Sorry, this just occurred to me - if the problem is the sensor not knowing that the door is closed, how come it always works when armed from the smartphone app? Wouldn't it still need the door to be closed?

Not if your force arming, ie omitting active circuits

I don't use the Risco unit but assume its force arming from the app

If the door contact is stuck in the closed position, why doesn't it time out after 30 seconds (or whatever the exit time is set to)? Does it only start counting from when the door is opened?

it's expecting to see you leave, ie open and close ur front door

Do you think it may be only doing a partial arm? Do you have more than 1 zone/partition setup? Perhaps when you arm through the panel it is only doing a partial arm and the smartphone app doesn't have that flexibility and arms everything? Have you tried on the remote? Check settings on arming or you could bypass that sensor and check you still get the message?

8 minutes ago, thereishope said:

Do you think it may be only doing a partial arm?

 

It's definitely doing a full arm - there's a separate partial arm button. 

 

If it is indeed a broken front door sensor, I don't understand why it always works when I get back home (I've never had it fail to go into entry mode). It's only once or twice a week, when leaving, that it stays permanently in exit mode. 

The last time the alarm was serviced (about a year ago) I raised this issue with the engineer. I just realised that I wrote down what he told me at the time:

 

Quote

He thinks it’s just the positioning of the sensor in the corner [the movement sensor above the door] that is having an effect.

 

If it sees you, the red light comes on for about 5 seconds, and then it goes inactive for 3 minutes. If you shut the door while the light is still red, it thinks someone is still in the house and doesn’t activate the alarm. Because our hall is so small and the keypad is right next to the door, what’s probably happening is that we are setting it and then immediately shutting the door before the sensor has time to deactivate. 

 

So solution is: look at the corner sensor when setting the alarm, and check it’s not still red when you shut the door.

 

 

At the time I accepted this, but now I'm not so sure. Our hallway isn't THAT small. Surely the alarm is designed so that it doesn't get confused between the motion sensor and the door sensor?

 

To prove that theory could you arm using the smart phone app while standing at the panel (wait to hear it is going into arm mode)?

1 minute ago, thereishope said:

To prove that theory could you arm using the smart phone app while standing at the panel (wait to hear it is going into arm mode)?

 

I've tested it listening through the letterbox to check that it arms with the smartphone app - it always does.

 

If I stayed inside next to the panel, would I set the alarm off when I moved? Or should the hall movement sensor put it into entry mode?

Yep that is the test or purpose - arm as if you were at the panel and see if it also has the issue. There should be a delay set to arm to allow you to exit. It may also be set to 0 (default 45 sec, range between 0 - 255secs)?

Edited May 6, 20169 yr by thereishope