Ignoring Sensor with Low Battery

Support
1

At our infrequent remote location a thin contact door sensor is reporting ‘Low battery’. It may be a while until I get there, and I don’t want a false alarm if the battery completely dies.

In the alarm.com interface, in the Settings/Manage Devices/Device settings screen, I have unchecked the Monitoring box for that sensor only. The information bubble only refers to notifications, and does not specifically mention alarm monitoring.

My question is: does Unchecking that box mean that this sensor will not trip an alarm if the battery dies or the door is opened? (If this is true it’s OK. This door only leads to another monitored entrance.)

If that is not true, can I do that and how?

Thanks in advance.

2

I don’t believe that disables the reporting out to the central station. I’m not sure if there is a way to delete the zone remotely, but you can call the central station and request that they put that zone on test.

3

In the alarm.com interface, in the Settings/Manage Devices/Device settings screen, I have unchecked the Monitoring box for that sensor only. The information bubble only refers to notifications, and does not specifically mention alarm monitoring. My question is: does Unchecking that box mean that this sensor will not trip an alarm if the battery dies or the door is opened? (If this is true it’s OK. This door only leads to another monitored entrance.)

No, the checkbox you are referencing is referring only to Alarm.com sensor activity monitoring, not alarm monitoring.

If you would like the sensor to be edited so that it cannot trigger an alarm we can change it remotely to a Non-Response zone type, which would only be applicable to ADC notifications/chimes, but never alarms.

Generally speaking low battery conditions do not cause alarms. The sensor would need to malfunction in some way to trigger an alarm if the door is not opened.

If you would like us to change the sensor to a non-alarm type, please send a private message or email to support@suretyhome.com requesting that.

4

OK Jason, got it. So one more question.

I know there’s no hard and fast answer, but approximately how much remaining battery life might there be? In gross terms. A day, month, three months? (Not that I’m going to test that out.)

And I will request that modification some time over the weekend. As I said this door can afford to be unmonitored. There’s a second layer of house defense.

5

There is not really a way to quantify the remaining battery.

Functionality will depend on the frequency of use, the distance from the panel, local materials attenuating the signal, etc.

I would say usually months before the sensor is completely non-functional, but I would not recommend waiting and it could be impacted before then.

6

OK, thanks Jason. And I agree with you. I’ll be contacting support to make the zone change in the next day or two.

FYI, your prompt and excellent online support is one of the reasons I keep recommending SuretyDIY to friends and acquaintances who ask me about alarm systems and services.