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Pro tip: Stop putting wireless sensors in metal junction boxes
I was at a job last Tuesday and saw 3 different guys from another company doing it. They were mounting wireless door sensors right inside steel electrical boxes because it looked clean. Then they couldn't figure out why they kept getting intermittent faults. I had to show them a 12 foot range test with the sensor outside the box versus only 3 feet inside. Has anyone else run into this lately or am I the only one seeing it?
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michael6931mo ago
Wait, are you telling me I don't need to wrap my sensors in tinfoil and hope for the best? Man, I feel personally attacked by this post because I did this exact thing about six months ago. I was so proud of my clean install with a metal box and a wireless sensor, and then I spent two hours troubleshooting why it kept dropping signal. I felt like a real genius when I finally realized the metal box was basically a faraday cage. I guess some of us have to learn the hard way, and I'm definitely one of them.
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iris_mason886d agoMost Upvoted
Personally attacked" is a strong term for a learning moment but you're not wrong about that box.
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simonmoore1mo ago
And honestly, the faraday cage thing is even worse than people think because it's not just about losing range - it's about the signal getting distorted too. I've seen setups where the sensor still technically connects but it sends garbage data like false triggers or missed events because the radio waves are bouncing around inside that metal box all messed up. What gets me is that these clean installs (and I get why people want them) end up causing more problems than a messy visible sensor ever would. Some folks act like a little gap or a plastic faceplate will fix it, but nope - the whole box acts as one big antenna killer. If you absolutely have to use a metal box, you're better off drilling a hole and running the sensor wire to a remote antenna outside of it. Or just use plastic boxes, which are like three bucks more and save you all that headache.
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