Hi, I have a very intermittent issue with one sensor on my system. It has only happened 3 or 4 times since I first installed the system 2 years ago (and it has happened both on my GC2 and the new GC3), but it happened again last night, so I guess it is time to look into the issue.
There is one sensor (DW10) I have on a living room door that after opening the door, will not report that it has been closed on ADC. Last night, I went to arm my system from my phone and noticed it was reporting that a sensor was open. I went to the panel and it showed all was closed and ready to arm. ADC was reporting that the sensor was still open. I opened and closed the door and then it reported correctly on ADC. (Screenshot attached)
What would be causing this one sensor to report correctly in the house but not relay to ADC? Could this be a faulty sensor? I have several other sensors within 3 feet to each side of this one and they never have this issue, so I am fairly sure it is not environmental. But the fact that it reports correctly to the panel makes me wonder if it is a sensor issue or if it is an ADC problem.
Sorry…just noticed there is another thread similar to mine. If you would prefer to delete this one and have me repost in that one, go ahead and close this one. Thanks!
If the issue has occurred on two separate panels (different models too) and only ever affects one specific sensor, I would say that it is almost certainly an issue with that sensor or that location.
I would need to do some testing, but if the panel did not receive the closed status of the sensor, only to find it closed during a later supervision check, it might not log that status with ADC.
Does the sensor otherwise function? Can you open, close the sensor 20 times in a row and the panel always immediately shows the correct status?
I tried opening and closing that door 20 times, but only 2 of them actually registered with ADC and showed on the app. I also noticed that the sensor notifications were not reporting in order.
Today, I left the house and when I went to arm the GC3 via my phone and noticed that it said the door I exited from had been opened but not closed. I opened and closed it twice (it only reported once to ADC) although the panel was showing that it was closed. Again, it reported out of order (as you can see from the attached screenshot…it says I opened the front door, then armed the panel…but in fact, I opened and closed the door twice before arming, even though at that time, the app was still showing that the front door was open).
Opening a door repeatedly will update on the panel (what we were looking for with the test) not on ADC.
There is a standard 3 minute delay between registering like signals from the same sensor. If the door is opened then closed, then opened and closed 15 more times in 3 minutes, ADC will only show another open/close after 3 minutes.
This delay is necessary to avoid status processing overwhelming the system.
What you want to check is to make sure the panel itself is seeing exactly what the sensor status is.
It always seems to report the correct sensor status to the panel. The issue seems to be with ADC. In the case of the front door yesterday, though, the issue is a bit annoying since unless I am there to physically check the sensor, I cannot be sure if a zone is actually open or closed. Any thoughts as to what is causing ADC to not correctly report sensor status intermittently?
Typically that is going to indicate that a close or open signal was not sent to ADC. As above, it is almost certainly the location or the sensor if it has occurred on two separate and different model panels and with the same sensor on both.
Have you replaced the batteries on that sensor?
Try replacing the batteries, if no change a good test would be to swap the position of that sensor with another door sensor. If the one you are seeing trouble with still causes problems in a new location, you can be sure it is the sensor, if the new sensor causes problems on the same door as before, you can be sure it is the location.
So, weird stuff is going on. The other day, my wife opened amd closed the rear kitchen door. That night, I noticed my app was showing the playroom door was left open. Checked that door (we never open that door) and opened/closed it but it didn’t reset. Then I opened/closed the rear kitchen door and the open sensor was resolved. For some reason, ADC was calling the rear kitchen door sensor the playroom door. I am certain that the programming for those 2 sensors are correct.
Tonight, we were home and the panel suddenly announced that the dining room window was opened…no one touched it and opening/closing it does nothing. I am assuming it is either a bad sensor or dead battery, which I will check tonight.
I am just a bit concerned of all the false sensor alerts I have been experiencing lately. Nothing has changed, all sensor signal strength is excellent and there is nothibg else that would have changed to make these issues begin.
