1 Message
Sensors triggered for no reason
My wife and I were at work and around 5:11am I got a notification that some of our sensors we triggered. Someone called to make sure everything was fine and they sent someone out to check on everything. We are very confused with what happened! The motion sensor in our living room was triggered first and three minutes later the entry sensor on the kitchen window was triggered. We aren't sure how that is possible. That would mean someone would have to be in the house already and then open the window after walking by the motion sensor. We have two cats but they've never triggered the motion sensors before. Once we got home and saw that everything looked normal and all the sensors were still in tact I called SimpliSafe to ask if they know what could have happened. Two different people told me they've never seen that happen and they made it sound like it wasn't possible for that to happen. I just wondered if anyone else has ever seems this before and if anyone has an explanation. It's kinda creepy.
Official Response
simplisafe_admin
Community Admin
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656 Messages
4 years ago
That certainly does sound strange. Generally, the only ways that an Entry sensor would falsely trigger would be if the sensor (or its magnet) either fell off of the window or if the sensor is borderline too far away from the magnet so that it only "sees" the magnet some of the time. Regardless, it sounds like this will require some more in-depth troubleshooting to figure out the causes. Make sure to give our Support Team a call as they'd be happy to help. They can be reached at 1-800-548-9508 from 8 AM to Midnight ET, 7 days a week!
SimpliSafe Social Team
SimpliSafe Home Security
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route_66_guy
186 Messages
4 years ago
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coltmaster1
2.8K Messages
4 years ago
As for the window, if the siren was blaring, could the cats have freaked and brushed against the sensor on the window? I'm not saying this as an explanation, but I can tell you that one of my cats brushed up against a window blind wand once, the wand hit the window sensor, the alarm went off - I'm not sure how that happened but it did, there was no other explanation.
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mjm_3
12 Messages
4 years ago
I could see how sunlight or our heating system could trigger the motion sensor. But I have no explanation how a window sensor would have triggered.
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pdoumas
2 Messages
4 years ago
I believe I have a direct sunlight problem with my motion sensor and have had it false alarm twice in the last month, I'm wondering if it just started happening due to seasonal sun angle changes. But that's less weird than this occurrence:
Motion sensor false alarmed, possibly due to heater or possibly due to direct sunlight like I said before. In the same minute, a panic button alert was also reported from the keypad. Checking cameras nothing is going on. Support didn't seem to have an explanation. I'm guessing RF interference or something?? Maybe the base station is too close to some metal and there are odd RF reflections? Either way it's a bit disconcerting.
On a previous occasion, an entry sensor was triggered because I told a friend to go into my cellar. I had forgotten to set the sensor to secret alert, so the alarm sounded. Subsequently, a window entry sensor alert also triggered, even though the window was never opened and the sensor was not physically moved. Very similar circumstance. Again, wondering if it's RF interference? I wish SS used a more robust form of connection to the base station...
Fairly new system, batteries are all good.
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dezertray1
1 Message
2 years ago
My alarm triggered last night- a door sensor and then a interior motion sensor. No one was there and the heat is off. And even if it was on, it’s a wall unit. So the heater and sunlight thing can’t possibly be the issue. Thoughts?
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scottmoore
1 Message
2 years ago
Same here, last night 2022-06-10, empty office with cams all around the perimeter, alarm went off last night...garage motion, then an entry sensor...then an interior hall motion...there was no entry or exit of anyone from the building when reviewing the cams and the garage is sealed off from the interior so that an entry sensor that wasn't triggered would have gone off if the event was real.
Where is SimpliSafe on this thread, I think they have a software bug they're ignoring.
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davey_d
Community Admin
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5.7K Messages
2 years ago
Hi @scottmoore ,
Please give us a call at 800-548-9508. Investigating will require us to dig into your account, especially your Timeline event log. But I'm confident that we can get to the bottom of it.
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Lord_B
1 Message
2 years ago
Had similar event happen at my business location. This past Friday we had a motion sensor trigger at 1:15 pm. I responded to the business location with local PD. All was clear. Rearmed alarm then Sunday morning at 1:15 am the same motion sensor triggered. Local PD called me and they were on location. All was clear. I did not go to the location. Then at 1:41 am the motion sensor triggered again and then at 1:44 am a glass break sensor triggered. This time I met the local PD officers at the location. From the outside all appeared clear. Officers went into building and all was clear. I went back home. Then the same motion sensor triggered again at 3:41 am. PD responded all clear. I have had the system for 3 plus years and never had a false trigger. Batteries are fresh. Contacted SimpliSafe the later on the day and completed a firmware update and deleted both sensors from system and then reinstalled the sensors. So far no more false triggers.
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ecuwilliams
5 Messages
2 years ago
Please see my earlier comment. I loved SS until this happened and before reading these comments. My original SS system NEVER had a false alarm. I had it for 15 years and left it at my old house and bought a new SS system. I'm still w/in my 60 day return warranty... but it's closing fast. I just can't have an unreliable security system. Communication is greatly needed on this problem!!!
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clearwise
2 Messages
2 years ago
We are really disgusted with Simplisafe at this point. We installed our system about a year ago, and THREE TIMES within two weeks there have been false alarms. The first one was at about 5 or 6 in the morning; a smoke alarm in the house. We were still asleep and I didn't hear my phone ring; by the time SS called my husband's phone, the fire department had already been dispatched. There was NO reason for the alarm to go off--no one was up, it was extremely cool in the house, etc. Then early this morning, around 1 AM, there were TWO false alarms--one from the smoke detector in the garage, where is was very cool, and one motion sensor alarm, even though the system was OFF. Both the police and fire department showed up. As we live in a small town, we now plan to make two donations to the volunteer fire department for their trouble. I'd really like to know why we are being charged by SS every month if their system doesn't perform as advertised.
