Deactivating one's own house alarm?

[Terry Fields]

The house here is fitted with an alarm system. The batteries in the wireless sensors motion sensors and the keypad in the hall died very soon after moving in a couple of years ago, and it has remained unused since then. Many houses on this crime-free estate have alarms, I guess they were part of the original purchase deal some 10 years ago.

I'd like to deactivate the system, remove all the batteries, and leave it in a 'dead' state.

The only ID is on the main control unit in the loft, it says FM 4000. The handbook is full of cheery messages saying in response to just about everything 'Call your alarm company', which I'm loathe to do.

After opening the control unit, the 'tamper' light has now unsurprisingly activated. Disconnecting the main battery operated the external sirens :-( and reconnecting it shut them up. I've had to disconnect the little speaker in it.

Are there any magic keycodes that will deactivate the system?

Any tips and/or advice?

TIA

Terry Fields

[John Williamson]

If they were published, I'd be worried.

Contact the makers?

FM Electronics 01594 827070 is a number I found on the web.

Ashley may or may not still work there.

[ss]

Do any of the neighbours have a similar alarm? they may be able to help. A picture on here may help to identify it. Then at least you have a starting point.

[Andrew Gabriel]

You pretty much did, buy killing the power and disconnecting the battery. The problem you have is that the external sounder is self-activated, i.e. powered by its own rechargable battery. Two options - open it up and disconnect the internal battery. Opening it will set it off, so you'll need earplugs and to work quickly. (With the panel in Engineering or disarmed mode, it's possible that opening the sounder won't set it off; it depends how the system has been connected up.) When you have it open, there's often a jumper to disable the internal battery, and/or the internal battery is connected through a plug to make replacement easy. Be careful fiddling around in there because it generates high voltage to drive the strobe and the peizo sounder, and you don't want a jolt whilst up a ladder.

[Harry Bloomfield]

With absolutely no power and no batteries, the system will be effectively dead.

I would start with removing any mains supply to it, then the external sounder / bell box, but tampering with that will likely trigger it, so once opened up be ready to snip any wires to the internal batteries.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If you leave it long enough it will flatten its battery

I rented a house with a system like that - no instructions on how to use it were supplied - and on night it went off. For about two hours.

Then it stopped.

[Mr Pounder]

The battery wires can just be pulled off the battery clips, no need to snip them.

>

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The siren has an internal battery too. Just let it run itself flat, if you can't rip it off the wall. And don't like your neighbours.

[Terry Fields]

Thanks to all who replied.

As there are >three< external sounders to be dealt with, I think I'll Get A Man In - sorry about that as I was hoping to DIY it. It seems like home alarm systems are like the books in ancient monasteries - only the monks know how to deal with them.

Terry Fields

[Andrew Gabriel]

Quite likely one real and two dummies, but not necessarily so.

[Martin Brown]

You want to find the magic code to put it into engineering mode. Every maker has their own preferred sequence deviate from it and it goes off.

You could always try the drill and fill trick on the bell box first using high density polyurethane foam to deaden the sound. It is very loud near the bell box so wear ear protection if you tackle it head on.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd hope it had been changed from the factory defaults.

Unless it's quite new, the internal battery on the siren is likely fairly clapped out. So may not even last the usual 20 minutes.