the resistors that came in the box, and relearned everything after it was all wired, no changes. The sensors are all recessed, I have not messed with them, and they have been working fine for 10 years in my old Interlogix system.
@Jason - I’ll have a look at the sensors this evening. When I wired it up I reset the hardwire 16 and cut and stripped all the wires fresh and used the included resistors. Each zone has 1-3 sensors wired together, then to a single resistor. Here’s a picture for kicks:
I think I wired it about as cleanly as I could given all the sensors. I did not use solder (I figured I’d wait till the system seemed rock solid, which I guess it isn’t) but they are long sections of stripped wire twisted perpendicular. I used crimp connectors for the resistors and pulled on them to ensure they were locked in.
Like @rustypick, these sensors have been working flawlessly AFAIK for the last 20 years on the previous system. It’s worth mentioning that this also happened once before on another zone (a single bathroom window) that was not wired to any other sensors. The window was closed, firm as can be, with the sensor and magnet in place AFAICT.
@rustypick The problem is, even a single false activation could mean the Sheriff is called out. Aside from wasting their time, in my case if it happens to me again I’ll be fined by the county.
Thank you for the additional info. The organization in that picture certainly would suggest the issue isn’t with the wiring at the HW16.
Let me push these descriptions to Qolsys and see if they have some additional info or suggestions as to what might be causing this.
Every once in a while a hardwired zone will start cycling open and closed for no reason, usually a window. If I then actually go open a window and close it, the zone seems to reset back to normal. Usually it is a window that is 20 feet off of the ground, so I know it is not a real incursion.
So it has been on multiple zones that you’ve noticed this issue?
Thinking back, the previous problem I had with that other zone (bathroom window) was the panel detecting a tamper in that zone, rather than an activation. I think I deleted and re-registered that sensor with the panel and it’s been fine since. This was after the setup had been installed for a few weeks though, so the tamper was out of nowhere. The current problem that triggered the alarm yesterday is an inaccurate activation.
I checked out the sensors on my doors/window in the zone that is acting up and they all seem good. So I set that zone to chime and announce so I can hear if it incorrectly activates, and it just did. Get this:
The zone just activated at 1:29 pm here (according to the panel). Looking through the history on the panel, it was 1:30 pm when it activated 2 days ago triggering the false alarm - almost the exact same time. History doesn’t go far enough back to let me see what time it activated on previous days, but I think it was around the same time. Coincidence? Maybe tomorrow will tell.
Now that is interesting. May just be coincidence, but definitely let us know.
Can you test the resistance on that circuit? What is the resistance value? Next time the activation occurs, check the resistance again afterward, any deviation?
Trying to determine if there is a physical reason this would be occurring
I don’t own a multi-meter, though I wouldn’t mind picking one up since it could be useful for other things. How would I go about testing the circuit (I’m a noob at such things)? Can I test it while it’s still hooked up to the hardwire translator?
You would want to remove the wires from the HW16, test the leads at that end with the sensors closed. The resistance value should be near the value of the resistor itself.
Also 8.3.3 – G. Happened on a couple of different zones. But not in the last few days. Will let you know if it happens again
Thank you. This is likely an issue with resistance levels at the Hardwire 16. If this occurs again, please let us know what sensors are attached to the offending zone and how many are in series.
Any updates on this? I haven’t noticed any false activations in the last week or so (I think the system knows I’m watching).
I just checked the zone that was acting up with a multimeter and it read 3k ohms (A reading of 3.0 set at 200k - I’m a noob so I hope I did this right). Another zone read the same FWIW.
You will want to keep an eye on the zones that open errantly. measure resistance if they trip.
There are no solid updates yet, but we have requested official operational thresholds for resistance on the Hardwire 16. Once these are known, we can recommend further troubleshooting. We expect word within the next couple business days.
The Hardwire 16 measures and defines resistance on a per-zone basis when learning them in, so any changes to the wiring after learning in the zone (or say, learning them in with just resistors as jumpers, then adding the zone wires) will cause issues.
