House alarm fault, help please.

[Chris Wilson]

As of the last few days our house alarm outside bell (siren really) box sounds if the mains goes down. It never used to, the only reason I first noticed was an RCD tripping fault on a mains ring circuit tripped the fuse box RCD, and the alarm sounded, although the control panel was in "Daytime" mode, and no panel lights showed. Restoring mains stops the alarm, but resetting the alarm panel has no effect. Any clues what's up with the damned thing? Otherwise the system appears to function normally. We get not infrequent power outages here, so this could be a damned nuisance ;-) Thanks.

[John]

Battery in the alarm box. Test to see if there is an output

If no power gets to the bell (either mains or battery) then the siren will activate from it own second battery

[SantaUK]

Sounds like your internal battery in the alarm panel is flat/goosed/knackered. Simple to replace. Basically if the bell box doesn't have 12volts going to it, it will start to ring. And nothing will stop it unless its own battery is disabled or disconnected or power is restored.

[Colin Wilson]

Most alarms have a battery backup in the panel - it could be the battery is now duff (they do fail after a few years). Its been a while since I last fitted one, but the most common brand was Yuasa IIRC...

[Terry D]

Has anybody ever noticed any action being taken as a result of an activated house alarm. Have you ever seen the police screeching to a halt outside the premises? Do you phone 999 when you hear an alarm? In my opinion, these things are nothing but an annoyance and a complete waste of time and think most potential burglars realise this.

Terry D.

[hays]

I disagree with you In our cul de sac, no one has a dodgy alarm If one sounds we know it's worth looking into

The Police have responded to just an audible alarm, as they were nearby

The 'night set' mode gives us real peace of mind, knowing we won't sleep through any burglaries

Regarding the burglars, there are so many homes without any security, you average (junkie) thief will target those, leaving alarmed homes alone

I also had the same problem as the OP and this was cured by a new battery which I bought from City Electrical Factors for about £10

Regards

Hays

T610 Housings in stock now!!

[Alan]

In message , John wrote

I had _identical_ symptoms a few years ago and the cure was a new 12V rechargeable battery inside the alarm control panel. The old battery was still giving 12V (nominal) at the output terminals but it appeared not to supply enough current at the point where the mains failed and the alarm latched on.

In my control panel the battery is connected with two spade terminals and was very easy to replace. The control panel will probably have a tamper switch which will set off the alarm as you remove the cover. If you remove the mains power AND the battery make sure that you still have the instructions (and understand them) about configuring alarm from scratch. The instructions that came with my alarm were in that classic Far East to English translation - with only half the information needed to program the box in the user guide and the other half in a separate installation guide))

Suitable batteries can be obtained from CPC, Maplin and many other places.

[Angela]

security, you

alone

It's a tough one really, it does very much depend on the area you live in and your neighbours as to whether alarms are useful. I have a new house and it is wired up ready to take an alarm and I am seriously considering it. Having said that I remember watching a documentary a few years ago that interviewed burglars and they basically fell into 2 camps. First was the opportunist (usually a drug addict) who takes a few chances as they can and an alarm would put them off. The second was the "professional burglar" who is skilled at breaking into houses and knows exactly what is worth money. They said that a burglar alarm is actually an attraction as they believe there is something worth stealing and they said that most people ignore them so they are not very high risk. Both said they would never do a house with a dog. I think I will probably get an alarm as most burglaries are done by druggies these days, but I also have all my lights on timers so anyone watching would never know if I was out or in.

Angela

[Exiddor]

[...]

I suppose you could do what one of my neighbours does. He has his alarm trigger a very loud recording of a German Shepherd barking furiously.

If I didn't know it was a recording, there's no way I'd break into that house once the alarm triggered! :-)

[Jim Ley]

But as you know you'll be screwing it next time you know he's out?

Jim.

[Exiddor]

[Chris Wilson]

Thanks everyone, despite me buying a new battery 2 years ago (Yuasa) it has died, so have temporarily fitted a much bigger one on fly leads, until I can pick up another correctly sized one.

With regard to whether alarms are worth it, we live in the sticks, and our neighbour always has a look around if it goes off, and releases our dogs if anything looks suspicious. Being in the sticks people tend to investigate their alarm at the same time as coming back (coincidentally) from trying to shoot a fox :-)

In the town, where I lived before, a sounding alarm brought nothing in the way of interest or response, and I agree, they are pretty useless save as a sop to the insurance policy.

[The Natural Philosopher]

They would in my case. The little wuss would be all over them licking their ruddy faces as soon as they climbed in the window.

[BigWallop]

There's a dog near us that would open the door for them just to get some company. The poor thing is left on its own for hours on end every day.

[PoP]

I don't have a dog (would like to get one, but it's a choice between having a wife or a dog, and for reasons which I won't explore here the wife gets the vote).

Really annoys me when people treat their animals like this by leaving them neglected for long hours day after day.

PoP

[Dave Plowman]

Just about the nicest dog I know is left outside in the back garden during working hours. He has, however, a kennel. I have him for the odd weekend when the owners go abroad, etc. And his behaviour knocks spots off all the pampered lap dogs we meet on the common.