Honeywell Wireless Sensors

stargazer

New Member
Anyone have experience with the Honeywell 5811/5814/5816/5820L sensors?  Having a hard time picking between them.  From what I can tell the 5811 seems like a decent compromise between all of them, but would like some input on this.
 
One of the doors I'd like to put a wireless sensor on is a metal door.  I'm assuming this won't work on that door?  Any suggestions for this?
 
Thanks!
 
I had 22 5816's throughout a 1800 SQ FT home with a centrally located RF keypad.  I had the system running for three years with no issues, replaced the batteries once probably a little early even.  One of the sensors was in the garage and another basically outside in the telco panel so wide range of conditions there with no issues.  I think the main difference between these obviously is the size, the 5816's are the biggest but they also can be found for the least amount of money, I think I paid about $15.00 per sensor off Ebay all new.  The size didn't bother me and most were hidden behind curtains etc.. For the metal door you could get a metal door wired contact and run that a short ways to a 5816 which has terminals for a wired zone on it.
 
Hope that helps a bit.
 
I think the 5811 is the best of the bunch unless you have a need to wire in a wired contact like cheezit73 mentioned. In that case, you would need 5816 or 5815.
 
The 5811 is roughly the same price as a 5816 and much smaller off the wall.
 
As for the metal door, if you use some thick foam tape (or even a custom spacer), the 5811 should still work on the metal door. Your spacer just has to be thick enough that the magnet or wireless transmitter won't be affected by the metal door or frame.
 
5811's are going to have the shortest battery life out of all of them. The 5814's have a poor tamper and circuit board/case design. The 5820's are about half the width of a 5816, so they're really only good for locations where the width is an issue.
 
The larger rule of thumb that many seem to disregard is the effect of slamming doors on transmitters. While it takes a little longer and more skill to install, hardwired contacts to a transmitter on a door are better than piling a ton of double stick tape or spacers on the door. The flip side is putting the transmitters on the trim to avoid this looks horrible.
 
For roll up door ,metal door I would recommend the wired overhead door contact, wish you can easily connect to the terminal of your 5816 sensor.
 
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