5 Messages
Unable to silence fire alarm remotely from the app
Today, one of my smoke detectors triggered for no reason. This system is installed in a vacation home 300 miles from my main home. The system was armed away at the time but disarming the system did not silence the system. Fortunately, a next door neighbor was able to enter the house and enter the code on the keypad, which silenced the system.
I have searched this issue on the internet and found that there are many other complaints regarding this with your system. The general response from Simplisafe is that it is a "safety feature". Unfortunately, when no one is home, this presents a real problem as many of your users reporting this issue have indicated. I understand that simply disarming the system may be undesirable from a safety issue, but there needs to be some other way to remotely silence the system in case of a fire alarm. Many years ago, I was a security/fire alarm installer and some systems, for example, required you to press the * button on the keypad to silence the external sirens. A similar solution could be achieved that would allow you to silence the external sounders, such as a reset button in the system configuration menu.
This situation is a big problem for me as I do not need a similar incident to happen again, especially if I cannot silence the external sounders remotely. As such, I have removed all of the smoke detector assignments from the system. Until Simplisafe comes up with a solution for this issue, I will be using the smoke detectors in local annunciation mode only. Also, the auto timeout for the sirens did not work. Much more than 4 minutes passed by the time the neighbor was able to silence the system using the keypad. I understand that an actual smoke condition would have repeatedly re-triggered the system, but this was a false alarm caused by the smoke detector. No smoke or cooking was present.
Secondly, why did the detector false in the first place? No one was home so, no cooking. Your detectors are photo-electric, I believe, not ionizers. As such, they require visible smoke to trigger. A bad detector? It wouldn't be my first Simplisafe sensor failure. I have two system, one in my main house and now one in this vacation house, installed several years apart. These latest sensors have proven to be more prone to failure compared to my original system.
Regardless, I hope that you will advance this up the chain to have engineering consider a firmware update.
Official Response
davey_d
Former Community Admin
•
5.7K Messages
Hi all,
Thanks for checking in about this. Yes, the siren will continue to sound after a Smoke Detector event, even after the alarm system has been disarmed via the SimpliSafe app. It can be stopped if you use the Keypad to disarm, because you'd be physically on the premises. This is an intentional design to meet the UL-985 standard.
But as for preventing false alarms in the future, we do have a guide on the Help Center that can walk you through some troubleshooting steps. And if you continue to have trouble, let us know and we can request one of our Support agents for more in-depth troubleshooting.
(edited)
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mike902da2
2 Messages
I see you have no response on this issue. Did you get any SimpliSafe follow up?
i had this issue yesterday with a remote system 3500 miles away. Very frustrated.
https://support.simplisafe.com/conversations/smokeco-detectors/in-ability-to-deactivate-fire-alarm-remotely/6577c02980fb9d7556b363e7?commentId=657aabc83a779a52fd60e3c6&replyId=663ec6ffa686244c554549dc
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rczzro
5 Messages
I was bitten by this piece of poor design.
I'm traveling, 5400 miles away, for a family emergency. The faulty smoke sensor causes an unjustified alarm. The alarm cannot be turned off remotely, and the basestation keeps beeping in the most annoying way.
Neighbors are calling me, unable to sleep. I cannot do anything, because I left in a hurry and nobody has the keys. Upon my return, I'll have to go on an apology tour of the neighborhood.
The worst part, aside from the fact that there never was any smoke to start with, is that I have cameras everywhere, and I know that there is no fire, nor smoke.
Moreover, the UL standard doesn't say what the Simplisafe support people keep repeating. There is a provision in the UL standard to remotely disable as long as the user acknowledges that there is no fire (which is my case)
As an optional feature, the manufacturer is permitted to include an additional
wireless communication remote silencing feature. If included and tested for
compliance with the requirements outlined in 13.8, the wireless communication
remote silence feature may be activated through a remote device and shall be
capable of providing additional instructions for the user to confirm his physical
proximity to the initiating smoke alarm. Manufacturers that include a wireless
communication remote silencing feature shall include language on their remote
device for the user to confirm his physical proximity to the initiating smoke alarm,
and that the user verified the presence or absence of smoke/fire at the initiating
alarm(s) before silencing the alarm signal using the remote device.
So, Simplisafe, please implement the standard properly and stop this madness
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