PeterJames

Do you have the engineers code?

Green is probably V+ the yellow and black will be the circuit. If the detector powers up when you put the green in V+ leave it for a few mins its normal for a detector to work out its surroundings when first powered, if the led stays on you know why it was dissed. you can swap it with most any detector so long as it has six wire ie a separate tamper and alarm circuit

@Alan12 You sound old enough to have learned many life lessons, but unfortunately taking advice from someone with experience isnt one of them. I dont think anyone here is trying to drum up business. My business mostly deals with commercial and public sector contracts, we do have some domestic but not a great deal. I would not be interested in taking on a 30 year old domestic Scantronic panel contract. Most here would be the same we all have plenty of work, this is one industry where you may struggle to find someone that will take it on. It was clear from you first post you are not a DIY installer you inherited the system and decided to try and fix it yourself. If you were a DIY installer you would have installed it yourself and had the manual already, and you would know what to do. Most DIY installers come here because they dont understand something in the manual or they want clarification on something or they want advice on placement etc. Alarm systems are made in such a way that they cannot be easily compromised. The side effects of this is that when they are not serviced regulary parts fail. This only becomes apparent when its too late and the alarm is sounding and cannot be stopped. Again most DIYers would understand this as they installed the system and understand how it works and carry out their own service regularly. Security companies have to run 24 hours and operate an out of hours service because even serviced alarm systems can go wrong. All of us on here get calls every now and again from non contract customers because there alarm is sounding and they cant stop it. My engineers wont attend non contract customers (mainly because non-contract cant afford the call-out charge) but that doesnt stop non-contract calling us and disturbing their sleep, and this is why we give advice on servicing. I am sorry that you thought that the advice we gave was not good enough. This forum is here to give free advice from engineers and business owners that give up their time free because they are passionate about this industry, not because they need to earn from you

Sometimes its best to let people find out stuff for themselves. When his alarm plays up at silly o clock in the morning and all his neighbours are pissed off with him he might remember the advice we gave, and understand why we gave it.

If the tamper switch is definately down then it should reset using your user code unless: 1. The alarm system used to be monitored and is on engineer reset for tampers 2. The tamper switch is faulty 3. The tamper switch is not seated correctly If you are sure that the tamper switch is down and seated correctly and the system wont reset then you need to call out an engineer. Its very likely that the engineer code was changed by the installer, and we wont know what he changed it to. The engineer code can be defaulted providing that the codes are not locked but we cannot tell you how to do this as we have no way of knowing who you are and if you are the owner of the system (its a security industry thing) As you have to call an engineer to fix the problem, it would be sensible to have the system serviced at the same time

I would agree, but when you see the likes of verisilly and other one way diy tat thats all over the TV, hubs is the direction that the domestic market is heading. In the years Ive been in this game: In the early years 80's to 90's smaller domestic didnt have alarms because it made them look like they had something to protect. In the 90's 2010's many domestics were being burgled by opportunist's, if you didnt have a alarm you were targeted. In the 2010' to 2020's domestic work seems to be larger properties (at least it does for us) insurance requirements only. 2020- seems to be app self-monitored domestic if we get the smaller systems, and it does come down to price. Hub based systems means you can plug it in next to the router pop up a few detectors 2hrs later (or 30 mins later in Happy Land) you're on to the next job. I would doubt very much that the commercial market will go that way but I have come across a few verisilly commercial sites over the last few years, some site that you would not expect to see it Antique Markets, I.T. companies with loads of servers (We fitted the access control and questioned their security alarm system and was told that their insurer was happy) high street independent shops.

Id try a power cycle

Alarms are designed to warn you if something is tampered with, and cutting wires can resut in tears. It sounds like the engineer fully decommissioned the system, but we cant tell 100% without looking for ourselves, or speaking with the chap that did it. My gut says you're probably okay to cut the wires, but please dont blame me if my gut is wrong.

