Total Connect 2.0 Disables Sensor Activity for Motion Sensors

Resideo (formerly Honeywell) has made a change to Total Connect 2.0 that now prevents Sensor Activity for motion sensors from being displayed in the Activity Log. The purpose of this change is to prevent the TC2 Activity Log from being flooded with "Sensor Open" events from motions.

If you aren't aware, the Activity Log on Total Connect 2.0 shows various activity affecting a Honeywell Security System. This includes sensor open and close events. Previously, motion sensor activity (namely, the sensor detecting movement) could be displayed in this Activity Log. However, Resideo found that many users had setup activity logs for motion zones without realizing what the feature really did. They were therefore flooding their TC2 Activity with "Sensor Open" and "Sensor Close" events as they walked around their property in the disarmed state.

To curb this issue, Resideo has disabled the Sensor Activity toggle switch on Total Connect 2.0 for all motion detection sensors with the Response Type of Interior Follower. This makes it impossible to enable Sensor Activity logging for motion sensors with the Interior Follower Response Type, meaning that motion sensor activity will no longer be displayed in the activity log. In addition, the sensor will not be displayed on the TC2 security card when faulted. The user must access the Sensors List to see the faulted motion sensor zone.

Most users will likely not mind this, as they wouldn't want to have the activity logs for their systems constantly being flooded with motion sensor activity. And fortunately, there are a couple of workarounds for this issue if you do want to be alerted regarding motion sensor activity on a particular sensor. Arguably the easiest solution is to change the Response Type for a motion sensor from Interior Follower to Interior w/ Delay.

The similar Response Type of Interior w/ Delay does not have the same restriction regarding Activity Logs as Interior Follower. The only major change with Interior w/ Delay is that it will always trigger an Entry Delay countdown, rather than an immediate alarm if the motion sensor is the first zone faulted while the system is in an Armed Away state. For more information on Honeywell System Response Types, please see this helpful FAQ.

Another option if you just want to be notified regarding sensor activity is to manually create a notification for the Interior Follower Motion Sensor within Total Connect 2.0. Luckily, we recently made an FAQ that outlines this very process. It will teach you all about text and email notifications for Total Connect 2.0. If you want to take a look, you can check it out here. We also recommend checking out this other guide that is more specific to Sensor Open/Close and Sensor Left Open Notifications.

If you are an Alarm Grid monitored customer and you need any additional help setting up your motion sensor for alerts, please reach out to us by emailing support@alarmgrid.com. We check our email from 9am to 8pm ET M-F. We look forward to hearing from you!