I've been installing Vista 20p panels for 10 years, never had an issue. Last month I put in 3 new ones from the same batch at a new construction site in Phoenix, and every single one had the keypad glitch out within 2 days. Called tech support and they confirmed a bad capacitor run on that serial range. Been pushing those panels forever but now I'm testing every single one on the bench before I go onsite. Anyone else run into this batch problem with Honeywell lately?
I had this big house in Denver last month where the walls were all thick concrete and plaster... the wireless signal kept dropping out. After 3 hours of troubleshooting, I swapped to hardwired sensors and it was night and day. The install took longer but the system didn't have any false alarms or dropouts. Just cleaner overall once I got the wiring run through the attic. Has anyone else run into this with older construction homes?
I remember the first time a supplier tried to sell me on wireless door contacts for a big apartment job in Phoenix, I laughed and said no way they hold up. Then my buddy Dave installed 40 of them at a complex near Camelback and showed me the signal strength readings six months later, not a single dropout. I still run hardwire for the main panel but I finally swapped to Qolsys PowerG for zones 3 through 8 after that. Anyone else eat their words on wireless gear?
Went out on a service call last Thursday for a system that wasn't arming. Turned out the main board had a cracked solder joint near the transformer, probably from years of humidity in that basement. Anyone else running into older panels developing odd faults that aren't the typical sensor issues?
Was up on a roof in Dallas last July doing a commercial panel swap. Hit a solder joint with canned air to test it and condensation dripped right onto the board, killed it instantly. Anyone else ever wreck a controller with a dumb cooling trick?
I had to choose between running conduit for hardwired PIRs or going with wireless contacts for a historic home retrofit, and the wireless saved me three days of fishing cables through plaster walls - has anyone else run into customer pushback on the battery life thing?
Last month I did a full panel swap in a 1970s ranch house in Phoenix. The owner pulled up a lawn chair and sat 3 feet away the whole time. He kept asking if I was sure about every wire I touched. I finally stopped and handed him the screwdriver and said you want to take over? He laughed but stayed there for the next 4 hours. Has anyone else had a customer camp out during a complex install like that?
I was running a new panel at a house in Sacramento last week and the owner said 'you guys make it look easy, but I bet it's not just screwing things into a wall.' Honestly, it made me stop and realize how much pre-planning goes into every install, from wire paths to sensor placement. Has anyone else had a client say something that made you rethink your own process?
I grabbed a 10-pack of no-name wireless sensors for $35 last month thinking I was saving big. Installed them at a client's house in Denver and three of them stopped working within two weeks. The client called me back complaining and I had to eat $120 in labor to swap them all out for Honeywells. Anyone else get burned by cheap sensors like this?
Last week I did three service calls in Denver where people had cellular backup but never tested it, and two of them had dead batteries from 2020. Has anyone else seen customers trying to save money by ditching the secondary path?
Ngl, I walked into a job at an old warehouse off Colfax last week and the main alarm panel looked like a spaghetti monster threw up in it. Has anyone else run into a situation where the previous installer just left zero labeling on the zones?
Wired up a new alarm panel at a Tyson facility outside Little Rock last month. Had to run conduit through the freezer section. Saw their temp sensors were just zip-tied to the same pipe. Made me wonder how many false alarms come from sensors placed near vibrating machinery. Anyone else find weird installs at food processing plants?
Had a call last week in Nashville where the homeowner kept getting false alarms on zone 3. I spent two hours checking the wiring, the sensor, everything... finally pulled the panel and realized the previous installer never put in the 2.2k end-of-line resistor. They just taped the wires together. It worked fine for a month until the resistance drifted. How often do you guys find this kind of shortcut in new installs?
Last Wednesday in a 1970s split-level in Portland, I spent 45 minutes explaining to a retired engineer that wireless relays don't magically work through two layers of aluminum foil insulation in his attic, has anyone else run into homeowners who think every new system can just be battery powered and stuck to the wall with double-sided tape?
