Getting Help
The Ting Team is happy to help. You can email us at help@whiskerlabs.com or if you have downloaded the app and installed Ting, you can find more info in Menu > Help.
Certifications
Yes. Our Ting sensor has been rigorously tested with the following important industry safety certifications:
- UL Certified*, United States & Canada
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Approved
*The Ting sensor has been investigated with respect to risk of fire, shock and injury to persons.
UL does not investigate Ting's efficacy or performance.
Safety Education
Electrical fires are typically caused by damaged and/or loose wires, or faulty appliances or devices. These hazards can be insidious and often hidden from view inside of walls and ceilings, and these fires can start in the middle of the night or when nobody is home. Electrical fires are often the most devastating type of house fire. Click here to learn more. You can also learn more here with our first of several Education Series videos.
A recent report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) highlighted staggering facts related to home electrical fires:
- Arcing was the heat source in approximately three of five home fires involving an electrical failure or malfunction
- Fires involving electrical failures or malfunctions accounted for the highest share of civilian deaths (18%) and direct property damage (20%)
- Approximately one-quarter (24%) of these fires occurred between midnight and 8 a.m., but these fires accounted for 60% of deaths.
- This report can be found here.
How Ting Works
Electrical fires are often the most devastating type of house fire. Ting monitors your electrical network for the main precursors to electrical fires, micro-arcs, and sparks that develop in faulty wires, loose connections, and faulty appliances or devices. These signals usually develop over weeks and months, so Ting is designed to provide you with advanced warnings to address these hazards, prior to the hazard starting an electrical fire. Learn more here.
The Ting service includes a Ting sensor, which is a fully DIY install (only takes 2 minutes to install), a free mobile app, ongoing home monitoring and notifications about the health of your home for the term of the license. Included in the service is a $1,000 credit which will be applied toward the identification and repair of an electrical fire hazard detected by Ting.
Yes. The first year of service is included in the initial cost. Each year thereafter $99 retail for each sensor. You can see if your home is one of the relatively few that require more than one sensor here.
We've designed the service so you don't have to worry about any other incremental costs - no special batteries (Ting does not require batteries) or other extraneous service charges.
Plus, as long as your subscription is active, there is no cost to replace the Ting sensor should it ever fail.
The $1,000 credit can only be applied to the mitigation of electrical fire hazards identified by Ting, when you are proactively notified by the Ting service of a potential hazard. This credit cannot be used for general electrical work that you would like to have completed in your home. Please click here for detailed terms and conditions.
No. Ting is exclusively designed as a 24x7 monitoring service for your home's electrical system, with the Ting sensor at the heart of the service. The Ting sensor/app is not sold as a stand-alone device.
If an electrical fire hazard is detected by Ting, the Ting Support Team will contact you to coordinate a plan to identify the problem and mitigate the risk. In most cases, the risk is not imminent. Depending on the characteristics of the electrical fire hazard detected, an electrician may be dispatched to repair the hazard. You will be provided a $1,000 credit toward the electrician's service for the identification and repair of the electrical fire hazard identified by Ting.
Yes, your home absolutely requires smoke detectors. Ting helps prevent electrical fires from starting in the first place; Ting does not alert you when a fire in the home is present. Fires can be started by many other means and it is very important that you always have working smoke detectors.
The heart of the Ting service is the super-smart sensor. Ting monitors your home's power quality and provides real-time notifications of power outages, power surges, and brownouts that could cause damage to appliances and electronics in your home. Ting also provides real-time warnings for severe weather that could impact your home.
No. Ting does not function the same as a smoke detector. Ting does not detect the presence of an active fire. Ting monitors your electrical network for the main precursors to electrical fires, micro-arcs, and sparks that develop in faulty wires, loose connections, and faulty devices or appliances. These signals usually develop over weeks and months, so Ting is designed to provide you with advance warnings to address these hazards, prior to the hazard starting a fire.
If there are signs of an active fire in your home and/or your smoke detectors are alarming, please exit your home to safety and dial 911 immediately for assistance.
No. The service does not turn off power to your electrical system. If an electrical fire hazard is detected by Ting, the Ting Service Team will contact the homeowner to review a plan to identify the problem and mitigate the risk.
No. Typically, there is a small arc or spark created when you plug in any device or appliance or flip a light switch. These arcs are normal and typically not hazardous. Ting can differentiate between normal, safe arcs and hazardous arcs. You may also see arcing in things like old drill motors. These arcs are detected by Ting, but Ting knows they are not hazardous.
