Help - I cut the wrong wire

zagmund

Doing some tidying up this morning, removing the miles of old cable that the previous owner had installed around the house and I accidentally (meaning "fingers crossed" didn't work) cut the wrong cable.

I'm not quite sure what cable it was though, and this is my problem. In the short term I'm going to patch up each of the 8 wires and hopefully get it back into shape.

When I cut it the following things happened -
1) bell went off outside
2) alarm phoned Phonewatch - so the main phone is OK
3) Phone extensions inside the house went dead so Phonewatch couldn't get me
4) Bell stopped after ~15 minutes

Initially I thought it was the line to the bell that was cut and which caused it to trigger but I guess not since the phone died.

Then I thought it was the phone cable that was cut but it's not since the alarm was able to dial out.

So, the best estimate now is that it was the phone line from the alarm out to the extensions, and when the alarm sensed the connection dropping it decided there was a problem and set off the bell.

Trying to trace back all the wires is a bit of a nightmare, but I'll give it a lash. The cable I cut is 8 wire, with all different solid colours and not mixed blue, blue/white type colours.

From the above, does anyone know what I cut ?

z

p.s. oh, yeah the other weird thing is that the broadband (which works over the same phone line) is still up. The extensions which aren't working are connected to the *same* socket as the broadband. So, if I cut the cable from the alarm to the extensions how come the broadband is still working ? I'm really confused now.

Irish Fire

What make is your alarm?

The reason the alarm could dial out is the alarm is the first temination on your phone line and will take the control of your phone line when is dials out

CSU

zagmund wrote: »

Doing some tidying up this morning, removing the miles of old cable that the previous owner had installed around the house and I accidentally (meaning "fingers crossed" didn't work) cut the wrong cable.

Pardon my French, but that was a bit ****ing stupid wasn't it:rolleyes:

you could have killed someone else or yourself.

I've seen sockets and lights wired with alarm cable and speaker cable...my point is you just don't know what it is if it's a DIY jobbie...

Irish Fire

CSU wrote: »

Pardon my French, but that was a bit ****ing stupid wasn't it:rolleyes:

you could have killed someone else or yourself.

I've seen sockets and lights wired with alarm cable and speaker cable...my point is you just don't know what it is if it's a DIY jobbie...

Don't forget the ol' bell wire

CSU

Irish Fire wrote: »

Don't forget the ol' bell wire

yer' gotten a few bangs off of stuff that "should" never be live:D

...and as we all know it doesn't take much to send the ol' ticker into VF, especially if it's a bit on the dodgy side in the first place. VF from electrocution can suddenly drop you up to five hours later!

DONT'T MESS WITH ELECTRICITY KIDS, CALL A PRO!

yer man mus be one of thems daredevils that has hand-granades and C4 with his cornflakes in the mornin:cool:

KoolKid

You have cut the external bell cable. When the external bell is disconnected it activates on its own battery & cuts out after 15 minutes.
When the alarm dials out it disconnects all other phones in the house. This is normal & correct. Its to prevent you breaking in & taking the phone off the hook.
Your phone line should return after the alarm has finished communicating with the central station. What make is your alarm?
You may have blown the bell fuse when you cut that cable.

altor

zagmund wrote: »

Doing some tidying up this morning, removing the miles of old cable that the previous owner had installed around the house and I accidentally (meaning "fingers crossed" didn't work) cut the wrong cable.

I'm not quite sure what cable it was though, and this is my problem. In the short term I'm going to patch up each of the 8 wires and hopefully get it back into shape.

When I cut it the following things happened -
1) bell went off outside
2) alarm phoned Phonewatch - so the main phone is OK
3) Phone extensions inside the house went dead so Phonewatch couldn't get me
4) Bell stopped after ~15 minutes

Initially I thought it was the line to the bell that was cut and which caused it to trigger but I guess not since the phone died.

Then I thought it was the phone cable that was cut but it's not since the alarm was able to dial out.

So, the best estimate now is that it was the phone line from the alarm out to the extensions, and when the alarm sensed the connection dropping it decided there was a problem and set off the bell.

Trying to trace back all the wires is a bit of a nightmare, but I'll give it a lash. The cable I cut is 8 wire, with all different solid colours and not mixed blue, blue/white type colours.

From the above, does anyone know what I cut ?

z

p.s. oh, yeah the other weird thing is that the broadband (which works over the same phone line) is still up. The extensions which aren't working are connected to the *same* socket as the broadband. So, if I cut the cable from the alarm to the extensions how come the broadband is still working ? I'm really confused now.

I am not surprised this has happened. All cables must be protected up to a certain height on an EN50131 alarm. P.W. should be made protect the cables coming from the alarm system to comply with this. The simon xt does not have any resettable fuses, so reconnecting the cable and clearing the fault by pressing the status button, listen to the fault, then press disarm should clear the fault. Another thing to note from your post is the cable you cut sounds more like phone cable than alarm cable. If this cable is going to the external bell it should be alarm cable, not phone cable.