Warning: I just found a box of old magnetic contacts from my first van

Honestly, pulling those things out took me right back to installing them in the late 90s. We'd spend half a day just wiring up a single door, running that thin gauge wire through the frame and hoping the magnet alignment was perfect. Tbh, comparing that to the wireless sensors we use now is night and day. I did a full 12-zone house in Fort Worth last week with wireless gear, and we were done before lunch. The difference is the time you save on the install and the reliability. Those old magnetic contacts would fail if someone painted the door or the gap was off by a 16th of an inch. Has anyone else had to go back and rip out a bunch of that old hardwired stuff recently? What are you replacing it with?

4 comments

4 Comments

violah432mo ago

My first van was a 1995 Ford Econoline packed with those same contacts. I used to swear by hardwired everything, thought wireless was just a cheap fad. Pulling a full rewire job on a 90s colonial last month completely changed my mind. The labor hours we saved by not fishing wire through finished walls paid for the wireless system twice over. Now I only break out the drill and wire strippers for the main panel and keypads.

wadew511mo ago

So @violah43, what changed your mind on that rewire job?

the_taylor2mo agoOG Member

Totally get that shift. Started taping a spare battery to the back of each wireless sensor so you never get that low battery panic call.

wilson.joseph2mo ago

Yeah but taping a battery to the sensor itself is a bad move. It throws off the balance and the adhesive fails with heat changes. Saw one fall right off a motion detector in an attic last summer. Better to just keep a box of fresh batteries in the van and swap them during your regular check ups. That way you know the date on the battery is fresh too.