Chris A

Hi Sixwheeledbeast & Datadiffusion Many thanks for your responses. The tamper switch on Keypad 1 seems to be fine. When I took the front of the panel off to check, I had to move it out quite a bit before the switch "clicked". Whilst none of the connections were loose, I did take the opportunity to give all the screws a further tweak tighter. As far as servicing is concerned, my knowledge of what to do is a bit limited - sadly Service Engineer's link to a "Guide to Self Servicing Your Home Alarm System" (in his First Points of Reference post) doesn't work - though maybe not surprising as it is 14 years old! It would be really great if it was updated, however. Consequently, my "servicing" is limited pretty much to doing a walk test from time to time, dusting off the sensors and spraying with Spiderex and trying to remember that batteries don't last forever. Only two of us live here so I know where all the wiring etc is located and there is no risk of anything being disturbed by workmen or the like without me knowing about it. On the question of batteries, I guess that, at four years, the Panel backup battery is nearing the end of its life (typically 5 years?) but what is the expected life of the sounder battery? (BTW, power hadn't been interrupted during this recent event). Yes, I have had "odd" behaviour from this panel in the past - you may remember the "Panel on Go Slow" problem I raised last year. Your advice at that time was to ditch the Panel and replace with the 9651EN (or UK). I did, in fact, buy one but before I got round to fitting it I discovered that re-doing the Initial Start-up process and shorting the "Kick Start" pins together resolved the issue on the 9651PD. It has recurred once since then and on that occasion it started following a momentary power cut during a thunder storm. Performing the Initial Start-up resolved it again. The keypad is fitted with three screws but all are in a straight line across the centre using the holes indicated in the in installation manual. There is nothing behind the tamper spring except the flat surface of the wall. As far as heat is concerned, I did wonder if that might be the cause but the Keypad is fitted in a (relatively) cool hallway and it wasn't even the hottest time of day. It is now over 24 hours since the issue arose and, so far so good. It may be that this is just another manifestation of the odd behaviour this panel can display so I guess I can still swap to my spare Panel if it happens again. Thanks to you both.

Hi I installed this system at home around four years ago. It is based around a Scantronic 9651PD panel, has Honeywell PIRs and uses two Scantronic 9943 keypads (which use proximity fobs). All has been well with this system (since my last post about it) but I had two unusual occurrences earlier this morning. While at home with the system Unset, I got a keypad tamper alarm. I cancelled this but, three minutes later, I got a second keypad tamper alarm (same keypad). I cancelled this and, since then, all has been well (for almost an hour, at the time of writing). I have checked the keypad but can see nothing untoward that might have caused this, nor has there been anything going on near the keypad either. The relevant part of the log reads as follows: 11.25.31 KO1 Tamper 11.25.34 Kpd KO1 Restr 11.28.07 KO1 Tamper 11.30.42 Kpd KO1 Restr 11.32.45 Reset The only additional observations I would make here are that on both occasions, I cancelled the alarm within about 20 seconds but I note that the first tamper event seemed to restore within three seconds while the second tamper event took over two and a half minutes to restore. As usual, any thoughts on what might have caused this and any remedial action that may be necessary would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Bottles of the clove spray are also available from Lakeland - right beside the cans of SpiderEx. They cost a lot less but SpiderEx seemed to be the way to go judging by the comments here! Many thanks to all who have contributed. I had not realised that spiders could be such a problem. Nonetheless, if a squirt of SpiderEx avoids this issue from returning, then I am happy!

Good to hear. Can also get it from Lakeland - just been out and got some there.

Thanks for all the interest/feedback so far. I had heard that spiders could cause issues but jut wasn't sure if they could cause the alarm/restore/alarm/restore pattern shown in the log. Didn't know such stuff existed! Will get hold of some asap - prevention won't do any harm.

