‎Curtain sway causing false alarm from motion detector fix | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
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Sunday, November 1st, 2020 11:17 PM

Curtain sway causing false alarm from motion detector fix

Does anyone have a way to prevent false alarms from the motion detector due to curtains blowing in the wind. I keep a window or two open at all times in a couple of rooms during the cooler months when I am gone to keep it cool due to electronics (mostly computer room). Not able to run AC as the air outside is cold enough to cause frost on the line. Those rooms have motion detectors and we have 60mph+ gust of winds at sometimes which blows the curtains and activates motion detectors causing a false alarm. what is the best way to remedy this while still being able to have motion detectors along with security camera in the office/computer room to have it covered by both simplicam and standalone motion detector.

I would love to hear ideas and fixes that actually work. I have the motion detectors placed in the corner of the room and sensitivity set to medium on both. they are button side up

2.2K Messages

4 years ago

They are not "motion" detectors, but "change in heat" detectors.  Thus, injecting cold suddenly into the sensor range can set them off.  You can try to locate them so any cold air coming into the room does not enter their sensing range, but since your goal is to cool the room, this probably won't be possible.  You could also try reducing the sensitivity using the switch in the battery compartment.

22 Messages

4 years ago

would placing them upside down also help or having a simplisafe camera in that room also help

1.3K Messages

4 years ago

Upside down might help, or not. You can set the motion sensors to Alert Only (aka secret notice) for a while to see if it works OK that way. Just know that when you set them to Alert Only monitoring will NOT call you nor the police.

Using visual verification in itself will not stop the monitoring service from calling the police or secondary contact. They only use the visual verification to help you better understand what might be going on. It does not authorize monitoring to make the decision it's a nuisance alarm or the real deal.

The bottom line is you have to answer the phone call from monitoring and provide the safe word to avoid police dispatch; that's the deal.

22 Messages

4 years ago

I have changed the location of the sensor as it was high up in the corner next to the window so I moved it across the room to the furthest away from the window as possible and furthest from the AC vent possible. So far no alerts until I walk in past the door frame. Hopefully it helps. It did activate twice this morning on silent alarm when placed above the window while I was sleeping so far the other room that has motion sensor on the other side of the room and furthest from the window has not activated also did attempt to secure curtains using screws and nails I had laying around (fingers crossed it works)
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