No. Ting does not provide auditory or visual alerts. If the Ting service detects a potential hazard the homeowner will be notified via app notification, text, email, and/or telephone.
No. A breaker typically trips when there is a "short" or overload condition in a circuit's wiring. This is why you have circuit breakers to provide for safety in these situations. Ting is not designed to detect short circuits which can cause breakers to trip.
No. Ting is designed to be a long-term monitoring solution for the life of your home. Whether your home is old or new, electrical hazards can develop at any time from age, use, wear, deterioration, vibration, DIY projects, water leaks, and so on. Many hazards develop slowly over time. By keeping Ting installed you are allowing your electrical network to be monitored for any hazards that may appear over time. It is like having an electrician on duty 24x7x365.
No. The Ting sensor is not powered by a battery, nor does it require a backup battery. Rather, the Ting sensor is plugged into a grounded outlet for power.
Should power be lost to your home, the Ting sensor will not function - but will resume functioning once power is restored, and will reconnect to your Wi-Fi once your router powers up.
Naturally, with no power in the home, there is no need for electrical fire hazard detection.
The Ting sensor does not have a backup battery to supply power. If there is a power or internet outage in your home, the service will not function. Typically, Ting is able to provide a notification that a power outage has happened before Ting loses power.
Naturally, with no power in the home, there is no need for electrical fire hazard detection.
No. Ting does not measure power or energy consumption in the home. The Ting sensor measures voltage to monitor your electrical network for electrical fire hazards. Voltage measurements can also be used to monitor key appliances in the home, like your HVAC, to provide usage information and predict faults.
Hazard / Fault Detection
Ting monitors the entire electrical system of your home, not just the outlet the sensor is plugged into - or the circuit it is on. Once plugged in and installed, Ting detects hazardous arcing on all home circuits regardless of voltage - 120V or 240V.
Note: The majority of homes have a single main electrical panel - one Ting is sufficient in these situations, even if a subpanel is also present in the same physical structure (in other words, the subpanel is not in a barn, shed or detached garage).
However, for homes that have more than one main electric breaker panel (i.e., has its own separate feed from the electric meter or utility) one Ting is required for each main electric breaker panel. As well, if a sub-panel is installed in a detached or remote building a separate Ting will be required for that building (i.e. barn, shed, detached garage).
Please click here to confirm how many Tings are needed for your home.
No. The Ting Service is intended to detect micro-arcs and anomalies in an electrical circuit that may present an electrical fire hazard. These micro-arcs and anomalies tend to occur intermittently and grow in magnitude and frequency with time, but will not necessarily trip your home's circuit breakers. Electricity is a complex phenomenon and the Ting service cannot detect all potential electrical fire hazards. No guarantee is made that the service will warn against all potential hazards posed by electrical systems.
Ting is designed to detect the main precursors to electrical fires, namely micro-arcs, and sparks that develop in faulty wires and devices. Ting does not detect all potential electrical hazards or problems, such as a non-working outlet or switch or switches, or "shorts" which could cause circuit breakers to trip (that is, "turn off").
No. Ting helps prevent electrical fires but will not detect or prevent fires started by other means, such as most kitchen fires, battery fires, fires caused by smoking, or fires caused by candles or wildfires.
Ting will also not prevent all possible electrical fires. For example, if an outlet or power strip is overloaded to the point that it overheats to start a fire, it is unlikely that Ting will detect this situation. Your home electrical panel circuit breakers are designed to trip (that is, turn off) in this type of overload condition.
It depends. Flickering lights can be due to a number of causes.
Generally, flickering lights are an indication of a potential problem. Sometimes flickering lights are caused by a damaged wire or loose connection, or a loose bulb, which Ting will often detect as this could be an electrical fire hazard.
Sometimes, lights can flicker when the power to your home provided by your electricity provider (also referred to as 'utility') is of poor quality, or when large appliances turn on (like your HVAC). In these cases, depending on the severity of the power quality problem, you may receive a power quality notification (with brownout being the most likely indication).
In any case, if your home is experiencing flickering lights, you should address it as a potential problem. Feel free to contact the Ting Support Team at help@whiskerlabs.com.
Click here to learn more about common signs of electrical problems.
No. Home surge protection installed at the main electrical panel will not impact the operation of Ting.
Installation
You'll need a Ting Sensor and Ting app, and a suitable outlet identified.
- Download the Whisker Labs Ting Sensor app from the Google Play Store or App Store to your smartphone.
