‎Mode set to "Away" from keypad without keypad input | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
QuarkENess's profile

Saturday, July 8th, 2023 6:51 PM

Mode set to "Away" from keypad without keypad input

The other night, we set our alarm to Away mode using the App. We heard all the typical sounds (countdown beeps, voice announcement) and the Timeline in the app shows the "Countdown to Away Mode" and "System Armed in Away Mode" as expected. Several hours later I awoke to the system announcing AGAIN that it was being set in Away Mode. The Timeline shows that it was set via the Keypad at that time even though no one in the house had touched the keypad.

Anyone else experience this?

Note: I am aware---and have experienced---that setting the system mode concurrently using multiple devices can cause unexpected behavior. For example, hitting the Away button on the app at nearly the same time as the keypad will kick off two independent countdowns. If you cancel one, the other countdown will continue. As another example, if you set the system in Away mode and hit the Away button again after the countdown completes, the system will be re-set into Away mode with no countdown (the announcement will be made and the timeline will reflect that the keypad was used to set the mode). Even stranger behavior can occur when there is spotty internet service. Commands via the app can be delayed for minutes or hours, resulting in changes to the mode long after the input was provided.

However, I don't see how any of these concurrency issues or network latency could account for a unexpected message from the keypad.  

Anyone from Simplisafe care to hypothesize?


Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

1 year ago

Hi @QuarkENess ,

There are some rare instances where the system may re-post its current status, which might appear as a new event. Though usually it's after certain alarm events - like if you had entered the Keypad Menu and forgot to manually exit (so it would re-post the status after automatically returning to the status screen). It might also happen if there's a spotty connection between the Keypad and the Base Station, through the local radio signal. Neither case involves the system actually setting a new alarm state - just repeating the current one.

If you're seeing the system actually set a different alarm state, that might be a different issue we'd need to look into. But for the above issue, a correction is coming soon in a firmware update.

15 Messages

@davey_d​  Thanks for the response. Yes, we have experienced the re-posting of status after time out. As a clarification, do you mean that a spotty connection between the Keypad and the Base State could generate a new event even if the keypad had not recently been used?

Two additional strange things occurred the same night that the away message was sent: a Simplisafe smoke detector in an empty bedroom send out a malfunction beep (alerting Simplisafe), and some colored rope lights in that same bedroom turned on without any human input. The lights have a remote and can be controlled via bluetooth from a phone.

So, could RF interference cause all of these issues? It seems unlikely that the lights turned on due to interference from Simplisafe (since they've been in the house together for years), but perhaps there was some external RF source that impacted both of them. Though what that would be is a mystery.

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

@QuarkENess​ If there is a spotty connection between the Base Station and Keypad, it can repeat the current arming event in the timeline - even if the Keypad hasn't been used recently. This communication issue is caused by physical interference or wireless interference.

Physical interference is caused by dense objects physically getting in the way between the Base Station and Keypad. Think brick/stone walls or heavy metal appliances. To mitigate physical interference, we recommend moving the Base Station and Keypad closer together. Wireless interference is caused by other wireless devices in the home that broadcast on the same band as our devices. Some common devices that can cause wireless interference are remote car starters, baby monitors, and wireless weather stations. If wireless interference is believed to be the culprit, I would try moving one of the devices to another room.

Regarding the lights turning on in your home that same night, we are fairly confident that it is a coincidence, but it's not impossible that they aren't linked. Our system components use a low-frequency signal; bluetooth transmits at 2.4GHz, so they broadcast different bands. However, as I said, it isn't impossible. I would try troubleshooting both physical and wireless interference throughout your home to prevent another event like this from happening again.

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