Hi Yes to all your questions re the kit and Texe. The 800 is quite an old panel and long obsolete now. there are varios outputs on the panel itself I doubt you will get anything useful from the serial that panel predates SIA and only sent pin outs, but you can program a zone as a keyswitch to arm disarm it. I dont install Texe as a rule but I do know that the premier does talk to a specific home automation system but I cant remember what it is. Personally I use home assistant and a input output module from my alarm panel is connected to my server via ESP 32. But I only use it to switch my lights on and off etc no more than that. The panel I use comes with its own app which is probably a more secure and reliable way to notify me when the alarm has activated etc

First question would be whats the risk, theft attractive stock or property, area, etc etc. Second question value of contents if you were burgled how much would it cost to start again. Third question what does you insurer want? Read the small print Fourth would be site history have you been burgled before. Lastly what sort of physical security. This would give enough info to advise what you need. However, the difference between professional installers and diy is miles apart. Its a bit like going to a barber and cutting your own hair, If you dont want to look like Arthur Scargill then its best to go to the barbers. Professional installers will do a much better job, its unlikely to activate falsely, and more importantly it will work if you have a burglary. CCTV wise There are a lot of very good DIY systems out there but it is a bloody minefield, a pro should know the latest systems and design the system to your requirements. If you have no idea what BLC or HLC stands for then its better to get a pro in. Dahua and Hik are the main two Chinese brands and cant be beaten by anything none Chinese.

In theory the bell should only sound for 20 minutes and then stop. I would not recommend leaving it indefinitely though these things have a habit of going wrong at the least convenient time. That said I would recommend removing it all at the same time, if it hasnt been serviced in a while ho knows what it may or may not do

Agreed most of the DIY stuff is not very good but it depends on wether the the type of burglar you are likely to get is not very good too. If you are only likely to be targeted by smackheads then DIY is probably fine so long as you walk test it regularly. If you have stuff worth stealing then you should be looking for something a bit better.

hi and welcome

If its working okay then leave it, if it is the charging circuit on its way out it will get worse, change the panel then

James represents NSI installers (Other accreditations are available) on the board of BSIA. I spoke with my inspectorate during our biannual audit in October and he also confirmed that Cyber essentials is currently optional for installers. When it first came out I spoke with a few IT companies who wanted me to use clouds and windows, didnt seem very secure to me.

It could be that the transformer/ charging circuit is on its way out, how many years between battery changes if your old battery was over 5 years old it may have been pulling the charging circuit down for some time

Dont worry about close mains, so long as you're not running in the same containment crossing paths is fine. So no real need for screened but if you use it only ground it one end. Rads cookers stuff like that wont heat up quick enough. Quad element with white light lenses is unlikely to trigger a fa from headlights from windows. Open fires log burners will cause false alarms. Some furniture such as glass coffee tables will heat up quick enough on hot sunny days and can cause false alarms. It depends on which way the room faces etc. Animals will cause fa's unless you use pet friendly detectors, But Im just repeating what everyone else is saying. To be fair though false alarms are rare nowadays though the detector technology is so much better than it was 10 or even 5 years ago.

It could be that the bell battery is dead, its very rare though most of the public posts we get here are about alarms sounding when their power is turned off. Rather than a hammer I would advise a screwdriver and just disconnect the battery, the bell box is a deterrent there has been a marked rise in crime recently and I dont see a sign of it slowing down.

yes strip enough to go around the screw at least once always wrap it clockwise so the wire doesnt come unraveled as you do the screw up

When the PSU is off there is no AC present the battery is DC it probably is coming from the PSU im not doubting it but my bet is that all of them give off AC noise

Ive just checked the ac noise on our demo panel in the training room and thats 32v, that panel hasnt seen much action at all, mostly used for testing different programming scenarios. It has a couple of wired contacts and a wired detector the old style keypad a GSM/Wifi card and some wireless stuff on it. I am wondering if its a trait of the switch mode PSU

I wouldnt assume anything with an old system, the panel battery is most likely no good, but thats not to say the same for the external sounder battery. We get many people come here because their external sound sounds in a power cut. Thats because the panel battery is no good but the sounder battery is in pristine condition. The XM were a good panel and there are still a fair few of them out there in good servicable condition. Its likely the panel has locked up (probably due to the panel battery no good) If you down power it the external sounder could start sounding.

You could try an ACT1313 https://www.actmeters.co.uk/alarm-troubleshooting/1313-12v-spike-suppressor

We have had a few of these sounders start coming up with problems, usually after a battery change. Its quite annoying as customers dont want to pay for the battery replacement and the sounder replacement. I do understand why but it means we are left with Visonic battery that we may not use and theyre not cheap. The early wireless systems were rubbish, the Visonic, Gardtec, and Pyronix, offerings were better, but not by much. Im not a big fan of wireless but the wireless stuff thats out there now is so much better.

You can have the lights on all the time, or on proximity. I have an RKP on my landing I would have noticed if it kept illuminating. I wouldnt know if my other RKP's illuminated intermittently as the only time I go to them is when im coming or going .