Chris A

First of all, thanks to all three who took the time to respond. Comments very helpful. Strangely, when I got up this morning, the PIR in question had reverted to "normal" operation. I did, however, take the opportunity to check inside. All seemed to be as expected. Whilst there was no trace of anything when I looked, I just wonder if, perhaps, a creepy-crawly had somehow got inside for 24 hours - there is a slight gap where the cable enters. In the event of the problem returning, however, I will just replace it as suggested. Thanks. Chris.

Hi My system has been operating fine since my last post (around 2017) however today a problem has arisen with one of my Honeywell S-215TQ PIRs. I first noticed that the system was going into alarm mode a couple of seconds after setting it. Every time, the same PIR was the cause. I then noticed that this PIR's red light is randomly coming "on" even when there is nothing for it to detect. In fact the light is "on" almost all of the time. It is not lit constantly - it is more of a slow, uneven, flicker. The external lens is clear and there are no new sources nearby that could be interfering with the IR. The PIR is connected to a Scantronic 9651PD using FSL and the whole system is about 12 years old. Is it likely that the PIR needs to be replaced or do the resistors used for FSL fail after a period of time and cause this issue? [The only other thing I think I should add is that yesterday, for the first time in years, I had a "false alarm". But this was down to the fact that one of the protected doors had not been shut properly when the system was set - a case of "user error". Whilst probably not relevant to the issue I have described, I mention just in case it is more than co-incidence?] Any thoughts, as always, will be most welcome. Thanks. Chris.

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.