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Hot take: That wireless sensor I tried from a no-name brand saved me $200 but cost me a whole afternoon
I got talked into buying a batch of wireless door sensors from some online seller for $30 each... big mistake. First three out of ten wouldn't even pair with my old DSC panel. After 4 hours of messing with resistors and re-pairing, I got them working but now one drops signal every other day. I'm out $300 for the sensors plus a whole Saturday I can't get back. Has anyone else tried going cheap on sensors and regretted it, or am I just unlucky?
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the_margaret1mo ago
Did you check if those no-name sensors were actually compatible with the DSC panel before you bought them? I made the same mistake a few years back with some cheap motion detectors and learned the hard way that DSC panels are picky about the resistor values they need. A friend of mine who does low-voltage work told me to always stick with Honeywell or Bosch if you want peace of mind. Those extra few bucks up front save you the headache of dealing with dropouts and spending your weekend troubleshooting. It sounds like you got a bad batch too, which happens with the off-brand stuff.
Honeywell and Bosch are two big names in security systems and sensors.
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the_lee1mo ago
Wait, did the dropouts happen right away or take a few weeks to show up? I had a similar issue with some cheap glass break sensors where they'd work fine for a month then just go silent on me... ended up being a bad solder joint on the little circuit board inside. You're right about the resistor values too, I bought a pack of 10 for like 12 bucks and half of them had the wrong resistor already installed.
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