Alarm woes.. Optima XM...

SplanK

This has been driving me mad for a while... the first time it happened was in the middle of the night. There was a loud high pitched tone, a bit like a fire alarm "I’m running low on bat" noise but slightly longer and louder... scared the bajesus out of me! The noise went off every now and then, like said smoke alarm warning.

I went to investigate - thinking it’s just a bat in one of the smoke alarms... the noise stopped... went back to bed it started again until I got out of bed to investigate, and it stopped again... this went on a few times each time having the same result. I decided to pull the bat from the smoke alarm (don’t worry, we have another in roughly the same area – but I know it’s not ideal…) and went back to bed.... ARGH it went off again. I put the battery back in and pushed the test button - different pitch noise. I tested the 2nd alarm - different pitch again.

Only conclusion I could come up with is the PIR for the alarm system was making the noise – but I thought they did not come equipped with sirens. I set, then unset the alarm and fell asleep. By the morning, the noise had stopped, not sure if it carried on after falling asleep…

It has been around 7 months since then, and tonight it has gone off twice, I went to investigate and it stopped... and it has not sounded since.

There are no errors showing on the panel, and as already mentioned - it seems to be mocking me by stopping when i go to investigate! The alarm is an Optima XM with 3 PIRs and one door entry system. I suspect its zone 4 (landing PIR which I suspect is making the noise). No idea how old the system is, but it looks as though it may have been fitted at the time, or close to the house been built in the early 90’s. Unknown service history nor have we had it looked at in the 2 and a half years living here.
Just taken a look through the manual – nothing about it in there either.

Any thoughts before I take a lump hammer to the alarm control box!

aboard_epsilon

I have one of those its 27 years old..and never missed a beat .

what you have got that can go wrong is a tamper curcuit..in this circuit are micro switches ..

there is one in each pir ..one on the door of the main box and one in the alarm box.

if any wire is broken on the tamper circuit it will also set it off

there is also a battery in the alarm sounder box

the only things that have set mine off in the middle of the night or caused trouble is

cats in my workshop ..got in there whilst the doors were open in the daytime and..mice

thunder and lightning will crash it ..

my tig welder ..when i use the high frequency will crash it

to keep it serviced you should replace the battery's about every 5 - 6 years
..and that's it ..

think you should check all the wiring out ..open each pir and the alarm box.

it does make a different sound for the tamper circuit ..but cant remember what sound it makes ..

sop basically i think its down to the wiring ..its a very good alarm

all the best.markj

SplanK

Well after its 2 beeps last night the noise never returned.

AS I say - the noise is coming from the PIR, or around that area - the control box is under the stiars and did not show any tamper light.

I was reading elsewhere that a damaged/lot capacity battery could cause the control box to crash and lock up..

I will see if I can follow the wiring for that PIR in the loft but half of it is tucked down walls so.

I work in IT and have network cable testers that can tell us if a network cable is damaged - do alarm engineers have similar kit to detect faulty/iffy/getting on a bit wiring?

stilernin

Can I asks a question on the coat tails of this thread please?

I have an Optima xm6, installed in 1994, long before I moved in. The tamper light is on and the blue light on the box outside is flashing.

What do I do? I am nervous of just trying some buttons in case it goes off and I can't stop it

Sorry for being a bit 'girlie'.

aboard_epsilon

You press reset button .assuming you've have already put in the four digit code

if the tamper light and the blue flashing light don't turn off, then you have a fault .either damaged cable to the pirs ..or one of the pirs has loose cover or loose wire...or alarm control box has loose cover ..or bell box has loose cover...or damp has got in the bell box.

not sure weather a knackered battery can set off the tamper ..
you have two batteries ..one multi cell one in the bell box ..and a gel filled motor cycle type batt in the alarm control box.

all the best.markj

stilernin

aboard_epsilon wrote: »

You press reset button .assuming you've have already put in the four digit code

all the best.markj

That's just great, all sorted. Thank you.