‎Warning. Side door smart lock not responding... | SimpliSafe Support Home
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usmaak

343 Messages

Tuesday, May 25th, 2021 1:13 AM

Warning. Side door smart lock not responding...

I am so damned sick of this problem.  It's been going on since I got this lock, over a year ago.  At first it only happened here and there.  Now it is literally happening every time I arm or disarm this alarm system.  This morning after I got it again, I went out to the side door and changed the batteries.  I armed the alarm and then disarmed it.  Within thirty seconds, Warning.  Side door smart lock not responding.

There is one wall between the base and the side door smart lock.  It is a normal 2x4 and drywall type wall.  There's nothing special about it.  From the wall to the lock is about 25 feet of open space.

I'm getting ready to just take the lock off the door and throw it in the trash where it likely belongs.

Thanks for listening to my vent.

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2 years ago

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captain11

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

@usmaak my lock is on my front door and the base is on the 2nd floor about 10 feet away from that. All in all I would say about 25 feet in total, with no issues. Are there any electric or conduit in the wall separating the lock and the base? In our town the electric lines must be in steel conduit.  What is the door made of? (Mine is fiberglass). Hav eyou tried calling support to troubleshoot, swap out the lock etc.?

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usmaak

343 Messages

My base is on a table near the wall.  On the other side of the wall is the garage.  The side door is on the other side of the garage.  The only electrical is where the base is plugged in.  I believe that all of the electrical running through the walls is in steel conduit.  This is a newer house and the town in which I live tends to have pretty strict rules about how homes can be built.  I have tried the base in various locations but this is the closest that I can get it to the lock without actually putting the base in the garage (I'm not doing that).  The door is some kind of metal.  The locking mechanism faces the wall with the base on the other side.

I talked with SS sometime in early 2020 about it and they sent me a new base station.  They said that they would contact me and help me set it up.  They didn't.  I tried calling them a few times and got hung up on or couldn't get through.  I don't have time to chase them down and I shouldn't have to.  The replacement base station has been sitting in the box.  I'd love to give it back to them.  I doubt that the cell module is even good anymore.  I don't know why I believed that someone would call me.  After the fiasco with customer service in the months surrounding the holidays, you'd think that I'd have learned that they cannot be trusted.  I feel stupid for falling for that.

I've seen enough of these lock not responding issues on here to believe that it's likely not a flaw in the base.  It seems more like the lock has to be super close to the base and can't be on the other side of the wall, or it's just generally incompatible junk.  I should also mention that I have not plugged in anything new in a long time.  Everything is exactly the same as its always been.

I've sunk a lot of money into this system.  I have entry sensors on every window.  I even have an entry sensor on the garage door.  I have motions sensors in every room.  I have glass break sensors.  I have a smoke detector.  I have three sirens.  I have two keypads.  I pay the $25 per month for monitoring.  Overall I don't have a lot of complaints about this system.  It mostly functions well.  There have been a few quirks here and there, but no big deal.  But these locks are pretty awful.  I have three smart locks.  I have the one that is no longer responding.  When any of them are locked through the app, they get stuck and I have to turn the knob like I'm locking it before I can manually unlock it.  All three of them are like that.

I really like the idea of the smart locks and being able to unlock the doors with a keypad and not having to carry keys.  I just wish that this system was a bit more robust with its wireless signal.  I think that it would fix some issues.

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3 years ago

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jimbo23205

1 Message

I also have the smart lock, today it gave me the same error message of door lock not responding. The lock has been in place since early summer, on the same day I lost communication with a door sensor and later in the day the door lock. 

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2 years ago

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usmaak

343 Messages

3 years ago

I was browsing another question where someone was having this problem with a keypad.  The response from SS was to look for devices that can cause wireless interference.  It said that the sensors use a low frequency so look for things like garage door openers and weather stations.  I realized that I have an Ambient Weather wireless thermometer sensor right on the other side of the door from the lock.  I've taken it down to see if it fixes the problem.

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captain11

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

@usmaak interesting development. Please post how it turns out.

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usmaak

343 Messages

3 years ago

It lasted three days.  Last night when I armed it, I got the familiar "side door smart lock not responding" warning.  I also got it this morning when disarming the alarm.  So unfortunately, it did not work.

The only other thing in the garage is my garage door opener.  I just don't think that garage door openers put out a constant signal.  The receive the signal of the button being pushed on the remote.  I don't see how it could be the garage door opener.

If it is the garage door opener, however, that's the end of it.  It's not like I can do without my garage door opener.  I guess I'll just have to remove the lock and make it a standard lock again. :(

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captain11

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

@usmaak I would call Simplisafe and ask for a manager to discuss your dissatisfaction with your situation and, if any, action they can take now or in the near future to address it.

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usmaak

343 Messages

If I can get through, I'll do it.  I'm just not going to spend a lot of time trying to resolve it.  I doubt that there's a resolution to what is probably an interference problem.  The only solution for interference problems is to remove the interference and it's not likely I can do that.

I'll probably just buy a non-integrated smart lock.  I really like the ability to open and close the lock with a keypad.  That was the main reason I got it.  Having it interface with the security system was just a plus.

The thing that I don't understand is that I have a siren and two entry sensors in the same area (including one on the same door as the lock) and they've never given me a single second of trouble.  Whatever interference is affecting the lock is not affecting them.

One other data point.  Back when this whole thing first started, I took my front door lock and switched it with the side door lock.  I didn't rename them, I just swapped them.  Within a day, I started to get "Front Door smart lock not responding" messages.  As soon as I switched them back, it went back to "Side Door smart lock not responding."  I'd forgotten that I tried that.  So that points to the problem being with either radio interference or the base.  I'm betting on radio interference.

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3 years ago

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captain11

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

@usmaak  s you are well down the rabbit hole anyway, why not try removing the lock completely and then add it again with the name "Front Door". Like chicken soup, it may not cure the patient but it can't hurt.

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usmaak

343 Messages

It's not the front door.  It's the side door.

I could name it something else though.

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3 years ago

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captain11

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

Sorry about that. Okay, side door.  It's probably not going to work but given the timing of events that you described, like I said, it can't hurt to try.

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usmaak

343 Messages

Agreed.  Part of troubleshooting is trying everything! :)

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3 years ago

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chriswsiegel

4 Messages

3 years ago

I am now on my 4th SimpliSafe 'smart' lock and I have the same issue. It constantly says the lock is not responding, despite the fact that it actually works fine. Many times I've called regarding the issue and the best case scenario is they send a new lock and then it continues to sporadically do the same thing. Worst case scenario, they suggest I should just reset the lock and it will be fine. BEWARE: yesterday the lock completely failed and would not open my door at all. I had to call a locksmith to get into my house. I had already cancelled the SimpliSafe service because it seemed insane to pay a few hundred dollars a year for a product that works so poorly. The rep I spoke to told me they would reimburse the cost of the locksmith based on my long history of lock failures. Today I call back as advised to submit my invoice for reimbursement, and after 25 mins on hold waiting for the person to authorize the reimbursement who is not available, I'm told that this is something they do not do... then what was I on hold for? SimpliSafe smart locks are absolutely trash and the company isn't much better. The idea of being able to click open and closed the door and simultaneously alarm/ disarm the system is great. Too bad the product is incredibly flawed. 

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