Just read a report that made me check my own installs from last year

I was looking through some old trade magazines at a client's house, waiting on a panel to power up. I flipped open a security industry report from a few months back. One part jumped out at me. It said over 30% of false alarms they looked into came from bad sensor alignment, not faulty gear. I always blamed the hardware first. It made me think of a job I did in March at a big split-level home. I put a motion sensor in a hallway, but looking back, the sun hit that spot directly for two hours every afternoon through a skylight. The customer never called about a false alarm, but now I'm wondering. Have any of you had a call back where the fix was just moving the sensor a few inches?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby5613d ago

My buddy Jake had a customer complaining about a door sensor going off all the time. He drove back out and found the strike plate was just a hair too far out. He bent it back maybe an eighth of an inch and the problem was gone for good. It's crazy how often the install itself is the weak link.

park.adam3d ago

Oh man, that hits home. I've definitely been on that drive back, ready to swap out a sensor, only to find the angle was just wrong. It's a humbling feeling. You start second-guessing every placement you've ever done. That report makes a lot of sense, honestly. The gear is usually solid, but we're the ones putting it in a real, messy house with sun and drafts and settling floors.