Our house alarm won't stop going off. Help!

Sherbetlover

Hi everybody,

We live in a rented house which has an advantage zx6 house alarm. At four o'clock this morning, it started alarming and has been doing this on and off since. Our landlord is in France at the moment so hasn't been able to help us much.

On the advice of an engineer we have turned off the mains to it and removed the back up battery from the panel indoors. The other back up battery in the box outside was supposed to drain within about twenty minutes, but the alarm is still sounding almost three hours later! We can't get back in contact with the engineer and we can't just call out someone as it isn't our house.

Any ideas would be much appreciated. We wouldn't mind being able to sleep tonight!

fatnbald

Ther 20 minute cut off is a timer not the battery draining. If you have access to a ladder, are able and happy to access the external sounder box you could disconnect the battery in the box.
Depending on the age of the system it will be a battery with a spade connetor you can just unplug OR there will be a small sealed cell which connects into a small circuit board in the box, usually black and red wires go to the battery.

Sherbetlover

Thanks very much for your reply. Unfortunately we don't have a ladder. It looks like we may have to wait until morning and phone a local company.

We are not going to be popular with the neighbours though.

BusyGirl

Hi why don't you try phoning one of the local alarm companies now? Some of them have guys who come out anytime. We had a similar problem a couple of months ago as our battery inside was dead but the alarm went off twice for 20mins and then stopped. We called a guy out in the morning and he told us next time to call anytime. Just ask the call out charge first though.

vikingaero

The battery in the main panel - is it smooth or has it developed noticeable bulges in the casing? With a lot of alarms the battery gives up the ghost and dies and the panel thinks that someone is trying to tamper with it leading to an alarm. The wavy casing shows that the cells are knackered.

Sherbetlover

Thanks for the suggestions. The battery in the main panel was perfect, although it did look as though one of the components on the circuit board could have been burnt out. Removing the battery hasn't helped though.

Nobleck

Try entering the access code and press reset. Also it may be possible to disable the sounder through the key pad, just google the model of the alarm for the instruction manual. It's easy honest.

Sherbetlover

The key pad was not working. It probably started because of rain getting into the outside box. The battery sounds like it is starting to die, so we'll leave it until morning.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

Poppycat

Hope you have a good sleep

Nobleck

Usually if the keypad doesn't work , it indicates that the alarm system is in tamper mode, you would most likely need an engineer to find and remedy the problem. One way of getting the keypad to work is to remove the fuse near the main alarm panel inside the house , and then disconnect the battery. Wait 20 seconds reconnect the battery and replace the fuse and try the keypad. Like i said sometimes it works, but i'm not promising that it will.
Good luck and keep us posted as to the outcome.

Sherbetlover

Well, the alarm has gone to a high pitched whine now, so it shouldn't be disturbing the neighbours too much.

Unfortunately for us, the recent floods in Sheffield have meant that pretty much all of the alarm repair companies are not answering their phones. The landlord has taken over trying to contact people (from France!) so hopefully we will be able to get someone out to us soon.

Thanks for everyones help. MSE is wonderful for things like this! I will sleep well tonight.