Veteran installer told me to stop using screw terminals on glass break sensors

An old timer I met at a supply house in Austin told me to ditch screw terminals on glass breaks and go with soldered connections instead. I thought he was crazy until I had 3 callbacks in 2 months all because vibrations loosened the screws. Has anyone else switched to soldering and noticed fewer false alarms?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan54319d ago

Three callbacks in two months is rough, I feel your pain. I just swapped out 12 glass breaks at a local high school here in Phoenix, all screw terminals, and half of them had the same vibration issue you're describing. The thing nobody talks about is the metal fatigue on the actual sensor board trace when those screws wiggle loose and tighten back up over time. I started using a tiny dab of blue Loctite on the screw threads before cinching them down, and it's been night and day for reliability without the hassle of soldering each one.

fionam1119d ago

Heard a tech mention Loctite on sensor screws too, works great.

matthew37119d ago

Think about how many things in our lives rely on those tiny screws. It's the same with my kids' toy remotes, the legs on my kitchen chairs, even the hinge pins on my front door. Everything loosens up from vibration over time. A little dab of something to stop it before it starts saves you a headache later. Loctite is just the smarter way to do the same thing our grandpas did with a bit of tape or a second washer. You're just matching the solution to the problem before it becomes a bigger problem.