HKC Alarm problem

Shenanigans9021

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone may be able to help here. I've just moved into an apartment this month and in the middle of the night (of course!), our alarm has gone off when it wasn't set (when I say gone off it just beeps). On both occasions the control panel alarm events indicate a tamper problem with the pir sensor in the dining room. Does this mean that the sensor is buggered or could there be another problem? Or can you disconnect one of the sensors?

It goes off randomly it may be fine for a week or more then go off 5 or 6 times in the space of 2 hours then suddenly stop.

The alarm is a HKC SecureWatch.

Any help would be much appreciated.

jabaroon

Shenanigans9021 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone may be able to help here. I've just moved into an apartment this month and in the middle of the night (of course!), our alarm has gone off when it wasn't set (when I say gone off it just beeps). On both occasions the control panel alarm events indicate a tamper problem with the pir sensor in the dining room. Does this mean that the sensor is buggered or could there be another problem? Or can you disconnect one of the sensors?

It goes off randomly it may be fine for a week or more then go off 5 or 6 times in the space of 2 hours then suddenly stop.

The alarm is a HKC SecureWatch.

Any help would be much appreciated.

1) What specific message is displayed?
2) Can you review the log and post details of the events surrounding the activation.
3) Do you have the engineer code for the panel?
4) The PIR's are most likely not HKC ones, do you know what brand they are? If not can you post a pic so that we might try to identify which brand they are.

Jab

Shenanigans9021

Hi thanks for the response,

To answer your questions,
1) The message that is displayed is "Tamper T3 Dining dr PIR"
2) No we dont have the engineer code for the panel.
3) There is no brand name on the PIRs but I have posted a picture if its any help.
4) As for events surrounding the activation there doesn't seem to be any specific one, but its always the same message that is displayed. It will go off spontaneously either day or night with or without anybody in the apartment. And once it goes off it may keep going off for upto an hour or more then stop as suddenly as it started. Although over the past few days it does seem to be going off more regularly. At this stage i'm tempted to get a sledge to the whole system!!!!

TKK

I had a similar problem recently and change the pir but subsequently discovered that the tamper for the internal sounder was the problem - it had been wired into the same tamper as the pir.

For anyone who knows the HKC - where should the internal sounder tamper be wired to? At the moment it is disconnected until I get a new sounder.

jabaroon

Tkk, it should be shorted out or else it will have a tamper permanently active (unless you are using EOL, but probably not if using HKC panel).

Shenanigans, to be honest, you really are going to get someone who knows what they are doing to take a look at you problem. Without the engineer code, everything that you do is going to result in the alarm activating etc..etc...

There are a couple of things that could be the cause of the problem. Either the PIR itself is faulty (not likely). The panel is faulty (not likely) or there is a break / damage to the cable linking the tamper from the PIR to the panel (possibly the more likely). If its an EOL install, then it could be one of the legs on the resistor shorting out etc...

To diagnose, (with the engineer code) I would do the following (assuming -- as with most HKC's -- its not installed EOL):
1) Open the PIR and short out the tamper wires. Close the PIR and see if the problem re-occurrs. If not, the tamper switch on the PIR is faulty, replace.
2) If it does re-occurr, undo step 1 and open the panel. Short out the tamper for the zone on the panel. If the problem re-occurrs, your panel is probably toast. You could either look at replacing the panel or stop using that zone and re-wire that zone into one of the others.
3) If the problem does not re-occurr, then its most likely a fault in the wiring from the PIR to the panel. If there are spare cores in the cable, use them instead, if not...then there are a few options, but would need to know more etc...

In theory, you could do all of the above without the engineer code, but you will annoy the hell out of the neighbours and really screw up things! When dealing with PIR's they have a 12v +/- power supply running to then. Short that out and you can do damage.

If you do decide to try this yourself and risk damage as well as annoying the neighbours, stop if you open the panel/pir and find resistors looped in with the alarm cores. The above procedure would change somewhat if its wired EOL.

Hope this helps,
Jab

TKK

Well I've figured out that mine was a problem with the tamper on the internal sounder. This I have rectified (temporarily) by disconnecting the internal sounder tamper from the board.

The test in 1, above, will still lead to a mis-diagnosis of a faulty pir if there is a second tamper wired into the board with the pir tamper (as was the case with mine).

shaelyn

I press '0#9' to do the bell and light test. But it keeps ringing. I rent this house and the landlord doesnot know the user code. It still rings, what should I do to reset this.