Overhead a supply house guy say "those wireless sensors are fine until the battery dies at 3am"

That stuck with me after I replaced a panel last week where the homeowner had no idea the batteries were even in there. How often do you actually check battery health on wireless zones during routine service calls?

3 comments

3 Comments

milarodriguez1mo agoTop Commenter

the homeowner had no idea the batteries were even in there" holy crap. That's insane to me. I cannot believe people just let those sensors sit for years without a single thought about the batteries. We get calls all the time for false alarms and half the time it's just a dead battery in a door sensor. I swear some people think those things are magic and just work forever. It's crazy how little people know about the stuff in their own homes.

finley_gonzalez491mo ago

Gotta play both sides here - I actually think it's kind of reasonable for people to not think about those batteries. Most folks install a sensor once, it beeps or blinks for years without any issues, and they just assume it's working like a smoke detector or something. The real problem is that companies don't put obvious battery indicators on these things, like a bright red light or a loud chirp every hour when it's dying. Why would someone check something that's been silent for 4 years? Do you check the battery in your remote control every month?

lee8471mo ago

Pull the battery tab out when you install them and you'll avoid half these issues.