I recently started service with Alarm.com and I have a few ongoing issues that I need help with. The previous owners of the house had service through Vivint. I purchased a new cellular module and did the firmware update on Thursday night/early Friday morning. A few of my sensors have low batteries so I will replace those today and tomorrow.
The sensors on my doors read as open but my doors are closed so how do I fix that?
My panel is in my bedroom and I enter and exit my house through my garage 100% of the time. Should there be a sensor on this door? I ask because when I left my house on Friday (9/30), I received a notification that my front door had alarmed. Is this because I did not exit the house through the front door?
My panel use to speak a voice command when I would open a door but now it doesn’t anymore. So what have I done wrong and what do I need to do to fix it?
I am new to this entire security process but I could not continue to leave my home unprotected during the day due to an increase in break-ins. I am currently arming and disarming my system using the app on my phone but I really need to know that my home will be secured while I am away.
Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.
1. The sensors on my doors read as open but my doors are closed so how do I fix that?
There are a few reasons this might occur. If the batteries have never been changed they may be too low to properly signal and the panel may not be getting close reports.
Try opening and closing a few times, does your panel indicate any change? After replacing the batteries, any change?
2. My panel is in my bedroom and I enter and exit my house through my garage 100% of the time. Should there be a sensor on this door? I ask because when I left my house on Friday (9/30), I received a notification that my front door had alarmed. Is this because I did not exit the house through the front door?
Typically you would want a sensor on every door, yes. Is there not one?
Do the doors have wireless sensors like this? Or are they perhaps using wired sensors and a Takeover Module? (If there is a Takeover module and its battery is low, all wired sensor zones connected to it would report low.)
If you provide the model number of the sensors we can more specifically address the issue.
My panel use to speak a voice command when I would open a door but now it doesn’t anymore. So what have I done wrong and what do I need to do to fix it?
Chimes can be controlled by “Security - Menu - Toolbox - master code - Chimes” You can set chimes for each sensor. One of the options is “Voice Only” which will announce the voice descriptor of the zone.
I have three doors in my home. The front door and the back door have the wireless sensors that you listed in the above response but I do not see the magnets. My garage enter/exit door does not have a magnet at all so this door should have one as well?
My panel use to chime in voice only when I opened a door but since I have completed my install, it’s like my system is going in and out because the home button is no longer lit up. That’s why I asked about the phone line failure. I am not sure what that means and why it is occurring.
The front door and the back door have the wireless sensors that you listed in the above response but I do not see the magnets
It sounds like the prior user may have left this in a bit of disarray. If the magnets have been removed/lost the sensors will not be able to report closed. The magnet holds the internal reed switch closed when within the magnetic gap distance (when the sensor is “closed”)
For the front and back doors, you will need to add a magnet parallel to the sensor lined up with the three small ridges on the sensor housing. This is where the reed switch is located inside.
My garage enter/exit door does not have a magnet at all so this door should have one as well?
That’s why I asked about the phone line failure. I am not sure what that means and why it is occurring.
This is a separate issue. It looks like a CS phone was added after the fact to Q11, account in 12. These should be blank. The panel is not using POTS (landline) for service communication. The panel communicates using the Alarm.com module, which is pre-configured and needs no local programming.
Blank out Q11 and 12 in programming and set Q8 to (0) Disabled. The “phone line failure” messages should then cease.
If all chimes have ceased, check under “Security - Menu” at the bottom there is a checkbox which if unchecked will disable chimes.
Your panel home button will not light if the system is not ready to arm. With two open door sensor zones, these sensors would need to be bypassed before the home button would illuminate green
I had issues yesterday that I worked on last night (asked about those in this feed on yesterday). I discovered last night that both of my door sensors are not wireless like I was told. They are actually wired. I went in this morning and followed the procedures for deleting those two sensors. When I was leaving I armed the system through the app on my phone but it would never arm. I will check everything once I make it back home but right now by system is not armed at all.
I discovered last night that both of my door sensors are not wireless like I was told
Are you going off of what prior owners told you?
I will check everything once I make it back home but right now by system is not armed at all.
The panel is not responding to commands, which means communication is down for some reason. The panel tamper referenced above happened minutes before communication stopped, this morning. You can check your system history by logging into Alarm.com and navigating to the history tab.
The first thing to check would be the antenna. If the antenna is connected and not loose or damaged, please power down the panel fully, AC first, then battery. Wait two minutes, then power back up, battery first then AC. Run a cell test at the panel. Is this successful?
I was going off of what the previous owners told me as far as the door sensors. I went to change the batteries last night (because they are reading low) and there were wires connected to the sensor. Once I make it home this evening, I will check everything like you and Jason have suggested. I have never dealt with home security before so all of this is new to me so please bear with me on my issues.
I have never dealt with home security before so all of this is new to me so please bear with me on my issues.
Not a problem, we’re happy to help. Are the wired sensors connected to a TAKE-345 takeover module? This would be found near the old alarm panel can. Or are they wired directly into the Go!Control? (If they were wired into the Go!Control there would be wires in HW1 and HW2 terminals inside.)
They are not connected to anything other than the door as far as I can tell. When I do the learn feature it says they are wireless but when I tried to change the batteries, there were wires running through my door.
They are not connected to anything other than the door as far as I can tell
There are two options for a hardwired sensor communicating with the 2GIG Go!Control Panel:
Directly wired into the HW1 or HW2 and GND terminals in the terminal block within the Go!Control Panel. If you open the panel and there are no wires connected to HW1 or HW2, this is not the case and it would be option 2.
They are using a TAKE-345 Takeover Module. See the video below for how it connects. The TAKE-345 takes existing wired sensors and transmits their open/close status wirelessly to the Go!Control Panel. As above, this will be likely installed somewhere near the original old metal panel housing. (Often in the basement)
Technically there is a third possibility, wiring hardwired sensors into the input of a wireless DW10 or similar sensor and using the sensor as a transmitter, but that is highly unlikely for doors.
We can more definitively tell you what you have with some photos. Can you post a photo of the sensors on your doors and a photo of inside your 2GIG Panel?
Looks like the photo was too large to upload. Try resizing and re-attaching.
Did you look for a TAKE-345 or open the panel to check for wiring?
Can someone please tell me what my system shows on your side because I can’t get it to do anything.
The panel is not responding and the most likely scenario given a panel tamper alert was generated very shortly before is that the antenna was pulled off the module and/or damaged.
Please check the antenna and let us know.
If the antenna is attached firmly, check the module, was it reinstalled using the supplied set screws? If it is loose, power down the panel fully and reinstall.
If the module is firmly attached perform a power cycle as previously recommended. Power down the system, unplug the power supply from the wall first, then unplug battery. Leave it powered off for 2 minutes. Then power back up battery first.
Have you tried any of these things? I do not see any response regarding troubleshooting.
I checked the antenna last night. I checked the module. I did the power down of the system and it came back up but it is still not responding. The radio status shows that I am not registered so I am not sure what is going on.
When I attempted to perform a cell test last night it said cell phone test and nothing else came up on the screen. I had to power down the panel again to get it off of that screen.