PeterJames

Glad we could be of service

Are you sure? I didnt think you could with ADE panels, its been a long time since I did any programming mind.

LOL drop testing is using a special instrument that puts a load onto the battery, but as Paul says below, you cannot do this with Lithium batteries.

We're not, we are seeing it from both sides hopefully. If a customer telephone here complaining we would first off ask them to put their grievance in writing. It would come to me and I would investigate it, I would look at the job sheet, then speak with the operation manager, then speak with the engineer. If the failed product was still in our quarantine shelf I would look at the item. I will then call the customer and get their side. Once I have all the facts I will make judgement. As far as I can make out in the problem started when there was power problems no mains. When the power returned, it was discovered that all the batteries in the detection required changing and the main control panel battery was fine. I can only surmise from experience what had happened, but you and I both know that it is likely that the power needed recycling on the CPU. What we dont know is what the panel did/said once it came back to life. It could be sour grapes on part of the alarm company because the customer did not have the system serviced, reading the information claimed to be on the invoice I can understand why Maria would think that. Or it could be that the Lithium batteries were genuinely failing. The problem now is that the Maria suspects its sour grapes, so therefore is asking us if her suspicion could be correct. We dont know for sure as we have only heard her half of the story, but it is possible, and that is all I am saying. The inspectorate will find out by asking the company the right questions.

Or it could be that it was written that way because the customer was not there to show/explain too. (I am not defending the engineer, or the company but engineers and job-sheets are down to interpretation sometimes) We had a Fire alarm takeover recently, the landlord had had one or two false alarms and was unhappy with the incumbent co. We tested everything and replaced the batteries dated 2009 wrote everything clearly on the job-sheet stating that the false alarms may have been down to the batteries that had failed the drop test as well as being 8 years old. The landlord complained saying that the panel was only replaced last year so the batteries were only a year old. We sent a copy of the jobsheet and asked him if the false alarms had stopped, we got a cheque a week later. Good luck Maria

If its an approved system the customer would have paid for a certificate, that is what pays the inspectorates wages, the customer has every right to get them involved.

I think the point is Imran that the origin of the problem was with the power cut, from the OP point of view they had a power outage which caused a problem with something unrelated to the outage.

QFA If they are an approved company they will have to take your complaint seriously and if they are ISO9001:2015 they will have a process of hoops to jump through. Their diagnosis would have to make sense to their inspectorate, or they will be in trouble.

The problem was because the battery had discharged completely, the panel was unable to deal with charging the battery and powering the control panel efficiently so the panel had locked up. Recycling the power would have restarted the panel, the Lithium batteries in the detectors would not have had anything to do with the panel locking up. The reason I asked if the company is approved is because you can appeal to their inspectorate for a full explanation as to what happened, the inspectorate should ask the right questions for you and if the company is bluffing then it will be found out. I am not familiar with the wireless version of the CPX but the 600 series definitively does indicate low battery on detectors well in advance. Have you checked your user manual what does it say about detector batteries and low battery warnings?

Is the company an approved company?

£50 is too cheap and £10.00 per battery is to dear but £104 is still reasonable, we would have charged £76 for the call out and around £4.50 per battery plus VAT so about the same. Sounds expensive but name a profession that isn't expensive, and your not paying for how far he travels or how long he was there for, you're paying for someone to do something you could not do yourself. The lithium batteries would not necessarily be influenced by the mains failure, the main control panel would have been and it would have taken a full 24hrs to recharge. Its difficult to surmise the exact events after power was returned to your panel, but I would guess that the battery would have pulled the system down until the battery was fully charged and the system had been restarted, and that would be when the low batteries in the detectors would have been discovered. In my experience Lithium batteries rarely last three years despite what the manufactures tell you, we change batteries yearly because its cheaper than calling us out between service visits. You could with the builders that the batteries would have not needed to be changed so soon if it not for the power incident, but they will be claiming on their insurance anyway. I suspect food in your freezer and fridge was spoilt, and you have suffered inconvenience no hot water, lights, etc, on top of the alarm problem, the insurance negotiators will be used to dealing with this sort of thing.

Thanks you've just saved me a fortune!

Hi Scott It really wont be just replace the batteries once a year for £13.00 per month honestly. I suspect your installer did not explain what you were getting for your money, but if I am wrong look at other alarm companies in your area because most will offer a maintenance contract for around that price. Because of the nature of alarm systems, when they go wrong they can be a nuisance to not just you but your neighbours therefore alarm companies have to have someone on call 24/7 should your alarm become a nuisance. That in itself is expensive, I pay £25 a night for the engineer on standby that doesnt include what I pay him if he has to go out. I also suspect that the £13.00 per month entitles the customer to priority service we attend call-outs same day for non urgent calls and straight away for urgent ones. Contracted customers also pay less for call-outs we charge non contract customers 3 times more than contracted customers, although we do offer an option to take up a contract and reduce the call-out fee. Servicing the alarm and replacing the batteries prevents faults with the system, so you end up with a trouble free alarm. It sound like the replacement batteries you have purchased could be fake or past their shelf life, (Another reason to have contract we buy batteries from a ISO Quality supplier) Ebay and corner shops are not the best place to buy batteries.

Maybe its because nobody replied the op thought it was closed?

Well back in those days my weapon only fired when I took the safety off

Well I found a gun in a girls glove box once, I didnt hang around long enough to find out if it was real or not. Just wiped my prints off the glove box button, and poodled off before she came back to the car. I had only met her that night in a nightclub so it was no loss really

Its been like that here since the Labour Party Bloody Conference

No, you only need it if you intend to service it yourself, 99% of professionally installed systems have a service contract.

Well if you wanted to fix it yourself you should have told them when they installed it, they would have fitted a DIY system

Your paying for them to fix it, what you paid for the system doesnt cover free callouts forever.

You wont get in with 7890 the engineer code would have been changed. Have you tried calling your installer? If its not been serviced since 2002 its likely your problem will be battery related, it should have been replaced four times since 2002

Sorry Martin no defaulting instructions can be given out in the public areas or by PM to anyone that has not been screened as trade, for obvious reasons

I know someone who used to sell for them, he was with them for around five years never heard him complain. They let quite a few engineers go a couple of years ago as they lost a big contract, we were flooded with CV's with service guys from Romec at the time. I think they all found jobs soon enough. Dave Partridge works for them not that you ever see him on here nowadays.

Knowing the age of the panel its probably assumed that the bell is of a relative age. The advice given comes from the voice of experience, the panel over 20 years old, it has been on all that time, armed or not, it has been on, therefore its tired. If you left your tv on for 20 years would you expect the picture quality to be as good as new? Even well serviced alarm systems become unreliable as they get to the sort of age yours is, yours hasnt been serviced for several years by the sound of things. The problem with alarm systems is they can be a nuisance when they start making noises in the middle of the night and the owner cant stop them, engineers dont like being woken up in the middle of the night to attend to alarm systems that have become a nuisance because the owner tried to save some cash, hence when you come here and ask we give the right advice. If its not what you want to hear thats not really our problem, we can only tell you what is right, because you wont thank us if we just told you what you want to hear, when the thing is going off at silly oclock in the morning and you cant stop it.

I love those, with the little bits of nuts and nougat all covered in a solid chocolate.