Sensors going offline

Upstairs Heat Fire Detector Offline 1:52 am, Feb-29-2016
Upstairs Smoke Detector Offline 1:52 am, Feb-29-2016
Basement Heat Fire Detector Offline 1:41 am, Feb-29-2016
Basement Smoke Detector Offline 1:41 am, Feb-29-2016

So I wake up on 2/29 to that message of the 2 smkt3 reporting offline.

In the morning I went and checked and they were both flashing green, but I replaced the batteries (which also set off tamper) and restarted the control panel.

Fast forward to this morning I wake up to:

Basement Heat Fire Detector Offline 6:26 am, Mar-4-2016
Basement Smoke Detector Offline 6:26 am, Mar-4-2016
Upstairs Heat Fire Detector Offline 6:24 am, Mar-4-2016
Upstairs Smoke Detector Offline 6:24 am, Mar-4-2016

and just now at work I’m getting:

Back Door Entry Offline 1:34 pm, Mar-4-2016
Play Room Window 1 Offline 1:39 pm, Mar-4-2016

What’s going on with the system!?!

Edit Just got:

Dining Room Window 1 Offline 1:41 pm, Mar-4-2016

alarm.com is showing:

Back Door Entry - Malfunction
Upstairs Smoke Detector - Malfunction
Upstairs Heat Fire Detector - Malfunction
Basement Smoke Detector - Malfunction
Basement Heat Fire Detector - Malfunction
Play Room Window 1 - Malfunction

Looks like supervision signals may be failing for all sensors. This likely indicates a transceiver issue. Do any of the sensors report open/close normally on the panel at the moment?

Heading home at the moment they are all going offline one by one

Also, are these all wireless sensors? are they by chance Take-345 takeover module zones?

All wireless 2gig Honeywell motions are online every failed so far is 2gig

“Offline” is a status resulting from supervision failure, which means that the periodic check in signal produced by the sensor was not received by the panel.

When you notice one or a couple sensors showing supervision failures, it is likely signal strength issues between sensor and panel due to environmental interference or low battery.

When this many sensors miss their check-in it indicates a panel-side issue, typically a software or hardware fault with the transceiver.

Check whether or not the sensors open/close is registered at the panel. If so, does this clear the “malfunction” status? It should if the panel can see the sensor open and close.

If the panel does not register the sensors opening and closing, power cycle the panel, unplug ac first, then battery, then plug in battery, then ac.

Try opening a few sensors that showed malfunction, do they now register?

Home now,
Of my 25 sensors 17 are now showing loss of supervision and 3 have failed since I have been home.

Failed sensors do not show open on CP, non-failed sensors do not show open on CP either.

AC and battery power are now unhooked.

Restored power, says ready to arm.

As I walked around the motions would display on TS1, and as I would open doors/windows it would display open.

If the sensors were low on battery would it not alert the CP?

Battery is not the issue in this case.

This was a transceiver fault. We have seen this only a few times, and never more than once on a system, but it may be tied to 1.10 or older firmware. A reboot of the panel resolves the issue in the three or four cases we have seen in the past.

Verify that all sensors are now reporting at the panel.

Just put the CP in a walk test, everything is registering full green (not sure how to test smokes)

The CP is showing Version Firmware 1.10.1

So 3 of 4 times it was just a reboot? What happened in the other case?

Should I upgrade to newest firmware? Replace the XCVR2 Transceiver? Wait and see?

Thanks a for your help!

A reboot of the panel resolves the issue in the three or four cases we have seen in the past.

A reboot fixed the issue in all cases, I just do not recall the exact number.

I would always suggest updating firmware for general improvements. 1.13 is a good idea as a long standing stable release. (1.14 is also available, but I would recommend incrementally updating to it from 1.13 if desired.) I do not believe we have seen this issue on 1.13 panels.

Replacement of the XCVR2 is likely not necessary. Evidence points to this being software based in nature.

Thanks for your help, I will upgrade to 1.13 tonight.

It’s a little worrying seeing your phone notifications start popping up with sensors failing when you’re at work!

I know what you mean. “Offline” is a relatively new status used by ADC in the notifications. Previously they would only be labeled with a general malfunction.

In this case the communication was indeed severed between the panel and sensors, so it was good to be able to power cycle it and get them back online.

Please let us know if you ever notice it again after updating firmware. So far it has never happened twice on a system. (First occurrence was a couple years ago.)

Upgraded to 1.13 last night and just got alerts all smokes are offline while I’m sitting in a restaurant.

Try replacing the 345/900 mhz transceiver (2GIG-XCVR2-345). it is like $15-$20. See if issue resolves.

Yep, if you immediately see more loss of supervision errors, replacing the XCVR2 would be next step. Since it didn’t get resolved by a power cycle it is more likely hardware related.