Replace wired contact with wireless

I found one of my zones hardwired contacts are faulty.  Somewhere in the wall likely someone (sheetrockers?) may have cut it, maybe it was me.  
 
Is there a simple wireless-to-wired solution I can replace this zone with?    All the other hardwired zones are fine, it's just this one zone, and Murphy's law is the zone where I have the least amount of access to replace the wire.   One zone, I'd rather not spend a lot of money on complex modules for a single zone.   If there was a way to convert a wireless to hardwired contact back at the panel it would solve my problem.
 
And is there a simple troubleshooting method to test the wire?  I'm assuming I'm screwed on the hardwire and can't fix it.
 
--Russ

What kind of alarm system do you have?

Bzncrewjr said:

I found one of my zones hardwired contacts are faulty.  Somewhere in the wall likely someone (sheetrockers?) may have cut it, maybe it was me.  
 
Is there a simple wireless-to-wired solution I can replace this zone with?    All the other hardwired zones are fine, it's just this one zone, and Murphy's law is the zone where I have the least amount of access to replace the wire.   One zone, I'd rather not spend a lot of money on complex modules for a single zone.   If there was a way to convert a wireless to hardwired contact back at the panel it would solve my problem.
 
And is there a simple troubleshooting method to test the wire?  I'm assuming I'm screwed on the hardwire and can't fix it.
 
--Russ

Click to expand...

 
 
I don't know of any cheap and simple ways to convert a zone to wireless other than installing a wireless receiver module for your panel along with a corresponding wireless transmitter.
 
A TDR meter would be able to give you an indication of where the fault is along the cable.  If you can locate the fault with some precision, opening the wall to repair it might not be too painful.  Unfortunately, TDR meters are on the expensive side. 
 
Have you pulled the contact to make sure it is not a contact problem rather than the wiring?

A quick test that you can do is to remove the sensor and put a resistor across the two zone wires. The 2.2k resistor that comes with the elk will do fine. Then go to the M1, remove the zone wires from the panel and measure the resistance across the wires.
 
Mike.

Or even before removing the sensor you could just check continuity at the panel while opening and closing the sensor.
 
Mike.

I have an Omni panel.    I tested the wires coming into the panel and get no continuity when I shorted the wires at the door switch.   So I assume something has gone sideways between the two.

RAL said:

I don't know of any cheap and simple ways to convert a zone to wireless other than installing a wireless receiver module for your panel along with a corresponding wireless transmitter.
 
A TDR meter would be able to give you an indication of where the fault is along the cable.  If you can locate the fault with some precision, opening the wall to repair it might not be too painful.  Unfortunately, TDR meters are on the expensive side. 
 
Have you pulled the contact to make sure it is not a contact problem rather than the wiring?

Click to expand...

 
 
That's a very cool tool.   Not sure I can justify buying it for one circuit.    
I pulled the contacts and shorted them, then measured at the panel and it's an open circuit.   
 
Against recommendations on this forum, I wired a door and window sensor in a series.   They were soldered, but I probably screwed up something.   My kind of luck.   I used 4 wires and instead of being smart and actually USING all 4 wires, I only used 1 pair.   So I'm fearing I messed up the pairs that are now buried in the wall.   If I messed up the pairs then I've got a dead end inside the wall someplace.
 
I suppose I could test the wires BETWEEN contacts to see where it's broken.   Maybe if between I could run some ugly surface wire or get creative somehow else.
 
And Murphy's law, these are on a concrete slab where there is no attic access.  Worst room in the house for a wire fault.
 
My hope was that someone makes a wireless contact switch that terminates to a dry contact for people like me.
 
 
--Russ

Maybe if between I could run some ugly surface wire or get creative somehow else.
 
Here my two garage door opener buttons had the wires exposed / tacked down near the garage entrance to the house.
 
I hadn't painted yet and couldn't fit the wires under the door frame.  I just cut a V in to the drywall; flipping it open on one side. 
 
Used a dry wall razor to clean it out a bit.  Put both wires in the groove, put the drywall flap in place with glue then a light coat of mud and paint.
 
You cannot see the wires today such that the two garage door openers look wireless.

Bzncrewjr said:

   I used 4 wires and instead of being smart and actually USING all 4 wires, I only used 1 pair.   So I'm fearing I messed up the pairs that are now buried in the wall.   If I messed up the pairs then I've got a dead end inside the wall someplace.

Click to expand...

 
Is it possible that two of the four wires do have continuity and you are using the wrong pair? Any two will do as long as they make the entire trip from sensor to panel.

I've hidden wires by removing a baseboard and fitting them behind it. Maybe even carve the wallboard a little.

Brilliant!  
That's the kind of creative stuff I'm talking about.   The garage door installers couldn't find the pre-installed wires to the button on the wall.  I don't think they looked very hard.  So they surfaced wired one of the door openers. I let it go because it was the garage and I don't really care about aesthetics there.   I like this idea.  The garage is painted now.  Too late to try it.
 
Unfortunately, this is the one room (faulty circuit) where Murphy really beat me.  The walls in this room are duraplex and cost $4,500 to paint.   I don't even know how one patches this stuff.  It has a suede-like pattern and looks like plaster.  Of course the ONLY room we used this stuff in.  
 
I got to thinking, one side has a crawl space.  Maybe I could pull a wire up from there.   The floor joists are sunken flush with the foundation, so there ain't much room.  Again, gotta get creative. 
 
--Russ
 
 

pete_c said:

Maybe if between I could run some ugly surface wire or get creative somehow else.
 
Here my two garage door opener buttons had the wires exposed / tacked down near the garage entrance to the house.
 
I hadn't painted yet and couldn't fit the wires under the door frame.  I just cut a V in to the drywall; flipping it open on one side. 
 
Used a dry wall razor to clean it out a bit.  Put both wires in the groove, put the drywall flap in place with glue then a light coat of mud and paint.
 
You cannot see the wires today such that the two garage door openers look wireless.

Click to expand...

When you pull the contacts, is there enough slack in the wire so that you can get to the soldered connections to the cable?  If so, it's worth checking to see that you used the correct pair of wires at all points.

If the wire isn't shorted or grounded, a toner would be what I'd use to find where the cable goes south....or at least get an idea where it is.
 
TDR's are great, but unless you know the wire path exactly and can get +/- 10' or so usually, it's not a tool for inside wiring many times.
 
If there's only a device or two, a universal RF receiver and transmitter combo can be added on. The big thing is make sure the device is supervised for tamper and low battery.

Visonic makes a wireless receiver that can be used with their wireless door contacts and motions. Base model is 4 channels and can be expanded. Has tamper and battery supervision, although you would need to add those as additional zone inputs, as they are additional digital outputs. It may be a little older technology, but still works well.

I do have a toner, so I might use that to do some troubleshooting.  It helped me find two buried wires the trim guys hid on me.  
 
The soldered connections are deep in the wall.  Outside wall where they sprayed on foam insulation.  They are inaccessible and buried deep in foam insulation.
 
However, pulling the wires out to the extra pair might at least allow me to use the OTHER pair back to the panel.   The wire runs from panel to the slider door first.   Then it chained to the window.   The slider door is one my most concerning entry points to alarm.  
So, with that I just got an idea.   If I can salvage a pair, can I install a motion detector to cover the entire room.  Or does that need 2 pairs.  And would our cats trigger the motion detector. 
 
--Russ