88 Messages
Can burglar destroy base station before it can send alarm signal?
During the entry delay period of 30 seconds, to allow time to enter the PIN on the keypad and disarm the system before the siren starts blaring, if a burglar spots the base station sitting on the table and completely destroys it, will it still be reported as an alarm to monitoring and notifications sent to all devices and monitoring calls primary contacts? Again, before the entry delay expires.
Do the Simplisafe servers and/or monitoring station receive an immediate alert from the base station that the entry delay has been triggered?
Do the Simplisafe servers and/or monitoring station then expect to receive a successful system disarmed alert from the base station within the set entry delay period, and if not received, it's considered an active alarm and notifications to devices and phone calls from monitoring follow?
I've read conflicting answers to this on the internet regarding the SimpliSafe system. Do I need to hide and silence my base station to ensure protection from this scenario?
glennf
3 Messages
2 years ago
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Boring_Joe
88 Messages
2 years ago
It appears that the answer to this question is "yes," as confirmed by SimpliSafe community admin davey_d in this forum post here https://support.simplisafe.com/conversations/gen-3-simplisafe/breaking-base-station-blocking-signal-defeats-alarm/63b465db48a801744866db15?commentId=63b5951b9bb80c1cea273e0a
As davey_d states, if a burglar is able to completely destroy the base station before the actual alarm signal is sent, then the monitoring station would not know that an alarm is in progress and wouldn't call for help. And since the base station doesn't attempt to send the alarm signal until after the entry delay period expires, it would appear that a burglar has the full 30 seconds (or whatever your entry delay is set to) to find and destroy the base station before it can notify monitoring or your devices of the break in.
To confirm this, I did my own testing. First, I removed the screw below the power plug on the bottom of the base station, so that during the test I can simulate destroying the base station by quickly unplugging it and removing the battery. After removing the screw, I plugged the power cord back in. I then ensured my door entry sensor had "instant trigger" disabled and my entry delays were set to 30 seconds. I armed the system, opened the door, heard the entry delay beeps from the keypad, waited about 15 seconds, unplugged the power cord from bottom of base station, quickly twisted off the bottom, and removed one battery. No alarm signal was ever sent, even after I restored power to the base station a minute or two later. I did this test twice to make sure that it wasn't a fluke. Same results. "Entry delay triggered" appeared in my timeline in the app but no alarm event. I received no alerts of the alarm on my phone and Monitoring never called, even after restoring power.
So now I need to make a decision. Do I hide the base station and continue using the entry delay and keypad to disarm when entering the home, or do I set all sensors to instant trigger eliminating the entry delay and disarm using the app before entering the home? Even on instant trigger/no entry delay, hiding the base could add valuable seconds in case the wifi and/or cellular connection is slow or congested. But then I lose the useful feature of seeing the armed/disarmed status at a glance across the room. Plus, I would need to hide the base somewhere that still gets good wifi and cell signal, and its tall shape makes it more challenging to hide. If disarming by app, I would need to install the app on every household member's phone and hope they remember to disarm before entering (losing the entry delay's keypad beeps which are a good reminder to disarm after entering).
Ideally, the system should work by sending an entry delay triggered alert to phones and Monitoring and then if Monitoring doesn't receive a disarmed signal before entry delay expires, it considers it an alarm event and starts calling primary contacts/authorities.
P.S. If are using keyfobs to arm/disarm, I recommend you set all sensors to instant trigger and disarm the system before entering the premises. That way you're not affected by the potentially vulnerable entry delay period.
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