I used to think wireless sensors were a bad idea for any serious install, but a job in a 1920s house changed my mind.

Had a client in the historic district who refused to let me drill any new holes for a wired system. I was sure the wireless gear would be flaky, but we used a specific brand's mesh protocol and placed the panel centrally. It's been running for 6 months now with zero false alarms or dropouts. The client is thrilled, and I have to admit the tech is way more solid than it was a few years back. What's the oldest building you've had to work on where wireless was the only real option?

3 comments

3 Comments

miab1621d ago

Bring up the grounding issue nobody talks about... those old houses with knob and tube wiring can mess with wireless signal propagation in weird ways because of how the metal lath and plaster interacts with the radio waves. Had a job where a panel in the basement couldn't reach the attic unit until we moved it six inches away from a cast iron vent stack. The old materials create invisible dead zones that modern Ethernet runs never had to deal with.

the_lucas1mo ago

My grandma's 1890s farmhouse, actually.

hill.barbara1mo ago

What's the biggest surprise you've found living in a house that old, @the_lucas? Those old places can have some real hidden quirks. I'd be curious to hear what you've run into.