Contact Sensors Going Offline

Hey guys I have about 40 contact sensors and I’m frequently getting one or two going offline then some time later online, sometimes staying offline for hours or days.

What the heck is going on here?

2 Likes

Hey @Carrera997 , thanks for coming to us with your concerns. When these 2 Contact Sensors go offline, are they unresponsive and what do you usually have to do to reconnect them?

I always recommend checking the distance to the Base Station to ensure they are well within range.

I don’t have to do anything usually, they just magically come back online a few hours or days later. They’re unreachable from the Base and app during this time.

1 Like

It sounds like distance and interference could be a cause for this, given how it goes offline but then automatically reconnects later. If these two Contact Sensors are well within the range of your Base Station, I recommend removing them from the zwave network and readding them. Let me know if that does the trick!

1 Like

UPDATE: I reloctaed my Ring base from one end of the 50-ft long house to a more central location and things seem to be much more stable now. No more sensors on/offline.

Thanks guys

2 Likes

So, I have not had an issue until I arrived at our cabin and turned off the alarm. The sensor is very close to the base station. For some reason it just lost signal. The system is only a couple months old. I even replaced the battery. Still not luck. Any suggestions?

1 Like

My back door contact sensor with offline. I followed the confusing and inadequate instructions to remove the senosr. I tried multiple times but could not remove the sensor from my account. I tried about eight times to resolve this. I am thinking maybe it was a mistake to buy this Ring alarm sytem. UGH!

1 Like

Hey @Frustratedwithring. If you are having troubles removing the contact sensor from your system, you may have to do the option for Remove Failed Device instead of “Remove Device.” You will see both of these options under Advanced Options under the Contact Sensor’s settings, so try to do remove failed device to see if you can have it removed this way! If not, please be in touch with our support team here.

The key to successfully reconnecting, reconfiguring or removing a contact sensor that has lost connection is to PLACE IT NEXT TO THE BASE STATION. I had a sensor lose connection and tried everything. But when I called Ring Help, the first step that they told me was to take the sensor down and place it next to base station. Then removing the device worked exactly as described in the instructions.

Does the app notify you when a sensor goes offline?

1 Like

My sensor read door open when in fact the door is closed I have to bypass

Three of my six 2nd gen sensors do alert me when there is activity but i keep seeing a red alert on all three telling me that there is a weak connection to the base. These three sensors are no more than 25 feet away from the base station. I have reset the system, sensors and even moved the base closer to those three sensors but no luck. Ring tech support tells me that Z Wave sensors which these are take a couple of days to recognize the distance. I bought my system two days ago. I am not convinced that was a right explanation. Anyone else having this issue?

I am wondering the same thing. I opened and closed by back door,a nd it gave me no notifications, and yet in the app it looked like everything was working fine, the battery was green and so on.

Only when I pushed the button on the sensor did it suddenlty start working properly.

The app gave me no indication of a problem with communications.

Hi @stephend. As mentioned earlier in this thread, this could be due to interference with your z-wave signal. Try moving your Range Extender to a different location to see if that will cause your Contact Sensor to behave normally. It can take up to 24 hours for the signal path to update to an optimal path. If this doesn’t seem to improve the situation, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. We’re taking additional steps to protect our team and help reduce the spread of COVID-19, so this has resulted in longer than normal wait times. If you are outside of the US, please read our response to COVID-19 here to see how to contact support.

1 Like

The connection a Contact Sensor has to the Base Station will be the common explanation as to why a Contact Sensor is falling offline. Considering distance to the Base Station and how to decrease that if possible, as well as using the Alarm Range Extender are some great steps to take to avoid disconnection.

If this concern persists, resetting your Contact Sensor is a great step. Here is our Help Center article with a step by step guide to troubleshooting and resetting your Contact Sensor. You may also need to remove and re-add your sensor as explained in that article.

For further assistance with these steps, if needed, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. If you are outside of the US, please visit here to see how to contact support.

1 Like

Also happens to me, I have a range extender too… how do I fix this?