Then I opened/closed the rear kitchen door and the open sensor was resolved. For some reason, ADC was calling the rear kitchen door sensor the playroom door. I am certain that the programming for those 2 sensors are correct.
There are actually two sensors labeled “Play Room Door” and none labeled “Rear Kitchen Door” in your sensor list. If these were moved around at all or renamed in ADC it would not match what is on the panel.
You can log in to rename the appropriate sensor by going to the sensors page.
Names will only populate the one time unless a request command is sent. Equipment updates do not overwrite names since users often edit them to be more specific in Alarm.com.
Tonight, we were home and the panel suddenly announced that the dining room window was opened…no one touched it and opening/closing it does nothing. I am assuming it is either a bad sensor or dead battery, which I will check tonight.
If a sensor is having trouble reporting, a supervision check may have pulled that status and the panel announced it.
However, I would double check sensor labeling to verify there are no other points of confusion. If there are it can make getting to the bottom of any sensor signal issue very difficult.
Well, that would cause problems! Thank you for the heads up on that. I will get those duplicate names sorted out and then see if I have any issues.
Also, for the dining room window sensor, not sure what happened, but the sensor no longer liked the placement of the magnet. I moved the magnet and affixed with new tape and that sensor now seems to be happy.
I think I got the duplicate names resolved on ADC. I confirmed that all sensors on the panel are accurate.
Last night, I went to arm the panel from my phone and noticed it said a sensor was opened at 10:59pm but never closed. I confirmed that it was closed and the panel showed that the sensor was closed (it is an interior entry door, and I had the ARM READY light). I opened and closed that door before arming the panel and a little while later, ADC reported it correctly.
This morning, we exited through that door, and when I was outside, went to arm it from my phone and same thing! It showed that we opened the door but it never reported closed.
This sensor is less than 2 feet from the panel. Not sure what is going on with these misreporting sensors…but it was never this bad with the GC2. It seems to be happening fairly regularly on the GC3 now. Thoughts?
Have you replaced the batteries on the offending sensor recently? If they are 2 years or so old, they may need to be replaced.
Barring that, I am reporting this to Alarm.com and 2GIG to see if there are any known or similar reports. I have not noticed this with test panels here.
I will check the battery on that sensor this evening and see if it appears low. If it is borderline, I will replace and see if it continues to be an issue.
Can you post a photo of the sensors which have done this recently? A photo of how they are mounted in the closed position (door/window fully shut) would help.
I’m talking with Alarm.com as well to see if a pattern can be found.
Same issue again last night, this time with a recessed door sensor. It shows that the door was opened at 8:04am yesterday morning and never closed (although it was closed). The panel showed that all zones were closed, so I armed the panel at 12:26am (ADC app still showing Kitchen Door zone was still open). This morning, I checked the ADC app and it no longer showed the zone was open, but it doesn’t show that the zone was ever closed…it just no longer showed an open zone. So, at some point in the night, ADC updated to reflect the correct zone status.
Seems like it is something on the ADC side, since nothing reports incorrectly on the panel.
I’ve got some folks at ADC looking into this, and have gotten some insight into possible causes.
This isn’t unheard of as an issue, but is happening far more often on this system for some reason.
From what I am told, it sounds like event processing between the module and panel has a hierarchy:
Alarms take top priority, commands, malfunctions, etc., in between, and standard non-alarm sensor activity is treated as a lower priority in the panel processes. Typically this is not an issue unless there are a TON of commands/status requests/sensor activity updates going through. It doesn’t look like there are on this account, but it is still seeing an issue where the panel and module are not relaying certain non-alarm activity actions efficiently.
I see in the history what looks like the Kitchen Door opening at 11:04 AM (EST) and never closing. When the system was later armed, no bypass was registered, so without receiving a “Closed” signal, the status was returned as closed after that.
How long are these sensors actually physically left open before closing them when this happens? any pattern?
Something that will help diagnose this as we discuss with Alarm.com and 2GIG is a record of when this was noticed (say over the course of a week or so) to get an idea of patterns or overall percentage of missed activity.
