End-to-End Water Sensor Test

Hi @schutzrr ,

Sorry for the confusion.

Yes, you're right, the Test Button method is really testing that the Water Sensor is able to communicate with the Base Station. So you'll want to set the sensor up where you want to keep it (e.g. under your washing machine or sink, etc.) - to make sure that it's not sitting in a dead spot.

The only way to test the Water Sensor's actual function is to trigger it. Keep in mind that the sensor works by having metal contacts at the bottom, and when those contacts are bridged by a conductor, that's what triggers the alarm. Not sure that a sponge would be enough all the time, but a finger across two or more contacts would do the trick. Dipping the sensor in a bowl of shallow water would work too!

And as for Test Mode vs Practice Mode:

• Test Mode: Activated from your system's Keypad. Used for testing the communication of each sensor, as well as testing the function of each sensor, without triggering a full alarm. Your system will also send a Test Signal to SimpliSafe, and if you have active Monitoring Service, you'll get a phone call to confirm that we received your signal.
• Practice Mode: Can only be activated by our Support agents. If you have active Monitoring Service, we can put it on pause for a set period of time. That way, you can test actual full alarms with sirens and everything, without accidentally generating a call from an operator, and potentially dispatch from emergency services.

Note that if you do trigger a full alarm with a Water Sensor, that will trigger a different type of alarm from both Intruder and Fire alarms. If a Water Sensor alarm results in a call from dispatch, it won't be treated as an emergency. So it won't result in dispatch!