FAQ: My Sensor (any brand) is Stuck on Closed (or Open)

[Barkis (John C)]

Or possibly something else! Here’s the story of a contact sensor that asynchronously showed a door was ‘open’ when it wasn’t – and how I “fixed” the problem even though I was 1500 miles away…

YMMV, of course!

Is there a way to recheck a door sensor?

OK, results are in! On Sunday, July 16 at 8:15pm, a GoControl Door/Window sensor on a slider (with extra pins locking it closed) caused SHM to alarm. I watched the interior motion sensors, as well as the remaining two doors – all of which reported “all is well!” Seeing no other issues, I eventually removed the sensor from SHM, re-armed, and things continued as normal. Other than the bi-weekly visits from our homewatch company, nothing has alarmed since. They confirmed the door was closed. Today’s Experiment: modified the stock DTH to make it always request open/closed sensor state, instead of only the first time after pairing with the hub. Also put in some additional logging & added tiles to display wake-up & last-contact times. Eventually, the device woke up & said the door is…