Wasted $280 on a 'smart' zone expander that bricked two panels

I bought one of those fancy wireless zone expanders about 4 months back, thinking it would cut my install time on a big house out in Beaverton. The thing cost me $280 and it worked for exactly 3 days before it started dropping zones every time the homeowner ran their microwave. I spent close to 9 hours over two trips chasing phantom faults, reprogramming the panel, and replacing a keypad that had nothing wrong with it. Turns out the firmware on that unit doesn't play nice with the older panels I run into on most retrofits, and the support line just kept telling me to update firmware I already had. I finally ripped it out and ran hardwired like I should have done from day one, and it has been rock solid for 5 weeks now. Hardwired zones don't lie to you and they don't care about your neighbor's wifi. So what wireless gear have you all actually had hold up, or am I right to just stop trusting it?

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wesley_martin20d ago

Ha, the firmware excuse is the oldest trick in the book and it never gets less annoying. Here is the thing though, that zone expander was probably doomed no matter what firmware you had, because the 2.4 gig band is a total free for all and a microwave will wreck anything sitting on it. I have had decent luck with hardwired zone boards that just use wireless for the keypad link, so the actual zones stay on copper and never see the interference.

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