old house alarm disconnection advice

DeDoc

Hi

I've an old house alarm fitted, which hasn't been active for over 6 years - when all the windows and doors were replaced - although the control panel and exterior box on the front wall are still there.

Anyhow, last night we had a power cut and the alarm went off - inside the house. This has happened before with power cuts or the main circuit tripping, so I just went to panel and typed in the code and it de-activated. All good.....

However, 30 or so minutes later, still during the power cut, the power came back on for a fraction of a second before cutting out again. This set the alarm off again. Unfortunately now the noise wouldn't stop, whatever I did at the control panel. So not alone was I sitting at home, cold, in the dark, I now had this bloody alarm going off (inside the house). After about 15 minutes, I'd had enough, so I cut the wires going into the control panel (where the noise was emanating from). Joy........the noise was gone.

some 20 minutes later the power returned and things were back to normal.

I didn't give it another thought and left for work this morning. I've just had a call from my daughter to say that the exterior alarm box has just gone off. I've no details (as to type of alarm etc) as she had to leave. I assume it'll stop of its own accord in 20 mins or so - probably annoy the neighbours plenty in the interim mind you

Looking for suggestions or advice as to where I might begin in ensuring it doesn't happen again.

KoolKid

It sounds like the battery in the panel has finally died. Depending on the type of external bell you have it may stop itself after 20-30 minutes.

altor

DeDoc wrote: »

Looking for suggestions or advice as to where I might begin in ensuring it doesn't happen again.

The best option if there are no devices fitted is to down power the system completely, mains and battery.
Turn off the mains. open control panel and remove mains fuse located in control panel. Disconnect the battery. Close back up and turn on the mains. The external bell will ring till either the battery dies or the cut out time elapses on the external bell.

This will stop it happening again.

DeDoc

thanks folks

I take then I'll need to reconnect the control panel and remove the fuse and battery?

KoolKid

You don't need to reconnect anything. Going by your previous post I had presumed you had already disconnected the mains. If you want to open the panel and disconnect the battery and fuse if you need to reconnect the mains if it's feeding anything else you can. But otherwise the system should be powered down anyway.

DeDoc

KoolKid wrote: »

You don't need to reconnect anything. Going by your previous post I had presumed you had already disconnected the mains. If you want to open the panel and disconnect the battery and fuse if you need to reconnect the mains if it's feeding anything else you can. But otherwise the system should be powered down anyway.

Now that I recall, there was a low battery warning on the control panel in the house - which I had ignored

I cut the cable coming into the control panel last night, so that is disconnected, but the outer alarm (mounted near the roof) was going off this morning - I assume that is mains powered also - do I need to access that to disconnect anything?
I just don't want to have a repeat of having the outer alarm going off with me having no way of doing anything....

appreciate all the helpful advice so far, thanks...

altor

DeDoc wrote: »

Now that I recall, there was a low battery warning on the control panel in the house - which I had ignored

I cut the cable coming into the control panel last night, so that is disconnected, but the outer alarm (mounted near the roof) was going off this morning - I assume that is mains powered also - do I need to access that to disconnect anything?
I just don't want to have a repeat of having the outer alarm going off with me having no way of doing anything....

appreciate all the helpful advice so far, thanks...

Down powering the system should stop it activating again. If you had access to the outside bell you could also disconnect the bell battery too but once the system is down powered it should not activate again.

KoolKid

DeDoc wrote: »

Now that I recall, there was a low battery warning on the control panel in the house - which I had ignored

I cut the cable coming into the control panel last night, so that is disconnected, but the outer alarm (mounted near the roof) was going off this morning - I assume that is mains powered also - do I need to access that to disconnect anything?

When you say you cut the cable coming into the control panel. I presume you didn't physically cut a mains cable??:eek:
Did you turn off or disconnect the mains at a spur or junction?
The external bell is not mains powered. It is powered by 12 volts from the panel. As long as the panel is fully powered down it cant go off again.

DeDoc wrote: »

I just don't want to have a repeat of having the outer alarm going off with me having no way of doing anything....

Can you confirm if the mains has been disconnected from the panel and the panel is powered down.?

DeDoc

KoolKid wrote: »

When you say you cut the cable coming into the control panel. I presume you didn't physically cut a mains cable??:eek:
Did you turn off or disconnect the mains at a spur or junction?
The external bell is not mains powered. It is powered by 12 volts from the panel. As long as the panel is fully powered down it cant go off again.

Can you confirm if the mains has been disconnected from the panel and the panel is powered down.?

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a mains cable - just a signal cable. And yes, I did cut it :eek:
I'm afraid I mightn't have been thinking very straight, given it was pitch black due to the power cut, freezing cold and a very loud annoying noise was driving me nuts
The cable is a 4-core signal cable. The control panel is a separate box to a larger wall mounted box, which I assume is the one with the mains power. Aritech CS350 it says on it. I've attached some pics

When I came home just now the light was flashing on the exterior box. Also another bell (I wasn't even aware of it, near the attic was going off. I disconnected that (no mains , just a tiny two core cable).
I also opened the main interior box (not the control panel) and disconnected the mains and battery as recommended.

The light on the outside box is no longer flashing but the bell is ringing again :mad: - I'm hoping that is also powered by a local battery and will die soon....

Am I going to need to reconnect the alarm control panel again do you think?

KoolKid

Just to be sure...
In Image 242
Disconnect & remove the large black battery by removing the 2 leads from the battery terminals.
Remove the black fuse holder from the mains fuse to the top left. You just need to pinch this with your finger & thumb and pull towards you.Once thats done that it powered down completely.

DeDoc

Thanks koolkid

have done that. Light off, but external bell still ringing for last 45 mins or so. I assume that unit isn't powered from the mains directly, but from the control panel I've just disconnected (i.e. it is running off its own internal battery in the external box)?

KoolKid

Just from the battery in the bell.
45 minutes is a long time. can you describe or post a pic of the bell.
Its not the old square metal ones is it?

DeDoc

I'm afraid it won't be a good pic - it is high up on the wall near the roof and I've only a camera phone to photograph it. Pretty sure the case is plastic. The alarm was fitted in 1996 so I guess is quite old. It is more a siren type than a bell though.

A guy at work said there are two standard settings - a 30 min one (which he says all modern alarms are required to have) and a 3 hour one. Seems like I have the 3 hour.......hopefully no longer than that

The neighbours aren't going to be happy - second time today it'll have been going off for a prolonged period. Bloody ESB and their power cut!

KoolKid

20 mins would have been the norm then. Shouldn't last much longer.

DeDoc

could be my imagination (i.e. just getting used to the noise!), but it seems a little less loud now. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the advice!

Edit: Alarm stopped. Sanity returns

KoolKid

Glad you got it sorted.:D
Have a goo nights sleep.;)

DeDoc

will do.

Might have dreams of the neighbours coming round to complain though

altor

DeDoc wrote: »

will do.

Might have dreams of the neighbours coming round to complain though

Haha, once its all disconnected you wont have any issues