Question about a customer who insisted on a wireless system in a concrete building

Had a job last month in a high rise downtown where the guy wanted a wireless alarm. I warned him about signal issues with all that concrete but he said his neighbor had one that worked fine. We installed it and sure enough the sensors kept dropping out on the 12th floor. Ended up having to run wires to the main panel anyway. Anyone else run into this kind of pushback from clients who think wireless always works?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah1356d ago

12th floor concrete is basically a signal graveyard.

allen.amy6d agoTop Commenter

Ha, yeah but it's not just the concrete. It's the steel rebar inside that turns the whole floor into a Faraday cage. I've measured it myself - you can literally drop from full bars by the elevator to nothing once you step onto the 12th floor hallway. The rebar spacing is usually around 6 inches apart in those slabs, which is exactly the wavelength range for 4G and 5G signals. They bounce off it like a microwave oven wall.