I am having an odd periodic issue with my garage sensors. I have the Linear Zwave garage door controller connected to my 2Gig panel as an alarmed door. Generally, it has worked great for several years. Recently, on several occasions, I have received notifications of opening and closing with the same timestamps. Despite the notifications, the garage door has not actually opened or closed at that time. Further, both events happened while the system was alarmed, but there was no alarm event, such as would happen if the door actually opened. It is not really causing any problem, but I am concerned that this is symptomatic of some issue which I should address. Any ideas?
To better assist, when was the last time that this event occurred?
How far away from the panel is the Z-Wave device?
What is the voltage on the tilt sensor battery?
The panel is pretty close. Maybe 20 or 25 feet. Much closed than some Zwave bulbs I have.
The last event was Monday night.
I don’t know the voltage of the tilt sensor. It is the one that came with the Linear GD00Z-4.
The last event was Monday night.
I’m not seeing any open and close events for the Z-wave Garage device with the exact same time-stamp, some are pretty close though.
Can you provide the exact time of the occurrence according to the notifications so we can match that in your Alarm.com history?
If you are certain it is the Z-wave device notifications, that would indicate that the tilt sensor used by the GD00Z is having a few false triggers. This can be caused by vibration on the door from wind, objects, etc., possibly compounded by an un-level door or non-ideal installation spot. These would be the common things to check for first.
To best assist, could you post a photo of the GD00Z tilt sensor as it is currently installed on the closed door?
Here are the notifications from the Monday event:
Wiltshire: The Garage (ID:4) was Opened at 10:35 pm on Monday, Dec 10.
Wiltshire: The Garage (ID:4) was closed at 10:35 pm on Monday, Dec 10.
The same thing happened a few days before as well. The garage door is solid wood, so I am doubtful wind would have any effect, but the others might apply. I will take a photo tonight.
Wiltshire: The Garage (ID:4) was Opened at 10:35 pm on Monday, Dec 10.Wiltshire: The Garage (ID:4) was closed at 10:35 pm on Monday, Dec 10.
I see. Yes those were marked about 8 seconds apart in the back end, so they weren’t simultaneous, but likely the tilt sensor was bumped or otherwise briefly opened. (Most likely reason anyway)
This problem went away for a month or so, but has now returned. The very close open and close signals continue to happen periodically, although the door is never physically opened. Today, however, a ghost open signal triggered the alarm. Again, it seems that the garage door never physically opened. For some reason, central monitoring dispatched the police before calling me, so the police went out. This was in the middle of the work day, so no one was home. Should I replace this sensor? I believe there are actually 2 sensors on the garage door: a normal 2gig garage door sensor and a sensor that came with the GoControl/Linear GD00Z-4 controller for the garage door opener. Now that it is causing false alarms, I really need to address the issue. Thank you for your help.
Should I replace this sensor? I believe there are actually 2 sensors on the garage door: a normal 2gig garage door sensor and a sensor that came with the GoControl/Linear GD00Z-4 controller for the garage door opener. Now that it is causing false alarms, I really need to address the issue. Thank you for your help.
There are indeed two sensors in this case.
The Linear Z-wave opener tilt sensor would not cause an alarm, and the alarm system tilt sensor would not cause issues with the Z-wave open/close reports. This means that both tilt sensors are intermittently opening.
That suggests that a malfunctioning sensor is highly unlikely, it is much more likely an issue with either vibration (usually from wind) or mounting orientation since both are tripping. Could you post a photo of the two sensors how they are installed on the door?
Btw it looks like you have only two way voice being attempted prior to dispatch, you can change the call order at any time (including when Police dispatch is called) on your System Manager central station tab in the account dashboard here.
I will take a photo of the sensors. I believe it is very unlikely to be wind or a vibrating door. The garage door is solid wood and quite heavy. Likewise today has not been a windy day at all.
The sensors are mounted on a lower panel than usual, but that by itself isn’t going to cause a problem. Is the panel perfectly vertical for the most part?
The Z-wave unit’s tilt looks like it is slightly crooked based on the image, but probably not enough to cause a problem.
Is it exceptionally cold when the false reports occur?
You might try replacing the batteries on both sensors, especially if they have been in use for a while, but ultimately vibration is the main cause of tilt sensors to cause false reports. This could be from wind, something striking the door, etc., and the door does not need to move much.
Yes, the most recent open/close ghost signals happened when it was quite cold for us. Perhaps 35 outside and 40 or so in the garage. It looks like the alarm event may have been cause by the garage door getting bumped by a lawnmower or leaf blower.