Took me 3 hours to figure out a wireless zone that kept failing

I was out on a Honeywell Vista 20P install last Tuesday in a old house in Columbus. Kept getting a zone 2 trouble that would drop every 45 minutes. Checked the sensor, the battery, even swapped the 5800 transmitter. Turned out the metal junction box on the wall was blocking the signal by like 20 feet. Anyone else deal with wireless range just getting eaten by metal boxes like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly_green821mo ago

Blame that steel junction box every time, it's like a Faraday cage just for your signal. I've had a similar issue with old cast iron plumbing pipes running through the wall that would kill a wireless zone from 30 feet away without even trying. Makes you wonder why they don't put that warning bigger in the install manuals, right? Ended up moving the panel to the other side of the basement stairwell and the problem vanished completely.

uma_webb2820d ago

Does anyone else notice how many everyday things are basically accidental signal jammers? My buddy's whole house was a dead zone until we realized his metal roof was reflecting everything into the yard. It's like copper plumbing, foil insulation, even those big metal vent hoods in kitchens all work against us without anyone thinking about it. Makes me feel like I need to bring a signal meter every time I walk into a new place now.

joseph_roberts1mo ago

Good point! Those old metal pipes are signal killers for sure. They really need to put that info front and center in the manual.