Ended a 6 month battle with false alarms using a $5 part

Had a customer in Southfield whose system kept going off around 3 AM for no reason. Replaced the panel, rewired the motion sensors, everything. Turned out the battery backup was slightly loose in its cradle. Put a small zip tie on the terminal clip, zero false alarms for 3 weeks now. Anyone else have something dumb like that eat up your time?

2 comments

2 Comments

graceprice5d ago

Turned out the battery backup was slightly loose in its cradle" - oh man, I feel this one deep in my soul. I spent three hours once trying to figure out why a garage door sensor kept dropping offline, replaced the whole unit, only to realize I had the wires running too close to the metal frame and it was picking up interference. My wife still brings up the time I "fixed" a flickering light by buying a whole new fixture when it was just a loose bulb. These dumb $5 fixes always come after the expensive headache, don't they?

tyler4925d ago

You know what, I used to think it was just bad luck or cheap parts. But honestly this changed my mind - it's usually me skipping the obvious check and going straight for the dramatic fix. Every single time.