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Mains failure tones volume on Veritas R8


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I have a Veritas R8 alarm system that functions perfectly well with front and rear door control keypads.  There is an internal sounder that bleeps when someone comes in and out the house and I have turned that off. But the same box sounds off when we have a mains failure. and bleeps every 5 minutes or so, and is very loud. The problem I have is that we had a mains failure to the area last night (just before midnight) and took hours to resolve. But as you might imagine we had a loud bleep indoors every 5 minutes when we were trying to sleep. The external sounder did not go off thankfully.

I know the customer and the engineer's installer security codes for the system so I can access everything, but I can't see a code to turn down the volume on the internal sounder (if that's the right name) or even disable it completely in the event of a mains failure. I really don't want keeping awake because we have no power. Can anyone please suggest what code I can input? I think <eng code> 053 might do it, but until we have another mains failure I can't be certain I have input the right code.

Many thanks.

Edited by sixwheeledbeast
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It's a feature of the later Veritas versions, older versions without this I have known to completely drain the battery out, with nobody noticing if the mains is disconnected by accident or whatever.

It won't beep if the system is set as above so you could set the system omitting all the zones (including 0) if you want to walk around the house.

There is also a pot on the board to reduce advisory notes, not sure if this mains fail beep is considered "advisory" on an R8, but this will lower your entry exit notes too.

Disconnecting the speaker isn't an option it's likely the only thing that will make a sound in a break in, hopefully the outside box works but that's a whole other question if it's not been maintained.

It is a basic panel so expect to compromise, how often do you have a power cut to bother worrying about it is the question?

 

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7 minutes ago, PeterJames said:

either hat or go into engineer and that will stop it, but I dont think its that I think its most likely your mains smoke detectors beeping.

Oh yeah forgot about that

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Yes, I turned the chime off because I don't want it bleeping if I nip outside late at night (usually because I have forgotten to put the bin in front of my property) as it disturbs the rest of the house trying to sleep.

 

The sound I want to quieten or switch off is the shrill bleep (about every 3 minutes) when the mains power has gone off and until it is restored. I can't get off to sleep waiting for the next bleep. I don't need waking up in the middle of the night if the power is off and I am sleeping anyway. I can tell when I wake up anyway as my bedside light will be flashing (usually).  And if the mains is off during the day I suspect we will know fast enough when the TV and computers go off.

I just need to know the correct engineer's code to disable the "mains power off " internal alarm.

 

Thanks

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11 minutes ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

It's a feature of the later Veritas versions, older versions without this I have known to completely drain the battery out, with nobody noticing if the mains is disconnected by accident or whatever.

It won't beep if the system is set as above so you could set the system omitting all the zones (including 0) if you want to walk around the house.

There is also a pot on the board to reduce advisory notes, not sure if this mains fail beep is considered "advisory" on an R8, but this will lower your entry exit notes too.

Disconnecting the speaker isn't an option it's likely the only thing that will make a sound in a break in, hopefully the outside box works but that's a whole other question if it's not been maintained.

It is a basic panel so expect to compromise, how often do you have a power cut to bother worrying about it is the question?

 

The whole house, alarm and CCTV system is only 18 months old. So maintenance is not the issue.

We have probably had 2 or 3 power cuts in the last year, but as most are in the daytime the bleep doesn't matter, but in the middle of the night it is a nuisance especially when we can't sleep and might need to be up in the morning for work. I really just need it to be quieter and not so loud.

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So I would say you should part set the system. There is no engineer "function code" to switch it off. As I say it's a basic panel, see the rest of my post above for options.

The chime on mains fail is two upwards tones very similar to the chime sound.

Systems would usually be recommended for full operation checks every 12 months.

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15 minutes ago, SleepyShaws said:

 

I have 2 smoke detectors installed but the source of the noise is not those boxes.  It's a separate box on the wall that I was told is the internal alarm sounder box.

Turn your power off just to the alarm now and see if it still does it 

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24 minutes ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

So I would say you should part set the system. There is no engineer "function code" to switch it off. As I say it's a basic panel, see the rest of my post above for options.

The chime on mains fail is two upwards tones very similar to the chime sound.

Systems would usually be recommended for full operation checks every 12 months.

I am the homeowner, not the installer so I don't know how the smoke detectors and alarm all interact. I seem to think it was a single tone and not a two-tone chime.

