I have a shed 70 ft from my control unit. I have a motion sensor in the shed but is not picked up by the control unit. I believe I need a repeater, but not sure on which model I need and what the difference is between the RE120 and RE220. I’m thinking it might be distance? Please advise on what would work best for my situation.
I have a shed 70 ft from my control unit. I have a motion sensor in the shed but is not picked up by the control unit...
What is the shed material? Distance is not your problem.
The PIR1 range to panel is 350’
RE220 is the 345mhz Honeywell repeater
Shed material is plywood with Vinyl siding. When I bring it into the garage or close to the house it works fine. Does not seem to work all the time from the shed. Any thoughts? It is a 2gig-PIR1-345.
Shed material is plywood with Vinyl siding
Oops. Brainfart.
What is you house exterior walls made of?
Wood and vinyl at 70’ should not be interfering with the signal. Assuming proper installation, You may have a problem with your transceiver.
But if you think the signal is somehow weakened to a loss of signal at a distance of 70’ from panel, and want to go the RE220, you will have to determine the best placement.
Would a repeater in the corner of the house close to the shed help? What would you suggest for my next step?
Post above edited
The house is plywood with vinyl siding like the shed. Would the repeater help or just not use the motion sensor in the shed?
If the house and shed are plywood and vinyl siding, and distance from panel to the PIR1 in shed is only 70 feet away, and considering the nominal PIR1 distance from panel range is 350 feet… with wall penetration at approx. 90%, and assuming you have correctly installed and programmed panel/sensors…
This suggests to me that you have some kind of severe interference/rf jamming on the 345mhz band, or that one of the following is your issue:
- Defective PIR1
- Damaged/defective XCVR/XCVR2
Test it with another sensor in shed (any sensor) see what panel reports as signal strength on walk test.
Perhaps I am mistaken though, and someone else can offer a solution, or suggestion.
We have not found 350 feet to be a reliable range. It indicates open air transmission without intervening construction. Any type of wall will impede signalling somewhat. That said, 70 feet should be within range, but hidden construction features may be interfering.
A repeater will always help (assuming there isn’t actually an issue with transceiver) but you can only use one per system.
RE120 = GE
RE220 = Honeywell/2GIG