Discussion
Last night we had a power cut and it set the house alarm off.
Am I correct in thinking the battery must be dead and needs replacing?
Reason I ask is when I looked today and isolated the power the alarm still remained on making me think its not the battery after all?
Anyone in the know with house alarms or have any experience in this?
Cheers
Am I correct in thinking the battery must be dead and needs replacing?
Reason I ask is when I looked today and isolated the power the alarm still remained on making me think its not the battery after all?
Anyone in the know with house alarms or have any experience in this?
Cheers
How long after the power cut happened did the bell start ringing ?
Here's a couple of pointers as it could be a few things tbh.
Have you done a bell test on your system since to see if the bell is now working normally with the power on? Depending on the system, if the bell doesn't work now it may have blown the bell fuse causing the bell to activate. Some systems will not throw this up as a fault so you will be non the wiser when the power came back on.
Saying that though, bells ringing in power cuts are generally down to old batteries that need changing. Panel batteries normally need to be changed every 3-5 years. When you dropped the power off later on, there may have been enough charge in the battery to hold the bell off from ringing, but would not hold the bell off for a longer period of time. If you have some sort of display on the keypad you may have noticed that the display disappeared, which would also point to a battery fault.
Be aware though that before you attempt to open the panel and try to change the battery etc, that you know the engineer code or are able to reset a tamper without the code. If it is a professionally installed system, by opening the panel and not being able to reset it may render the system useless.
Remember also that when opening a panel it is connected to the mains, unless isolated at the fused spur.
When was the last time it was serviced ?
Here's a couple of pointers as it could be a few things tbh.
Have you done a bell test on your system since to see if the bell is now working normally with the power on? Depending on the system, if the bell doesn't work now it may have blown the bell fuse causing the bell to activate. Some systems will not throw this up as a fault so you will be non the wiser when the power came back on.
Saying that though, bells ringing in power cuts are generally down to old batteries that need changing. Panel batteries normally need to be changed every 3-5 years. When you dropped the power off later on, there may have been enough charge in the battery to hold the bell off from ringing, but would not hold the bell off for a longer period of time. If you have some sort of display on the keypad you may have noticed that the display disappeared, which would also point to a battery fault.
Be aware though that before you attempt to open the panel and try to change the battery etc, that you know the engineer code or are able to reset a tamper without the code. If it is a professionally installed system, by opening the panel and not being able to reset it may render the system useless.
Remember also that when opening a panel it is connected to the mains, unless isolated at the fused spur.
When was the last time it was serviced ?
Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Thursday 22 April 18:59
Hi
Thanks for your reply
I wasn't at home when it started sounding but I think it was as soon as the power went off.
I know the bell is still working as it went into tamper mode and sounded when I took the front panel off to see what type of battery it was.
I have lived in the house for 1 year, it was a new build but empty for a couple of years after completion so unsure if the alarm was in use or not. Suppose the battery maybe 3.5 years old??
Its an Ade Optima Compact G3 if that helps. The instructions left for me have no mention of the back up battery and the engineers instructions I have found on the net don't help much either.
Thanks for your reply
I wasn't at home when it started sounding but I think it was as soon as the power went off.
I know the bell is still working as it went into tamper mode and sounded when I took the front panel off to see what type of battery it was.
I have lived in the house for 1 year, it was a new build but empty for a couple of years after completion so unsure if the alarm was in use or not. Suppose the battery maybe 3.5 years old??
Its an Ade Optima Compact G3 if that helps. The instructions left for me have no mention of the back up battery and the engineers instructions I have found on the net don't help much either.
Sounds like the battery to me then without checking it on a battery tester.
They are only small in that panel anyway and may have lost most of it's charge.
Make sure the the battery connections are tight etc when you put the new one on. Once then panel is closed you should be able to reset it without the engineers code. Once put back together give the new battery a chance to power up, then check again by dropping off the power for a while.
If it does again you may have to get somebody to have a look at it for you as there may be other problems causing the fault like a dodgy fuse, connections etc etc.
They are only small in that panel anyway and may have lost most of it's charge.
Make sure the the battery connections are tight etc when you put the new one on. Once then panel is closed you should be able to reset it without the engineers code. Once put back together give the new battery a chance to power up, then check again by dropping off the power for a while.
If it does again you may have to get somebody to have a look at it for you as there may be other problems causing the fault like a dodgy fuse, connections etc etc.
Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Friday 23 April 00:03
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