Alarm firm holding us to ransom

thecoffeehouse204

We bought our current house three years ago and it had a recently installed full alarm system. We've not had any problems with it so far apart from the fact that the display still says the previous owners surname but that's not a big problem. However at some point in the near future we'll need the battery in the panel replacing as the last time we had a power cut it started making all sorts of beeping noises and saying low battery on the display.

And therein lies the problem, we've got all the paperwork relating to the install but no mention of any Engineer code which we need if we want to change the battery at any point. So we contacted the previous owners who said they left all the paperwork with us. So rather naively we thought a quick call to the original installers would be able to sort things out but no - they refused to give us the Engineer code and said that any works required would have to be carried out by them!! Surely this is completely unfair and shouldn't be allowed as it is basically forcing us to use their firm.

My cousin is an alarm engineer and says this is quite common but not something he's ever done and without the code our only option is to 'crash' the whole system and start from scratch which would probably be quite a large job and beyond the cost of a family favour and involve actual money.

Has anyone ever come across this before and found a way to convince the original installer to be reasonable.

SplanK

Tried to google the make and model of the unit? You may find that the engineer code is the default factory one and it never got reset!?

vaio

and even if it's not then crashing and starting from scratch shouldn't take more than 20-30 mins so well with the family favour envelope (and that's assuming you can't get the manual off the web and DIY)

phead

thecoffeehouse204 wrote: »

Has anyone ever come across this before and found a way to convince the original installer to be reasonable.

Are you sure you need the engineers code to replace the panel battery? I don't know mine and the normal way is:

1. Put in ear plugs.
2. Pull mains fuse.
3. Open panel and cringe when the alarm sounds.
4. Replace the battery(neg terminal first), close up and power up and cancel tamper.

I wouldn't recommend replacing the bell box battery though, the strobe carries high voltages and needs to be switched off first.

sillygoose

Changing the battery whilst the mains is present should not be a problem as its not 'in use' in these circumstances. Problem would be when removing the cover on the control panel to get to it will trigger the tamper alarm. Your user code put into the keypad should cancel this too. I got my last battery from a ToolStation store for about £10.

If your user code cannot cancel a tamper alarm then it would be useless if you had a fault as tamper alarm faults often do not time-out so you would have to pay an emergency call out to the alarm company or be stoned by irate neighbours!

I would bite the bullet now and get the manual and work out how to do the full factory reset and get control back.

phead

sillygoose wrote: »

I would bite the bullet now and get the manual and work out how to do the full factory reset and get control back.

The problem is some panels have a setting to prevent factory reset from reseting the engineers code.

antw23uk

I can't help but i hope you egt this sorted and when you do ... don't forget to phone up this alarm company and tell them :rotfl:

anotherbaldrick

put in the house code then 1275. there are batteries in the house control box and also in the outside ringer.

afzaal1988

well here is something which i did last year. I had the alarm installed by the company and after few months i thought i would have a look inside the box(main controller or whatever they call them where the battery is) and as soon as i opened the cover temper alarm went off and temper light came on as well.

even thought once i entered the code(not engineer code) alarm was silenced but temper light stayed on and i could not set the alarm on. it was useless without engineer code.

but than i read somewherehow to cancel temper light and i turned the power off and opened the cover and disconneted the battery while alarm was going off. and reconnected the battery and closed the cover quickly and temper light went off without engineer code.

baldelectrician

I don't give out my engineer code (neither do any of the local companies I know), this is a trade matter

As far as the original company goes- if it's out of guarantee then it's not their concern what you do.
Be aware you could break the system and it may cost you to fix it.

If the engineer code is locked (as many are) then you may have to buy a new panel or get the original company to fix it.

I don't use panels that allow a hard reset that resets the engineer code after I was called back to a panel 2 times- it was on the second visit I found the home owner had reset the panel (because he could) and the default settings didn't work - as they have been modified to work in this house

Once my guarantee was finshed I don't mind as visits are now chargable

beaker141

I think installation manuals are closely guarded secrets and pretty much not available anywhere - supposedly for security and to stop them getting into the wrong hands.

You could always buy an exact same panel new which should come with an installation guide and use guide, then if it is some form of hard lock engineer code swop the panel over ;-)