hi

this is my first post so i would like to thank you for any help in advance as i have very little expirience with alarms especially fault finding.

i got a call from a friend who had drilled a hole above fis alarm panel (optima xl4) and had set off the bell. he was unable to reset using the code and called me an electrician.

i removed the plaster from around the drilled hole and could see a couple of damaged cables. so i tried to strip the insulation back a twist them together (good as new, hehehe). the problem is when we tried to reset it zones 2 and 3 flash on and the bell continues to sound even with all the electric turned off at the mains.

i replaced the sensors 2 and 3 with links found in the panel to remove them from the equation. i now able to reset the panel so the only lights on were the power and ok(whatever it is) light.

i could set the alarm and then open the front to set it off again

the problem is the bell was going off the whole time with a steady stream of neighbours coming around to see what was going on.

i ended up having to break the bottom of the box to get in due to rust on the screw and disconnect the siren cable from its terminal. it has a battery inside with a jumper bar wich allows you to disconnect it.

the battery in side the control panel had alot of corrosion which made it impossible to remove the terminals. i will replace this and see if it makes any difference. i will also replace the external bell.

it is not his house so he does not want to replace the system.

thanks for all your time reading this novel of a post

i hope it was worth your time.

so now all is quiet untill i go around again

Erm.............

sounds like you need to just replace the fuse inside the panel ....

you broke it !

needs new bell/aux fuse and new sab.

Vandal.

Oh dear................replace the fuse but if i were you get an approved Alarm Company out to service/repair the system.

yeah it is all fixed now, replaced fuse, fitted a new SAB and repaired the damaged wires.

also installed a new battery.

could not unscrew old bell box cover even when i had pliers on the nut, it was rusted solid so the only choice i had was to break it off the wall.

the new box looks great and, gives people the impression a new systems has been installed.

have got some more electrical work from that one job.

thanks for all your help

he was unable to reset using the code and called me an electrician.

That wasn't very polite!

That wasn't very polite!

I think that's a bit below the belt!