Any Alarm Gurus Out There?

[John]

My in laws have gone on holiday and I am doing some decorating and looking after the house. The problem is the burglar alarm goes off every day. I set the alarm at approx 3PM and I get a call from their neighbour at 8 to

8-30 PM saying "the alarm is going off". The electricity has never been switched off by me for decorating purposes. When I look at the event log, it is always a different zone so that discounts a spider etc crawling over a passive. Two of the activations have been 1 x door contacts (not surface type) and 1 x panic button! I have now left the alarm off to save the neighbours any more grief. Why would it go off after 5 hours or so? Any ideas before I call an engineer?

Cheers

John

[fred]

In article , John writes

With different zones tripping, supply volts on the panel or knackered backup battery would be a good place to start.

[malc]

It sounds like the alarm panel is knackered. If had been the same detector I would have said to reduce the sensitivity or amount of movements it needs before triggering. If it was just PIRs it could have been one of them getting hit with direct sunlight. Are you sure the panic button is wired on it's own circuit and not just to the nearest PIR in a cowboy fashion? The same for the door contacts if they are looped in to another circuit. Door contacts can go faulty - they corrode inside afer a while. You might need to get a load of ferrite cores and clip them over the cables and mains cable just on the outside of the panel to stop any nearby radio transmitter interference. Something must be happening around 8-30pm, any large radio aerials on nearby houses? Any taxi firms nearby? A passing taxi always used to trigger my alarm which was annoying as the neighbour arrived home at the same time each day. When the radio was used, off it went until I use the ferrite rings. Some alarm panels do not meet any standard in terms of RF shielding as they are in plastic cases. The same goes for PIRs.

I hope you manage to get it sorted. I would be tempted to go and set it, but wait outside at 8-30pm to see what is happening or ask the neighbours.

The only other suggestion is a call to LIVING TV to get Yvette Fielding over!

[Art Deco]

Speaking of backup batteries, is there usually just one in a typical alarm system - located in the main panel box? Or could there be one outside where the alarm bell is too? I need to replace mine and I'd like to do it with the minimum of noise.

And a second question - are these batteries mostly of the 12V 6.0 Ah "Yuasa" motorcycle type, as I've been told?

[Andrew Gabriel]

There's usually one in the external sounder too.

The ones in panels are usually 12V 7Ah (same size as older 6Ah) sealed lead acid. However, they are designed for float/standby operation. Some panels will have smaller versions. Smaller ones can be more expensive, because the 7Ah type is often cheaper due to the high numbers of then used. External sounder usually use small nicads.

[soup]

Maybe Mr crook is setting off the alarm everyday so that you will switch it off, then they have a long time with no alarm going off and them inside the house.

Does the alarm company not have some sort of maintenance agreement? Get an alarm engineer to look at it, sounds like the panel is on its way south.

[Art Deco]

Thanks. I was wondering about that. Presumably opening up the external sounder box will set off the "tamper" mode?

I've seen that stated on some, yes.

Presumably easily available ones.

[John]

Not at 8PM at night surely?

All on their own circuits

Maybe but what about the other zones?

It's been OK for the last 12 years nothing new electrically fitted recently.

No.

No.

I got my alarm engineer out today (mine is on a contract). He checked the batteries (All OK), checked the electricity supply (OK) and checked the wiring with some implement at the panel end (OK). He the went through the activation log and decided the panel was on it's way out. There was even an activation on a fire detection circuit and there are no fire detectors present.

So I will wait for the outlaws to return and give them the good news!

Thanks all

John

[John]

Thanks but highly unlikely otherwise he would have to 'break in' set off the alarm via one of the mentioned zones and then make good his entry point before I got there in under 10 mins.

My Father In Law is too tight to pay for one.

Got my alarm engineer (contract) out today, see my reply to Malc

Cheers

John

[fred]

In article , Art Deco writes

If you have the installer code, enter installer mode & the tamper should not result in a system trip but the box sounder should sound. I'd then be happy to swap out the panel battery 'live'. It's not normal to change the bell box battery (well, not here anyway).

I would take a look before you buy, I've seen a variety of batts in panels.

[mmzz]

[Vodkajelly]

The neighbour fancies you. If it's a bloke, get your stockings on next time you go over.

HTH

Vj

[Graham]

The PIR's themselves can be susceptible to this.

[Art Deco]

Mine is an oldish "Spacetec" panel, which is key operated rather than code operated.

Do they not deteriorate like panel batteries then?

I certainly will.

[woodglass]

I have now left the alarm off to save the

What's the address :-))

[Micky Savage]

Hi, To save any hassle, you would need to put the panel into engineer mode. What tamper warnings are you getting?If you let me know what panel you have I will send you the engineers code. My thinking is that low batts would not put your system into alarm.

Kind Regards,

Mick Savage. Modern Security Systems.

Leeds. 01132 601629. 07984073882.

[Micky Savage]

Hi Again,

Door contacts and panic buttons are a pain in the ass, they are very simple devices that go faulty very easily, you may have to replace them.

Regards.

Mick. M.S.S. LEEDS

[John]

Hi Mick. If you are replying to me (OP) thealarm panel is a Pyronix Paragon Plus. What good would putting it into Engineer mode do? Have you seen my reply to Malc on 20/09 at 16.02 PM?

Cheers

John

P.S. Where in Leeds are you I am also in Leeds LS26 area.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Rightly so. A properly installed alarm doesn't need a 'maintenance agreement' anymore than any other piece of electronics. Of course many are simply thrown in rather than installed.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Usually because they get physically damaged through poor installation. A reed switch has a near infinite life if not abused.