Problem with house alarm beeping

ceekay74

Hi, need a bit of help with my house alarm which keeps beeping due to a fault of some sort with the back door.

It will continue beeping until I enter the code to turn off the alarm, but then, eventually, it will go off again beeping and showing the same error message until the code is entered again.

Not fun getting up 4 or 5 times a night to knock this off!

One of the magnetic (I think) sensors is quite beaten up looking and probably needs to be replaced.

Are these sensors easily replaced? And expensive?

Can I stop the alarm from giving off this warning beeping until I sort the sensor out?

Thanks is advance!

kub

ceekay74 wrote: »

Hi, need a bit of help with my house alarm which keeps beeping due to a fault of some sort with the back door.

It will continue beeping until I enter the code to turn off the alarm, but then, eventually, it will go off again beeping and showing the same error message until the code is entered again.

Not fun getting up 4 or 5 times a night to knock this off!

One of the magnetic (I think) sensors is quite beaten up looking and probably needs to be replaced.

Are these sensors easily replaced? And expensive?

Can I stop the alarm from giving off this warning beeping until I sort the sensor out?

Thanks is advance!

OP you have an intermittent tamper fault, your control panel is reacting to what it thinks is the cover of the detector on your back door being what it thinks removed every so often.

If you are not using the system, then I would suggest that you remove the cover from that unit and keep it off, that way the condition becomes permanent and system will not be activating constantly.

The cost of the Unit depends on whether it is an inertia shock sensor, a contact or a junction box.

Of course I am assuming that the detector causing the problem is the one which you suspect.

Can you post a picture of the Unit you suspect please?

ceekay74

kub wrote: »

OP you have an intermittent tamper fault, your control panel is reacting to what it thinks is the cover of the detector on your back door being what it thinks removed every so often.

If you are not using the system, then I would suggest that you remove the cover from that unit and keep it off, that way the condition becomes permanent and system will not be activating constantly.

The cost of the Unit depends on whether it is an inertia shock sensor, a contact or a junction box.

Of course I am assuming that the detector causing the problem is the one which you suspect.

Can you post a picture of the Unit you suspect please?

Thanks for the reply Kub.

Yes the message on the readout says 'Tamper' while the beeping is happening.

Here's a picture of the unit...

It's definitely this one, you can see it's damaged and has been stuck back in place with sellotape.

Sorry about the attachment, not sure how to insert a pic.

KoolKid

The sellotape is on the magnet that shouldn't cause the problem.
However, the contact itself looks in a poor way and not sealed. Your problem may well lie in the connections inside that.
If you open it up and separate the wires that should stop the alarm activating.
But either way I would be getting that replaced with a decent unit.

kub

KoolKid wrote: »

The sellotape is on the magnet that shouldn't cause the problem.
However, the contact itself looks in a poor way and not sealed. Your problem may well lie in the connections inside that.
If you open it up and separate the wires that should stop the alarm activating.
But either way I would be getting that replaced with a decent unit.

Of course if the guy that fitted that contact originally used the screws that came with that contact then it would not have cracked. Anyway as you said it is not the correct type, it should be sealed.

ceekay74

Thanks guys!

I opened up the unit and disconnected the wires, but incredibly considering the state of the unit and magnet, the problem is with another unit and magnet on the kitchen window!

The one I opened up was easy enough to disconnect, but the one on the kitchen window (which looks in perfect condition, along with another box/unit which is a shock sensor) seems to be sealed with what looks like silicone so I can't get at the wires.

So, if I just snip the wire going into the unit do you think that will cause the beeping to stop? That's all I'm really interested in at this point.

edanto

Snipping the wire would be a bad idea; since the wire would then be too short to join to the replacement sensor.

Maybe the kitchen window unit is one of the sealed units the guys above mentioned. There must be some way to open it?! If you're 100% sure it's the broken one and you plan to replace it anyways, why not crack it with a pliers?

ceekay74

edanto wrote: »

If you're 100% sure it's the broken one and you plan to replace it anyways, why not crack it with a pliers?

Thanks edanto, but I think the wires are surrounded by this silicone like stuff which will stop me disconnecting them.

ceekay74

edanto wrote: »

Snipping the wire would be a bad idea; since the wire would then be too short to join to the replacement sensor.

Is this the only reason why it would be a bad idea?

