I have a motion sensor that appears to be stuck in an erroneous activated mode. This motion sensor (or perhaps the previous generation) has been sitting there for 2.5 years without any issues. Is there an obvious way to fix this?
Also, I’m away from the property. Is there a way to remove the sensor remotely?
If you are referring to the “Activated” vs “Idle” sensor activity monitoring status in Alarm.com and the app, note that there is a 1 hour delay roughly for when the activated status will go away after motion locally.
The Alarm.com current sensor status screen is meant to show the status of your system as it is currently. However, motion detectors and glass break detectors aren’t conducive to this, because they simply open when activity is detected, then immediately close again. It is not like someone leaving a door open, you cannot leave a motion detector “open.”
Alarm.com adds the delay so that you can tell if motion has been present in the past hour. This does not affect how the detector functions locally or how alarm activity is reported.
I’m not seeing any motion detectors that currently show an activated status, though I do see that there were a couple false alarms yesterday on a motion detector. Is there anyone at the property which may have caused the false alarms?
Correct, it was showing as activated.
I have a SmartThings motion sensor covering the same area that was not triggered and nobody was at home.
One possibility given the age of the detector for the false alarms is the battery level. I would generally recommend battery replacement to be first when troubleshooting a sensor if the activity is inexplicable otherwise.
If you are certain that environmental causes could not affect the device and battery replacement does not stop false alarms, the device hardware may have failed.
Keep in mind though not all motion detectors are the same, and the range, angle, height requirements for mounting are different for different models. The same environmental effects may not be caught by both, though if the instructions were followed for installation of both this is less likely.
If you are unable to be at the panel and would like to just have the device removed remotely we can do that while the system is disarmed. Just send a secure message request to our team (or you can confirm here in the thread) and we will send the command for you!