Hi The system is based around a Scantronic PD9651 with four Honeywell IS312 PIRs with fsl wiring. It was installed around four months ago and has been operating properly until now. Last night a false alarm condition occurred after the system had been fully set for about a week. The relevant part of the log reads: 22.07.06 Burg Z04 Alarm 22.07.09 Burg Z04 Restore 22.10.23 Burg Z04 Alarm 22.10.26 Burg Z04 Restore 22.25.24 Z04 Lock Out 22.25.24 System Rearmed I have checked the connections inside the PIR and all appear to be good and tight and the resistor legs appear to be sound and not crossed. Nonetheless, I have given the screws an extra tweak. Very close to the PIR I did, however, find quite a large spider. Could it have been the cause of this particular false alarm? If not, as usual, any suggestions/comments would be most welcome. Many thanks.

Many thanks for the responses. I tried a walk-test as suggested. Got a very strange result! In walk-test mode neither the internal sounder nor the keypad beeped as I tested each zone until either: 30 seconds had elapsed or I was testing a fourth zone! Thus, nothing at all would happen as I tested the first three zones then, as I tested a fourth zone, the panel and sounder would beep and the panel indicated I was testing the first zone; as I tested a fifth zone, another beep and the panel indicated I was now testing the second zone and so on and so on. If I stopped testing any further zones, the panel would beep and report that I was testing zones three, four and five - but each was 30 seconds after I had actually done it! Eventually, 30 seconds after testing the last zone, the panel would have "caught up" with me. Testing zones in a different order made no difference - nothing until I crossed a fourth zone or for 30 seconds, whichever was the sooner. Testing two zones twice each gave a similar result ie nothing until I was testing the second one for second time - and then it would report I was testing the first one! "Going gaga" sounds about right for what I have been experiencing - especially in the light of the results of the walk-test. As it stands, the system is simply not usable so I will follow your suggestion and replace the PCB. On this point, just one query though - when I shut off the mains power and disconnect the battery, the external sounder will start. I am not a particularly fast worker so, thinking of the neighbours, how long will it take the battery on the external sounder to run down? Thanks again.

Hi Almost three years ago I installed a system at home (with a bit of assistance from this forum) based around a Scantronic 9651PD Panel; I also installed a number of Honeywell Is-215TQ Quad PIRs using FSL wiring. Zones have only one PIR connected. No modifications have been made and no works have been undertaken that might have interfered with the system since it was installed. At night, the system is part-set so that all the entrance doors and the ground floor are covered but the PIR on the first floor landing is excluded. Last night I attempted to part-set the system at bedtime as normal. The system beeped intermittently (as usual) as I crossed the hall and climbed the stairs (which is protected by Zone 4 PIR). However, the intermittent beeping continued after I passed the point where it normally stops. Even when, I was well clear of the Zone 4 PIR, the intermittent beeping continued. Then, instead of getting the short "double-beep" to confirm that the system was "part-set", I got an alarm situation. The Log reads: 23.03.00 Set Fail ZO4 [which is the hall PIR] 23.03.00 Burg ZO4 Restore 23.05.22 System Restore I have attempted to investigate the issue further this morning however I have encountered a rather odd problem (which may or may not be related): Some parts of the system seems to be working very, very, slowly. For example: when I open a door, the "chime" does not sound instantaneously as it used to - instead it takes anything from 10 seconds to several minutes to sound. When I attempt to set the system, I present the proximity tag and select my setting option but then the display returns to the "normal" unset display. Repeating several times does, eventually work. When un-setting the system, I present the proximity tag, the entry tone stops but I don't get the usual "double beep" to acknowledge it is unset. Instead, after the time runs out, I get an alarm condition. When viewing the alerts, the display takes some considerable time to return to normal after all alerts have been viewed. It is almost as if some parts of the system are running very slowly, so slowly in fact that time runs out on certain commands before the command is fully recognized and acted upon. [Finally (and this may simply be my memory at fault) I notice that the green mains light only shows when I am doing something (eg setting/un-setting, viewing logs etc). I thought it used to show continuously (except during mains failure).] Once again, any thoughts, advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.