Problem - Alarm going off

redman

I am wondering if I have a problem with sensors.

My alarm has gone off five times (twice last night) during the night in the last 10 days and is confined to the kitchen area.

We did have a couple of robberys in the area lately so I set up some infrared wireless cameras on the outside of the house and hooked up to a recorder.
I had heard of thieves banging on windows to get the occupants to leave the alarm off thinking it was a faulty alarm

The footage is showing no bird hitting the window or any other activity.

Can a window sensor be faulty where it only occasionally goes off?

shabbyroad

Yes, it appears that sensors can go 'bad'.

I have a pain in my arse getting the sensors on our front and back doors replaced and am now going to learn where to buy them and how to replace them myself. If I didn't know better I'd say there was a vested interest on behalf of my maintenance company in having these feckers fail on an annual basis.

It is possible that there is some tampering going on but you've done the logical thing and set up a camera.

boardy

I had the same problem, and after a year of the alarm company saying it was the birds, or the hailstones, or the sunlight, I requested that they change the kitchen sensor. And guess what? The alarm hasn't gone off since.

GreeBo

even if you do get your own sensors you will need the alarm co to come out and input the engineers code, otherwise you wont be able to reset it (the tamper alert will be set off when you remove the sensor)

I'm guessing its a vibration sensor that is the culprit...have you tested to see how much of a vibration it needs to be set off?
Have you confined it to 1 single sensor?

redman

Thanks for all the feedback, it was reassuring.

The alarm comp. have finally agreed to come out to replace the sensors.

shabbyroad

I have the engineer code already and if I didn't I'd expect the company that did the installation to give it to me - there's no exclusivity agreement in place between usd.
I was thinking of doing the part-time FAS course to get training in alarm installation and maintenance so I can do this for myself. It can't be that complicated.

GreeBo

shabbyroad wrote:

I have the engineer code already and if I didn't I'd expect the company that did the installation to give it to me - there's no exclusivity agreement in place between usd.

well they wont
thats "their" code.
they will enter it and unlock the panel but they wont give it to you.
Otherwise you could go to every house they have fitted and let yourself in.
Its not *that* complicated.
Programming the panels and not electrocuting yourself would the main barriers to entry I guess.

endplate

You can purchase new PIR (Passive infa red) sensors online from Radionics. Check out this link

http://www.radionics.ie/cgi-bin/bv/search/SearchDisplay.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0602956599.1135255602@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfaddgieemkddcefeceefdffhdglg.0&SearchType=quick&viewType=text&SearchText=pir&quickSubmit=Go