Or is it easy to buy and replace a sensor??

edanto

I don't know enough about alarms to tell you how your alarm would react to having the cable cut, but I presume it will set off some tamper alert; what happens on subsequent days I don't know.

I have replaced some sensors on my own alarm and it's straightforward enough. Those that sense vibration have one correct orientation you need to watch out for.

ceekay74

edanto wrote: »

I have replaced some sensors on my own alarm and it's straightforward enough.

Where did you get them?

edanto

Through one of forum members here, who had installed my alarm. I'll PM you his details.

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

Thanks edanto, but I think the wires are surrounded by this silicone like stuff which will stop me disconnecting them.

It sounds like the sensor is a contact which is enclosed in silicone. If that is the case then there must be a join on the cable. Could of being joined and put in behind the wall if you cant see a junction box close to it.

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

It sounds like the sensor is a contact which is enclosed in silicone. If that is the case then there must be a join on the cable. Could of being joined and put in behind the wall if you cant see a junction box close to it.

Hi altor, yes there is a wire going from the unit into another box nearby.

The other box looks like it is a shock sensor.

Another wire leaves that box and then disappears into the wall.


Do you think the fault might be in the other box?

Thanks for your input BTW!

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

Hi altor, yes there is a wire going from the unit into another box nearby.

The other box looks like it is a shock sensor.

Another wire leaves that box and then disappears into the wall.


Do you think the fault is in the other box?

Thanks for your input BTW!

That is correct, it is a shock sensor.
Can you open the shock and post a picture?

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

That is correct, it is a shock sensor.
Can you open the shock and post a picture?

Sure...

ceekay74

The alarm started beeping as soon as I opened it.

Worryingly, there seems to be a blue wire connected to nothing!

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

Sure...

Cant really see the cables underneath the insulating tape.
Can you carefully pull them out to see colours.

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

The alarm started beeping as soon as I opened it.

Worryingly, there seems to be a blue wire connected to nothing!

I am wondering if the broken blue wire is part of the tamper.

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

Cant really see the cables underneath the insulating tape.
Can you carefully pull them out to see colours.

Ok...

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

Ok...

Can you take a step back and take the photo. I need the wires visible to all connection too. Can you also take off the insulating tape, just dont disconnect the wired if anything is connected.

Thank you.

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

Can you take a step back and take the photo. I need the wires visible to all connection too. Can you also take off the insulating tape, just dont disconnect the wired if anything is connected.

Thank you.

Any use?

ceekay74

I didn't undo the red tape coz it just has a blue and a black wire going in, looping, and coming back out again and then into the white wire that goes to the unit below.

ceekay74

This might be clearer...

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

I didn't undo the red tape coz it just has a blue and a black wire going in, looping, and coming back out again and then into the white wire that goes to the unit below.

You seem to have a black and blue wire not connected.
Are these two going to the sensor below?

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

You seem to have a black and blue wire not connected.
Are these two going to the sensor below?

Yes you're right, on closer inspection, the loose blue and black wires are coming from the unit below.

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

Yes you're right, on closer inspection, the loose blue and black wires are coming from the unit below.

OK, the two yellow cables in either end of the sensor are the tamper on the device. If you remove them and join them together this should close off the tamper. I would also check the two blue in the insulating tape as this could also be the issue. Just make sure they are twisted together. The sensor head want to be turned so the screws are on the bottom also when you are closing back up the unit.

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

OK, the two yellow cables in either end of the sensor are the tamper on the device. If you remove them and join them together this should close off the tamper. I would also check the two blue in the insulating tape as this could also be the issue. Just make sure they are twisted together. The sensor head want to be turned so the screws are on the bottom also when you are closing back up the unit.

OK, I joined the two yellow wires together, checked the blue wires were connected and taped them back up. Screws to the bottom done too.

So far, so good. :-)

Thank you so much altor, you've been an amazing help!

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

OK, I joined the two yellow wires together, checked the blue wires were connected and taped them back up. Screws to the bottom done too.

So far, so good. :-)

Thank you so much altor, you've been an amazing help!

Always happy to help

All that is doing is bypassing the tamper on the unit.

ceekay74

altor wrote: »

Always happy to help

All that is doing is bypassing the tamper on the unit.

That's all I need it to do. Thanks again!

altor

ceekay74 wrote: »

That's all I need it to do. Thanks again!

No problem, any other issues let us know