hugo37•1mo ago

That common sensor wire staple trick everyone uses is wrong

I was on a job in Portland last month and saw three different installers using those plastic staples to pin down 22/4 wire along baseboards. But if you look at the fine print on the staple box, they're rated for communication cable only, not security wire. I had a system start throwing random faults after 6 months because the staples were crushing the insulation just enough to cause intermittent shorts. Has anyone else run into false alarms from staple damage?

2 comments

2 Comments

sam_harris681mo ago

Three of my service calls last year ended up being exactly this problem. One was a church system where every single door contact on the south wing would go into trouble at 3 AM every other night. The homeowner had used those cheap white staples from Home Depot and sure enough, every one was digging into the jacket just enough to let moisture in. I really feel for you because it's one of those things that seems totally fine until it's not, and by then you've got hours of troubleshooting ahead of you. That intermittent short stuff is the absolute worst to track down in an existing install.

jennifer_fisher1mo ago

Oh wow, I have to jump in here with a small correction on one thing. The issue isn't exactly that the staples aren't rated for security wire. Most of those plastic staples actually are rated for low-voltage wiring in general, including 22/4 security wire, as long as you're using the right size for the cable diameter. The real problem is that people grab the multipurpose staples meant for phone lines or speaker wire, which are too narrow for 22/4. That's what causes the crushing. I've seen it happen with the wider "security wire" rated staples too if someone hammers them in too hard. Your mileage may vary, but in my experience if you use the correctly sized staple and don't whale on it with a hammer, they work fine for years. The trick is matching the staple width to the wire gauge, not just assuming any plastic staple will do.