- When you launch the app, you'll be presented with instructions that will guide you through the process. It takes just a couple of minutes.
- Be sure to have a suitable outlet in mind before you begin the installation process.
Ting is a very easy and quick installation. Before you begin, be sure that:
- Location: You have located a suitable power outlet for Ting.
- Wi-Fi: You have your Wi-Fi password handy
- Smart Phone/Tablet:
- Location services are enabled.
NOTE: for users installing the Ting Sensor app on an Android phone, select the "High Accuracy" setting when enabling location services. - Bluetooth is enabled
- Location services are enabled.
Please first review the following guidelines to ensure proper operation of your Ting sensor:
- Ting must be plugged directly into a normal 120V outlet. Do not install Ting on a power strip, smart plug or switched outlet (an outlet that is controlled by a wall switch).
- Ting is best installed in an empty wall outlet in a lesser-used part of your home.
- Avoid plugging Ting into a kitchen outlet, your main living space or rooms filled with appliances and electronic devices.
- Do not install in your garage, outdoors, or in any unconditioned environment.
For the majority of homes, one Ting is sufficient. However, for homes that have more than one main electric breaker panel (i.e., has its own separate feed from the electric meter or utility) one Ting is required for each main electric breaker panel. If homes have sub-panels that are located within a single physical structure and connected to a single main electric breaker panel, one Ting is enough. If a sub-panel is installed in a detached or remote building a separate Ting will be required for that building (i.e. barn, shed, detached garage). Please click here to confirm how many Tings are needed for your home.
Yes. The Ting app supports viewing the Ting service for multiple homes. Data can be viewed in the app from each location and notifications will be delivered from all locations. Examples include a vacation home, rental home or the home of other family members living independently, such as seniors.
Not usually. A standard 3-pronged outlet is required for Ting.
No. Ting can typically monitor the entire electrical network of your home from one outlet. There is no need to move Ting once it has been installed unless instructed to do so by the Ting Support Team, or if your Wi-Fi signal proves to be unreliable in that location.
If your house has more than one main breaker panel, you may require more than one Ting. You can check here to see if you might need more than one Ting for your home.
Ting is a long-term monitoring solution and is solely intended to remain in the original home in which it was installed, as all service terms and conditions apply to the original home in which Ting was installed (if you are moving, see below about transferring your Ting service to your new home).
Additionally, electrical hazards can develop at any time and most often take long periods of time to develop. If you move your Ting, your home will no longer be protected from potential electrical fires. By keeping Ting installed, you are allowing your electrical network to be monitored for any hazards that may appear over time. It's like having an electrician on duty 24x7x365.
We recommend you purchase another Ting for any additional home and recommend friends and family get Ting specifically for their homes. Let's work together to eliminate these devastating fires from all homes. You can simply click here to buy from our online store.
Absolutely. We'll work with you to make the required changes to your account. Just let us know by emailing us at help@whiskerlabs.com.
Suitability
Fuses are not necessarily a problem. Ting must to be plugged into a 3-prong grounded outlet, which is most likely to be available in the newer part of the home with breakers and not fuses.
Yes, Ting is compatible with all types of electrical wiring.
Your Ting sensor and service are fully compatible with solar power systems that may be integrated into your home. Ting’s performance is not negatively affected by the presence of solar power systems, whether grid inter-tied, grid inter-tied with battery backup, or off-grid.
Solar-powered homes require more complex wiring and involve additional components that are connected to your home's main wiring. Ting will effectively monitor many potential problems that could arise in solar-powered homes.
Your Ting sensor and service are compatible with - and not impacted by - DC systems such as alarm systems, doorbells, routers, and other low voltage systems.
Ting detects electrical arcing that is often a precursor to an electrical fire. Such arcing is more likely to occur at high voltages on the AC side of transformers that produce DC power for the aforementioned items. Ting has detected fire hazards in DC transformers in several homes and has prevented the potential fires that could have resulted from these hazards.
Yes. Ting can be installed in apartments and condominiums, as long as the power delivered to the unit is single phase, or split phase power.
Ting is currently designed to work in locations that have single phase/split phase power. So, residential and small-to-medium business locations are perfect locations for Ting to be installed. In the future, Ting will be designed to work in larger commercial buildings that have three phase power.
Today, Ting is designed to work in North America. In the future, Ting will be designed to work in countries outside of North America.
