Any burglar alarm experts?

[ChrisB]

I have registered on an Alarm forum but taking ages to get approval so in the meantime i thought i would ask here.

I got a phone call from a neighbour yesterday(4pm) while flying most annoyingly that my Alarm had been sounding continueously for about 4hrs non stop,this bothered me as its only supposed to sound for 15 mins then reset,,,cue fault or break in and tamper.

I was not at home the night before and had not been back,i drove home to find the alarm panel had no power,checking i soon found the main rcd had tripped,i reset it and the alarm shut up and the panel came back to life.

The event log showed power loss at 7pm the night before,i dont know the cause of the trip but will investigate that separately.

Obviously it ran on the main backup battery till that gave out then setting the external siren off due to no power getting to it/Tamper.

What i want to know is are there any bell boxes that will only sound for 15 mins and then shut up or will they all keep going for hours on end until their own battery dies,reason being i dont want to **** my neighbours off and dont like the idea of bell boxes that need a supply constantly to keep them quiet.

More annoyingly my bloody faggots had defrosted:(

Long shot but Ta:)

[kev bell]

Not sure on the bell box but you could change the consumer unit for a unit for one with two none protected ways and fit rcbos to supply the alarm & frezer cct, keeping your neighbours happy and your chicken nuggets cold !!!!!

[BiG-T]

Hi I have never seen a bell box with an internal timer this is usually part of the control panel set up programme. As there was nobody home and the current draw on the alarm system should be minmal I would question the state of the panel backup battery. If the system is under a maintenance contract it should be checked annually and a new one fitted should it show signs of low output, swelling,etc was the alarm fitted by a professional if not the alarm timer may never have been set at commissioning.
Tony

[xygax]

Mine did exactly the same thing .... whilst i was out of the country... They always pick a bad time to go wrong and it was as simple as the cable to the alarm box had rotted away the bell then went into alarm until its battery went flat... 2 days later. !

long way from Srilanka to fix a blooming alarm box...

Steve

[ChrisB]

Cheers for the replies,a friend fitted the system,he is a qualified electrician he has just got back to me a few mins ago,he is coming round tomorrow eve to install a new backup battery as current one is approaching 3years old.

I can also get him to test my house electrics and I will ask him how he wired it into the fuse Board,I know the alarm has it's own trip switch but the main rcd blew shutting that and the ring main off,lights still worked.

As far as he is aware he says,all bell boxes will default to constant sounding should the power be interrupted to them only on genuine alarm trigger will it sound for 15 mins and reset.

The system is all hardwired not wireless.

Ta for the replies,I will post the outcome.

Still hoping to find a bellbox that won't behave in this manner but seems unlikely.(:

[jamiem]

Isn't Ade Law an alarm techie? And reasonably local?

[ChrisB]

That's a good point,not heard from him lately,last time was when he came to dmhc one day last year,I let him loose on my Logo 500,he sure hasn't forgot how to fly for sure:).

[monsigna]

These days you can only fit 'split-load' boards with sockets/shower/cooker on one side with rcd protection & lights/door bell/alarm/boiler/heating etc on the other side...also rcd protected, hence 'split load' older installations normally have the whole-lot covered by just one 'rcd' (residual current device).

If it was a split-load board (which it doesnt sound like yours is) only 1 of the 'rcd's' would have tripped, making it fairly easy to find/isolate the electrical fault, it would have been either the sockets/shower/cooker OR lights/alarm/boiler etc...the alarm 'external bell box' doesnt normally have a battery in. The battery is norm located in the alarm system housing unit...and yes, when the power fails it will 'sound' until the batt has drained or the alarm is re-set/re-energised. the battery is only three yrs old...this should still be fine, the discharge would have done it good. Shame about the faggots though. kind regards ade.

[challis349]

Lol ade, you would really put your shower, sockets and cooker all on one side, and put the rest the other? Not a good plan in my opinion lol, that means you have 3 circuits that pull a load of current each on one side and on the other next to nothing, dual rcd split load boards should distribute the load pretty evenly across both rcd's,

The tripping could have been anything, and if everything continues to function correctly and its the first time it has happened, I wouldn't be overly worried about it,

Was any lights plugged into sockets, or anything else on when you left, maybe a timer etc...