I was driving through a neighborhood I haven't been to in maybe 15 years and saw a house we used to service. Decided to knock and see if the panel was still there. The homeowner let me take a peek and I'm telling you, the wiring was a mess compared to what we do now. Back then we ran everything on 22/4 and daisy-chained sensors like crazy. Now that same house has a wireless hub and some smart sensors stuck on the windows with double sided tape. It felt weird seeing our old work next to a Ring retrofit kit. I guess times change but part of me misses the old reliability of hardwired stuff. They said they never had a false alarm until they added the wireless motion detector last year. Anyone else go back to an old install and feel a little sad about how it looks now?
Got a call for a basic motion sensor install in an attic last week. It was 95 degrees outside, so the attic felt like 120. I was up there for maybe 20 minutes when my drill battery died, and my backup was dead too. Had to climb down, find an outlet, and wait for a charge. The whole job took 6 hours for what should have been one. What's your go-to plan for keeping tools charged on a long, hot day like that?
I put in a system last month using their standard wireless contacts and had three false alarms in the first week. Switched back to the hardwired Honeywell 5800MINI sensors I keep in the van and the system has been solid for 30 days straight. The difference was in the signal strength and battery check reporting. The cheap ones would drop signal if a fridge was in the way, but the 5800s punch right through. Anyone else run into this with the store-brand gear?
I was putting in a new keypad by the front door and my drill bit hit something that sparked and tripped the whole house. Turns out the old plaster wall had a live wire from a long gone doorbell right where I needed to mount. I had to trace it back to a junction box in the basement and cap it off. Has anyone else run into a hidden wire in an old home and how did you find it without causing a short?
Three years back on a job in Phoenix, I would drill a fresh hole in the brick for every single recessed contact. Last week, my helper pointed out we could just use the existing screw hole from the window screen frame with a longer screw and a spacer. It saved us over an hour on a 10-window house and looks just as clean. Has anyone else found a simple trick that made you drop your old way of doing things?
What other old-school methods have you guys found a faster wireless fix for?
I mean, I just finished a job in Tempe where the last crew ran the whole system, closed the walls, and then found a break in the main loop. They had to cut open three fresh sheets to find it. That's a full day of work and about $200 in materials down the drain. It takes maybe 15 minutes with a meter to check continuity before you seal things up. How do you even bill a customer for that kind of fix? Anyone else run into this a lot lately?
Everyone in my shop said to go all wireless for a 50,000 square foot warehouse retrofit because it's faster. I pushed hard for a hybrid system, using hardwired contacts on all the main doors and windows, about 40 points total, and wireless only for the interior motions. It added two full days to the install. My boss was not happy about the extra labor cost. But after six months, we've had zero false alarms from door sensors, while the wireless interior motions have needed three battery swaps already. Has anyone else found that mixing tech is worth the extra time on big sites?
I was doing a job at his house yesterday and he asked me to put a smoke alarm in the hallway outside the bedrooms, not inside them. He said in a real fire, smoke fills the hall first and can block your exit, so you need the earliest warning there. I always just followed the 'one per bedroom' rule without much thought. He showed me his old training manual, and it made total sense. Now I'm going to start suggesting this setup to my customers. What's the most useful tip you've ever gotten from a customer?
I bought a pack of five no-name wireless door sensors for about $25 total off that one auction site six months ago, just to see if they were junk. I was fully ready for them to fail in a week. I put one on my own back shed door here in Phoenix as a test, figuring the summer heat would kill it fast. It's been through 115-degree days and a couple of monsoons, and the thing still reports perfectly every single time. Battery life is even decent. I'm not saying I'd use them on a high-end client's house, but for a basic rental property or a garage, they've held up way better than I expected. What's the cheapest piece of gear you've tried that actually surprised you by working?
He said it was 'future-proofing' and refused to stock anything thinner, which meant every job cost more and was harder to pull. I finally switched companies and after six months of using 18/2 for standard sensors, I've had zero callbacks and saved a bundle on materials. Anyone else get stuck on a specific material rule that just didn't make sense?