Wasn’t sure where to post this as its slightly off topic but kinda not. So the long story short on this is, I bought a house that was just a year old but out of its brand new warranty. The person I bought the house from, never had an alarm system installed and if they had, I think they would have had to fix this problem. The house came pre-wired with all the doors and windows with reed sensors. Me being a techy and somewhat frugal I decided to roll my own security system to have fun with but also not have to pay monthly.
So, I bought my ST hub, an Arduino, the ThingShield, and box to put the wires and stuff in. I started learning all the code I need to get going, I mocked up my box I am putting everything in, and finally I started tracing out what wire goes to what door/window. I had always noticed this, but it never dawned on me until I was tracing everything out. Then it hit me, how the hell am I supposed to make this work??? (See pic).
Whoever wired the house, used flush mounted reed sensors for the windows, but they are mounted outside of the window on the side of the sill. What?! I think I need to just remove the sensor, pull the wire over to the window and use an externally mounted sensor, and then just fill in the hole and hide the wire as best as possible. Maybe notch the wood, lay the wire in the notch and fill it with putty and paint. I am just baffled as to what they were thinking when they installed these. I really don’t want to go wireless with the sensors since they cost so much. Anyone have any other ideas or know why it was installed this way?
I have not removed it yet, but I did put a toner on it and sure enough it made noise. Sadly, every window is wired this way. However, I’m glad I’m not the only one baffled with this.
The only thing i can think of is that this is some kind of termination plug, in preparation of the installation of a wired system. Only thing that will tell for sure is to remove it and try to identify it.
Yup that is a puzzle. I’d have to consider writing off the wired option. Maybe you could drill another hole in the window vertical channel and fish over to the existing wire at the weird sill location, but 1. you would need wire slack which is not assured and 2. no telling yet if there is any kind of void from the channel to the existing wire, and 3. could you add a magnet to the window without screwing it up? Channeling also seems like a mess of work.
Wireless does not seem so expensive looking at the previous options. It’s removable, moveable, reusable. No risk to the window hardware.
But fortune favors the bold. Good luck. Let us know what happens.
OK, well, it’s confession time. So lets just start with a little background.
When I bought the house, I was told it was wired, all doors and windows.
When the door-to-door salesman for ADT came along he pointed at the “sensor in my door” and said that it was ready to go.
I saw the “sensor” and just assumed that is what it was.
So the biggest question is, what is it? Well, I have the answer. (Sorry it took so long. I have been busy completing my project and will post it in a new thread.)
They took the wire and twisted it around these plugs, so I guess they are temporary plugs that hold the wire until/if you get a system installed.
So, case closed. We learned that I should not assume. My only excuse is that I was told that they were sensors, they look like sensors, and when I put my toner to them, I heard a tone. Must have a really sensitive toner. The good news is that I bought the appropriate sensors and now have it functioning. I will have my project written up shortly. Thanks for the comments and assistance. This is a great community.