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simplisafeCA
2 Messages
2 years ago
This is unbelievable. We just had 3 false alarms in the space of ~2 hours, while we were out of the house. First a motion sensor went off, but we figured it was a false alarm/spider, so told SimpliSafe to disregard when they called. Then an hour later, the same motion sensor went off again, and one *minute* after the motion sensor, the backdoor entry sensor was triggered.
Now, of course, we were really freaked out, because what are the chances of a motion sensor going off again AND the backdoor entry sensor going off right after?
Our local police force is incredibly slow (often takes hours to arrive) so rather than notifying them, we sped home to check. When we arrived, there were no signs of forced entry anywhere, no open windows, and no way anyone could have opened and closed that door.
I thought there could never be such a thing as a false *entry* sensor alarm (unless half the alarm came unstuck and dropped off the door or something), but reading this thread, looks like I’m not alone.
If it matters, the day before, the Base station had gotten jostled and fallen to the floor (hadn’t noticed since it was behind a bookshelf). It was still plugged in and functional-seeming, however.
This seems incredibly irresponsible of SimpliSafe. On the phone with them now and they say “the system is working properly”?? “Sometimes the system requires the latest information from the software, so I can push to you a message.” Super confusing. This is a pretty terrible experience overall. Is there anything we can do as consumers to get a refund on our systems?
UPDATE: They’re having me go to my keypad, menu, system settings, check for updates, “Updates are available press to continue”, then updates take 10-12 minutes.
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Bosco
2 Messages
2 years ago
I had a silent false alarm tonight, 8/10/22. The police showed up totally unexpectedly because SimpliSafe dispatched them without calling us first which is the correct action with a silent alarm. But we didn't do anything to trigger it. The only devices we have set to generate a silent alarm are our panic button fobs. Neither of us were anywhere near the panic buttons.
Furthermore, there's nothing in our timeline that recorded a silent alarm. My wife and I talked to the police, verified our identities, then I called the SimpliSafe monitoring number. They recorded the false alarm and transferred me to customer care. The customer care person ran diagnostics on our system and didn't find a problem. He also didn't see anything in our timeline other than the normal camera motions which don't trigger anything other than starting a recording.
The customer care rep told me to check for an update on the keypad. I did, there was an update available, and I installed it. But nothing actually explains what caused SimpliSafe to dispatch the police since there's no record of the silent alarm trigger event in our timeline.
Now I don't know whether or not I can trust our SimpliSafe system. It's very frustrating and unnerving, especially because there's no way for me to know if my system really did generate the silent alarm. I mean, it could have been a hardware, software, or firmware bug, but since there's no record of the trigger, and I guess nothing in our local system's diagnostic logs, it could just as easily, and more plausibly have been a bored SimpliSafe employee, or a hacker looking for lulz.
I also think the app should generate a notification on our phones when new system updates are available. SimpliSafe should have their developers add notifications and/or push alerts and/or SMS alerts about new system updates to the app.
(edited)
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clearwise
2 Messages
2 years ago
Update on our false alarm(s) plight:
After I made an irate-but-still-polite call to one of their patient customer service people, SS sent free replacements for all of our ten smoke alarms. So far so good, but I am not going to hold my breath (no pun intended.)
Two other things they've gotten wrong:
I told customer service TWICE to update the info contact person they had in their records for shipping of the alarms. (The order was originally placed by the person who sold us the house, so she used her own email address, of course, when she did so.). Customer service assured me it had been done, and yet when we ordered new equipment--TWICE--to replace the faulty alarms, the notification yet again went to the previous owner.
If you can't update simple information in your system, SimpliSafe, there is something seriously wrong with either it or your management.
Also, as someone else here suggested, for god's sake, send your customers notices via email and text message when there are updates that need to be made!!! How hard would that be? Our keypad is placed right inside the back door, which goes through are garage, and we seldom even look at it, as we almost never need to activate the burglar alarm, as we live in an extremely low-crime area and are usually at home, as we both work remotely.
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strong26
3 Messages
2 years ago
Just this week I have had a false trigger on a motion detector and entry sensor 4 minutes apart. After running home, searching the house, and calling off the police, I contact SS tech support. They read a flow chart or a troubleshooting guide. Either way, there is not much thought put into it. I troubleshoot technology for a living and unless you can think with an open mind and know what you are doing, you will have trouble if it is not exactly as the chart shows. After wasting a chunk of time on the phone with out any resolution, except for being told that I could turn the motion sensor upside down even though I don't have pets, I finally hung up. She did have me reboot the base. I then looked at my system online and I had another entry sensor showing open even though the door was shut. I call tech service back and a different person decided to order me new sensors. That was two days ago. I wake up this morning and I have a message saying that another entry sensor was not responding and was offline. I have two systems in use. The other system has had several false triggers too. Mostly motion sensors along with a smoke detector. I have had a SS system for years. Never have I had so many false triggers as I have had with the Gen 3 systems. I'm looking into a different alarm system for two reasons. One is I pay two monitoring fees to make sure my house and shop are safe and secure, which at this point they are not. Secondly, I am tired of constantly getting false triggers at all hours and having to make a quick decision whether to let police come of not. Sometimes I'm home, and sometimes I'm not. The reliability of a Simplisafe system has fallen dramatically. I never thought I would ever find myself in this situation.
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