TIL a customer in Phoenix thought his motion sensor was haunted

I was doing a service call last week for a false alarm on a new install. The guy was convinced his living room sensor was triggering by itself at 3 AM. He said, 'It's the ghost of my old cat, I swear.' I checked the logs and saw it was a single zone trip every night. Turns out his fancy new floor lamp had a built-in heater that kicked on with his smart thermostat, and the heat plume was crossing the beam. Has anyone else seen a smart home gadget cause a false trip like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

susansingh14d ago

Sounds like my old toaster could have haunted a whole house.

jessej2314d ago

Unplug that thing for a full day, trust me. Sometimes the old electronics just need a hard reset to stop being weird.

the_rowan14d ago

@susansingh Old toasters absolutely have that creepy energy. They just sit there, full of crumbs and bad memories. Mine used to make a noise like a sad ghost when it popped. Some appliances are definitely past their expiration date and know it. You were right to get a new one.