Wi-Fi
Not usually. Ting must be installed in an area of your home where Wi-Fi is present. Like other IoT devices, the Ting app will guide you and show you how to connect your Ting to your Wi-Fi network. Ting is compatible with 2.4 GHz wireless connections.
For all that Ting does, not much. Ting consumes 80MB of data per day while monitoring your home for electrical fire hazards and monitoring the health of your electrical network. This is a tiny fraction of the bandwidth used to watch a movie online, and far less than a typical home security camera.
Yes, you can move your Ting sensor to a different location if you are having Wi-Fi coverage issues at the original installation location. Just unplug the Ting sensor, and plug it into the new outlet. It will power up and connect to Wi-Fi. No other action or step is needed.
As covered in the FAQ section Installation, when choosing a different outlet, please first review the following guidelines to ensure proper operation of your Ting sensor:
- Ting must be plugged directly into a normal 120V outlet. Do not install Ting on a power strip, smart plug or switched outlet (an outlet that is controlled by a wall switch).
- Ting is best installed in an empty wall outlet in a lesser-used part of your home.
- Avoid plugging Ting into a kitchen outlet, your main living space or rooms filled with appliances and electronic devices.
- Do not install in your garage, outdoors, or in any unconditioned environment.
To reset Ting, please follow the 2 steps below:
STEP 1: Reset the Ting Wi-Fi.
NOTE: Ting must be plugged in and be powered to successfully perform the reset.
- Find the small hole located at the bottom or left side of Ting.
- Place a paperclip in the hole and press for two seconds until you see the LED light on Ting change to white.
- You can remove the paperclip once the light changes to white. The light on Ting will flash for a few seconds and ultimately turn blue. Blue indicates Ting is in Bluetooth mode and ready to be installed and paired to Wi-Fi.
STEP 2: Install Ting using the Ting App.
- Go to Menu
- Click on "+ Add Ting"
- Follow the App instructions to complete the install
To reset Ting, please follow the 2 steps below:
STEP 1: Reset the Ting Wi-Fi.
NOTE: Ting must be plugged in and be powered to successfully perform the reset.
- Find the small hole located at the bottom or left side of Ting.
- Place a paperclip in the hole and press for two seconds until you see the LED light on Ting change to white.
- You can remove the paperclip once the light changes to white. The light on Ting will flash for a few seconds and ultimately turn blue. Blue indicates Ting is in Bluetooth mode and ready to be installed and paired to Wi-Fi.
STEP 2: Install Ting using the Ting App.
- Go to Menu
- Click on "+ Add Ting"
- Follow the App instructions to complete the install
Ting App
This feature is coming soon.
Notifications must be enabled on your phone for the Ting App to receive push notifications. This is typically is enabled in the "Settings" area of your smartphone.
Security
Your privacy is paramount. As is your security. And naturally, they go hand in hand. We’re proud to say your privacy and Ting’s security are incorporated by design. More information on Ting security is below. And as always, you can review our privacy policy here.
Security threats are always evolving and changing. We’re poised to stay one step ahead. We’ll update this information as needed.
Don't see what you are looking for in this section? Ask away - Click here to submit your question.
The Ting sensor does not have microphones, cameras, motion detectors, speakers or other sensors that collect information about you or your home.
Ting quietly focuses on what matters most – analyzing your home’s electrical health through complex signal processing. Oh, well there actually is one other sensor - an internal temperature sensor on your Ting sensor’s ‘circuit board’ that we monitor - just as your smartphone or home computer have a temperature sensor to monitor their operating temperatures.
No. Ting is never used to track the location of your smartphone. This is true even if you happen to leave location services on after you install Ting.
Importantly, the location where Ting is installed is relevant to the Ting Service; in contrast, the location your smartphone with the Ting Sensor app is not.
Location information is only checked once from your smartphone at the time of installation to validate the home location where Ting Service is being provided - and to ensure future severe weather alerts affecting the home location are accurate. (for more on how to turn location services off an on, click here.)
Whisker Labs does not check, consume or otherwise utilize location data from your smartphone once installation is complete.
To be clear, this is a ‘one-time’ location verification required for Ting service activation.
No, there is nothing to 'take over'. This aspect of Ting is really simple, but really important, especially if you’ve read about hackers taking over home cameras and smart devices.
Ting is designed to be different. Unlike those other devices, there are no control features or options in your Ting app that can be used to configure, change, turn off/on, or otherwise govern your Ting sensor.
