Hardwired vs wireless sensors on that big Victorian house - I went hardwired and regretted it

Had this three story Victorian in Portland last fall, all thick plaster walls and no attic access. Ran 200 feet of wire through crawl spaces and still had a sensor fail in the parlor cause a rodent chewed through it. Would wireless have been less hassle or am I missing something with reliability?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_jones6d ago

Wait did you run cat6 or actual alarm wire through those walls? I'm curious if going wireless would've saved you from that rodent problem since those sensors still need power somehow. Were you able to fish wire down from the attic at all or was it completely blocked off by those old fire stops they used in victorians?

ellis.jennifer5d ago

Nah man, I gotta push back on this one hard. Wireless is such a trap for alarm systems, especially in old houses like these Victorians. You're trading one rodent problem for another set of headaches - battery dies in the middle of the night, interference from all the old plaster and lath, plus the signal drops when you're in a room with three layers of wallpaper and lead paint. I ran cat6 specifically because copper is bulletproof once it's in the wall, and those sensors can pull power right off the wire without any battery nonsense. The attic was a nightmare though, those old fire stops are basically solid wood planks between studs so I had to drill through each one with a long bit. Wireless might seem easier but you're just kicking the can down the road till you're crawling under the house replacing dead 9 volts at 2am.