Why Is My ADT Motion Sensor Blinking Red? Complete Fix!

Asking why is my ADT motion sensor blinking red? We have an answer for you!

The red light blinking on your ADT motion sensor isn’t something you will commonly come across.

In fact, red light blinking tends to occur under certain circumstances, within the runtime of your motion sensor.

Your ADT motion sensor will only blink in red whenever motion has been detected within 10 minutes of your sensor’s run time. In other words, if the sensor detects motion and it has been started up less than 10 minutes ago, it will blink in red.

However, there are more specifics to this problem and we will now review them before we get this problem solved.

Why Is My ADT Doorbell Blinking Red?

The meaning of the red light on your ADT doorbell is to give the users the opportunity to test the sensor before attaching it to the wall stand.

As we’ve already mentioned, the main and only cause for your ADT doorbell to blink in red is the test mode which allows the user to walk around and check if the sensor is functional.

When Does ADT Doorbell Enter Test Mode?

This mode of the ADT doorbell will only trigger whenever the device is powered on.

Hence, if you want to test the ADT doorbell during its other time running, you will have to reboot the device and benefit from your doorbell’s test mode.

How Long Does Test Mode Last?

The test mode on your ADT doorbell tends to only last for 10 minutes after which the device will start working as it generally uses to.

In that regard, you won’t be able to re-enter the test mode of your ADT doorbell without actively restarting the device and triggering the next 10 minutes.

What Is Test Mode Used For?

The question you’ve all been waiting for – what exactly is the test mode used for and how do you actually benefit from it?

Well, the answer is simple. The test mode, as the name suggests, is used to determine if the doorbell is functional and can detect motion.

Since reinstalling the doorbell from the wall stand takes a while, users will have the opportunity to test the doorbell in those 10 minutes before installing it on the wall stand.

How To Fix Whenever The ADT Doorbell Blinks Red?

Now that you know why is my ADT motion sensor blinking red, it’s time to learn how to overcome it, in case it appeared suddenly.

First, you will want to figure out whether the red blinking light keeps on flashing after 10 minutes have elapsed.

Let’s start with waiting for a little while to understand the problem better:

Method #1 Wait Out The 10 Minutes

As the method suggests, you will want to wait out the 10 minutes that the test mode is situated.

If you’ve just started your ADT motion sensor and 10 minutes haven’t even passed, wait out that interval of time to determine if the blinking will stop.

During this time, you might also test if your doorbell is functional and put the test mode into actual use.

If you want to determine if the ATD doorbell’s movement sensor is still functional, you can move across the sight of the device and check if the red light will stop for a second.

The red light of the doorbell sensor will stop for a part of a second, indicating the movement was detected.

This is when you want to install the ADT doorbell and put the device into use.

Note: After the 10 minutes of testing time that your ADT doorbell has, the red blinking should stop.

Method #2 Power Cycle The Device

If the blinking doesn’t stop, you will want to put something else into use. In such a case, we recommend power cycling the ADT doorbell.

That will completely power-circulate the device which should immediately solve the blinking red light.

Here’s how to power cycle the doorbell in easy steps:

1. If you’ve already installed the doorbell, take it off the wall.
2. Remove the bottom cover of the doorbell.
3. Expose the battery pack.
4. Remove the battery pack.
5. Wait for 5 minutes until the doorbell gets completely discharged.
6. Re-attach the battery pack back inside the doorbell.
7. Test.

Note: Ensure that you insert the battery pack correctly inside of your ADT doorbell.

Method #3 Charge ADT Doorbell

If the power cycle couldn’t help solve the problem, you will want to recharge the battery pack that is inside of your doorbell.

User reports state that the red light blinking may also occur due to the fact that the battery is about to end, but in most cases whenever that’s happening, the doorbell will shut down.

To recharge the ADT doorbell’s battery pack, you will need a micro USB cable that you will insert into the battery pack.

The charging of the doorbell will take on average an hour or two, during which you will want not to disrupt the charging process.

We’ve already gotten you familiar with how to take the battery pack out of the doorbell, so we won’t mention it any further. Let the battery pack charge for around 2 hours and re-insert it into the doorbell.

Note: Alternatively, you can either replace the USB micro cable or plug the adapter into another source.

Method #4 Reset The ADT Doorbell

If nothing seems to be working so far, you will want to perform a reset on the ADT doorbell.

That can happen through the ADT application or website login and involves deleting and then adding the doorbell to your system. That should definitely solve the problem with the blinking red light.

Here’s how to reset your ADT doorbell with easy instructions:

1. Either access the ADT app if it’s installed on your phone or go to the website login.
2. Write your ADT registration credentials.
3. Tap on login.
4. Wait for your ADT doorbell to be displayed on the home screen.
5. Choose the doorbell and wait to be sent to the devices tab.
6. Access the settings configuration for the doorbell.
7. Tap on Remove.
8. Next, hold the button on the bottom panel of your doorbell.
9. Hold down to the button for 80 seconds.
10. Re-add your doorbell following the instructions in the app or website.

Note: Keep in mind that this type of reset will result in a loss of all software configurations made to the doorbell so far.

Your ADT doorbell is blinking in red due to the activation of the test mode in its first 10 minutes of run time. The doorbell tends to also blink in red if it’s running dangerously low on battery so make sure to perform a full charge.

Read Next: How to Fix ADT Door Sensor Not Working?

Bottom Line:

After learning why is my ADT motion sensor blinking red, we hope the issue is solved for you now.

The test mode’s red light is nothing really that needs fixing, instead just wait out for 10 minutes. Additionally, charging the doorbell, in either case, gets the problem fixed.

If you find this post helpful, make sure to check our blog for even more solutions to solve your smart home device’s issues.