Additionally, there is no online web access to your account. Unlike those monitors and cameras in the news, once the Ting installation process is complete, there is zero communication between the Ting sensor and the user's Ting app on their smartphone, and no web account to take over.
Here's the great news - unlike other smart home devices, you never have to worry about updating your sensor's firmware.
When you install Ting, the sensor will automatically update its firmware in case we published a more recent version after your sensor was packaged in its retail box.
When we deploy new Ting features, performance updates, or even required security patches to your sensor's firmware, we utilize a fully secure method - remotely conducting these 'software updates' to minimize any security threats - and, so you never have to think about it.
NO, we don't. Security is a shared responsibility. But we go a bit further than most.
We assume that most homeowners are NOT network experts. In turn, we assume your WiFi may not be as secure as you might like; there are differing levels of security and access control that can be set up on a Wi-Fi network.
To be clear, we absolutely require a secure WiFi connection for your Ting Sensor on your network to support communications. But when it comes to wireless communications to support your Ting service, we know that the specific security configuration you have employed for your home network may not be the strongest, and that’s OK. We've got you covered, see this question for specifics.
Continuing from the above question, all data communications use strong encryption. What does this mean?
It means even if your Wi-Fi network security is not the strongest available, and/or you are not using a virtual private network (VPN) solution for your connected smart home devices, the 'data packets' sent between your Ting sensor and our Ting servers, and between our Ting servers and your Ting app, are fully secure.
This means the data is not 'out in the open' for someone who might be 'sniffing' the local Wi-Fi network to see what they can glean.
We take trust between 'end points' seriously. Encrypting data is fine, but establishing trust before sending any data to or between points (commonly referred to as ‘end points’) is incredibly important.
Any and all data communications are allowed only through high-trust connections. For instance, the voltage information you see in your app travels from your Ting sensor to our Ting servers over the internet, then from our Ting servers to your app, again, over the internet.
This flow can only occur with trusted ‘endpoints’ - your sensor, your phone, and our servers.
This also means that we make it really hard for hackers to ‘masquerade’ as a Ting server or your Ting app and masquerading as a trusted endpoint.
[For more technical audiences, we've designed Ting to make it really hard for a hacker to conduct a ‘Man in the middle’ or code injection attack to falsify, suppress or redirect Ting signals or communications; and there is no 'backdoor' access to your home network via the Ting sensor.]
Yes. In fact, it is required, not optional. We believe it is really important in helping protect your account.
We employ Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) while you set up your account and install your sensor (which as you know takes about 2 minutes total). In fact, 2FA is employed if you ever need to reset your password, or decide to change to a different Wi-Fi network (for instance, if you’ve changed internet providers, upgraded your Wi-Fi router, etc.). This thwarts attackers who might otherwise attempt to gain control of your account and reset your password.
Not at all. Ting does not use default or hardcoded passwords for hackers to exploit.
We're proud of our security, but we also know our word is not enough.
The Ting sensor, the app, and our Ting servers undergo regular, rigorous vulnerability and penetration tests by an independent, accredited 3rd party security firm.
Power Quality
Utility companies deliver voltage to U.S. homes at an average of 120V, but normal ranges can be from 108V to 132V.
Ting monitors the electricity in your home 30 million times every second of every day. This allows Ting to analyze the quality of power delivered to your home at super high resolution. Power quality problems can potentially cause damage to appliances, electronics, or other devices in your home.
The power delivered to your home is typically supplied at 120 volts (V), +/- 10%, so the normal range can be from 108V to 132V. The most common power quality problems are:
Surges: events when voltage spikes to values >132V. The severity of a surge is determined by both the amplitude of the spike (how high did the voltage go), and the time duration of the spike.
Brownouts (sometimes referred to as sags): events when the voltage drops below 108V. The severity of a brownout is determined by both the amplitude of the drop or sag (how low did the voltage go), and the time duration of the drop.
In many cases, a single power quality event, or problem, will not necessarily cause damage (depending on the severity), but an accumulation of power quality problems can lead to damage to important devices in your home.
If you are experiencing ongoing power quality events as reported by Ting, you may consider contacting your utility, which supplies your power, to let them know of the problems that you and possibly your neighbors are experiencing. You can use your Ting Home Monitoring Reports as support.
We've provided additional information here and an email template that you can use to be in touch with your utility. You'll also see a list of sources where you can learn more information about power quality, and steps that you can take to help prevent damage to your devices.
How to Buy
Ting is being distributed through select home service contractors and is also available online from Whisker Labs (that's us). You can simply click here to buy from our online store.