I always thought wireless sensors were a bad idea for a commercial job, until a fire in Phoenix changed my mind.

I was wiring a retrofit for a small warehouse in Phoenix about six months ago. The owner wanted everything hardwired, and I agreed, thinking wireless was just for homes. Then a small electrical fire started in a wall cavity we had just fished a wire through. It was contained fast, but it melted the new cable run completely. The fire marshal said if we had to re-pull wire through the damaged area, the whole project would be delayed three weeks. I had a box of wireless door contacts in my truck for another job. We slapped them on as a temporary fix just to get the perimeter secured that night. They worked perfectly for over a month until we could do the permanent repair. The signal was rock solid, even through the metal siding. Now I always keep a few wireless sensors on the truck for emergencies. Has anyone else had a job where a wireless backup saved them from a big delay?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_barnes18d ago

That part about the melted cable run hits home. My buddy had a similar thing happen on a school gym install. A concrete crew accidentally severed his main data conduit the day before inspection. He had some wireless temp sensors in his van from a demo. Threw them up on the rafters just to get the environmental monitoring online. The school board never even knew it was a temporary fix, they worked so well for the whole semester until summer break.

campbell.stella18d ago

My old apartment building had a broken buzzer system for six months. The super just put a cheap wireless doorbell button outside. People kept pressing it, thinking it was the fix. It's wild how many "temporary" solutions just become the permanent infrastructure.

mark7239d ago

The school board never even knew it was a temporary fix" is the best kind of fix. It's like duct tape holding the universe together, but with a better signal.