I can check later if the alarm/smoke detectors are on a separate fuse so I can turn them off in the main fuse box to simulate a power cut.

Maybe if I just enter the user or engineer's code and press "reset" it might turn it off but in the dark with only torches, in the middle of the night you don't think clearly and trying to muffle the box with towels etc didn't help.  

Thanks for confirming that there is no function code to disable or lower the chime sound. I had read through them all but hoped someone with more experience might know a code I had missed. 

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1 minute ago, james.wilson said:

But as I said above it appears you don't set your alarm at night as it won't alert when it's arned

As pensioners (and certainly with the current COVID-19) we don't go out a lot. So I only set the alarm when we go out. We don't usually arm the system overnight as under normal circumstances we can also get alerts from the CCTV system if intruders enter our garden.

But a mains failure triggers this alarm on a 3 minute intermittent delay. Knowing there is not a specific code to cover this I can try other ideas. In the middle of the night you can't try out these things without annoying neighbours if the main alarm goes off.

Thanks.

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15 minutes ago, james.wilson said:

A mains failure to the alarm needn't be a full house failure, could be a multitude of things and your TV would stay on

This was a mains failure in a substation which took out the whole street in the middle of the night and set off some of the neighbour's external alarms. I just wanted a code (if one exists) to turn off the chime in future.   

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1 hour ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

Your alarm shouldn't sound outside if the power fails if it does there's something wrong with it, you can explain that to your neighbours too.

One thing I can always guarantee is that when the mains power goes off neighbours alarms will sound off in the area.  

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2 hours ago, SleepyShaws said:

As pensioners 

we can also get alerts from the CCTV system if intruders enter our garden.

 

Two worrying factors there 

 

The intruder doesnt get any alerts when he enters your house, and your pensioners. 

I dont wont to worry you, and I am certainly not trying to sell you anything, you already have an alarm and CCTV, but do you know how many burglaries occur when people are in ?  Google it you would be surprised.

 

I set my alarm when Im in the garden for the afternoon, but I get to see lots of burglaries and hear lots of scary stories in my job. You have a burglar alarm, kill two birds and set it, then you wont be woken up because there is a power cut,  (apart from your smoke detectors beeping every three or so minutes of course) more importantly your in local burglar will be alerted if he breaks in during a powercut, whereas your CCTV wont work ina powercut 

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One thing I can guarantee is there are plenty of systems out there installed but never serviced, just waiting for a power outage to annoy other neighbours across the country.

If your very unlucky, it doesn't stop and your away; expect the local authority to force entry and leave you a bill for silencing it on your behalf.

 

In addition to above post, I know of issues where insurance would not pay out due to the customer being in the garden during a forced entry at the opposite side of the house while alarm not armed.

They often prefer breaking in to occupied houses as they have knowledge of where you are, less chance of surprises.

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With an alarm and CCTV system any normal burglar will move on as other houses have neither, and they don't know mine is not set on overnight. They are a deterrent. We can't turn our own homes into fortresses. The law won't allow me to install the anti-theft devices I wouldn't think twice about installing.

The same with airport security that we spend billions on globally. Organised hijackers will still manage to take a plane if they are determined enough. 

If I set the alarm downstairs every night I can guarantee my wife, daughter or I would set off the darn thing within a week after going downstairs for a drink in the middle of the night.

 

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Years ago when not everyone had burglar alarms that was the case, now it entirely depends on the type of burglar you are likely to get. Most opportunists and druggies are to stupid to notice alarms and cameras until its too late. 

 

Part setting your alarm should allow for people getting up in the night, I have two kids a wife and dog and occasionally a third kid stays, none of them have ever set my alarm of in the middle of the night. 

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Why have a working systems at all if you just consider them a deterrent? Nobody said anything about a fortress, but all about layers some things maybe simple.

Security is a balance of cost over risk, not using what you have paid for to it's full potential is a waste of money while not fully decreasing your risk.

At the end of the day it's your decision, but just consider the years of experience put behind the advice given above, people always seem to re-evaluate after the horse has bolted.

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4 hours ago, SleepyShaws said:

We don't usually arm the system overnight as under normal circumstances we can also get alerts from the CCTV system if intruders enter our garden.

Probably not when your mains is off

2 hours ago, SleepyShaws said:

One thing I can always guarantee is that when the mains power goes off neighbours alarms will sound off in the area.  

That's because they are not working properly, chances are they have never been serviced

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