The DSC manual was the last thing I expected to change my mind about wireless sensors

I've been running hardwired panels for like 8 years, always swore wireless was for folks who couldn't fish a wall. Then last Tuesday I was on a job in Cambridge and the homeowner had an old DSC with a dead zone in the back addition. I was about to spend 3 hours cutting drywall when their alarm guy buddy happened to stop by and said 'why not just throw a 433MHz sensor on the wall, it's a rental, who cares.' I laughed it off but then he showed me the signal strength meter on his phone, and honestly the walk test took 4 minutes. I ended up using a wireless door contact there and a motion in their garage, saved me a whole weekend of patching. Now I'm second guessing my whole philosophy for retrofit installs. Is anyone else finding the newer wireless stuff way less finicky than the old Honeywell junk from 2010? I might be the last holdout.

1 comments

1 Comment

rileyellis12d agoTop Commenter

Think about the signal path, not just the sensor itself, that old DSC metal box can actually block its own wireless signal if the antenna is pointed wrong. I learned that the hard way and now I angle the whole panel mount before I even pair anything.