Showerthought: wireless alarm sensors finally won me over after years of hardwired loyalty

I've been installing alarms since 2004 and I always swore by hardwired sensors. Thought wireless was just for lazy installers or people who didn't care about reliability. Then last spring I had a job at an old brick church in St. Louis where running wire through those thick stone walls would have taken me three days and cost the customer a fortune. The guy pushed me to try Honeywell's 5800 series wireless stuff. I grumbled the whole way through the install but you know what? It's been 14 months and not one single dropout or false alarm. I still think hardwired has a place in new construction but for retrofits on tough buildings I'm fully converted now. Has anyone else had a similar flip on wireless after swearing it off for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

jackson.sarah13d ago

Ha, I gotta disagree with you there. I've had too many wireless sensors mysteriously go dead or lose signal at the worst possible times to trust them fully. Isn't a wire just more dependable in the end?

willow73213d ago

My buddy Mike runs a small auto shop and swore by wireless sensors until one day a customer's car came in with a check engine light that kept flickering on and off. He spent two hours chasing a phantom misfire code before realizing the wireless OBD sensor had been dropping connection every time the car hit a bump on the test drive. He ended up hardwiring a backup unit and now he's got three wired sensors sitting in his toolbox that he swaps in when the wireless ones act up.