2 Messages
Low Battery alerts should avoid the middle of the night
Last night, at 4 minutes past midnight, my Simplisafe speaker blurted out that there was a low battery in a glassbreak sensor. Whereas I appreciate knowing that there was a low battery (I replaced this AM and the system is seeing it as OK now), I really do not appreciate being awakened in the middle of the night by a system with much more intelligence behind it than the average smoke detector.
My recommendation is that initial low battery warnings should be delivered via App Notifications (which you can turn off on your device based on time of day) and/or via email.
If the low battery condition persists beyond, say, a week, then it might make sense to proclaim the alert via the speaker.
I called in to see if I was missing something and it was suggested that at night I could adjust the voice prompt volume down and then readjust it up every morning. That sounds like a horribly bad idea in general, but specifically it sounds like something that an automated system like Simplisafe could handedly do.
For as long as I can remember, people have complained about bleating smoke detectors complaining in the middle of the night that they need batteries, I just can't imagine an engineer at Simplisafe did not take it upon themselves to solve this problem for such an otherwise-sophisticated system.
quiknen
2 Messages
2 years ago
I have an intermittent sensor (all times of the day on/off). However, the audible read out-loud notification for sensor is going off after midnight-3AM. WTF!
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shiherlis
739 Messages
2 years ago
I have been a satisfied SimpliSafe customer for a decade, but the Base Alert scared me tonight. I was sleeping, and the low battery warning came out of nowhere. Of course, being "out of it," I immediately thought someone was attempting to break in (or had – I was on a different floor).
I am having a lot of issues at the moment, and the forum/community in its current state is of no help. There once was a time you could resolve problems here, but that time is no longer.
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tjlepore
5 Messages
2 years ago
Indeed - 4am last night for me... very disturbing when you're asleep. Voice alerts need to be tied to daytime hours, or not at all. It would be great if the app provided alerts which clearly detailed which device needs a new battery, but sadly it does not.
(edited)
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