Alarm going off when not armed

Markjf

Hi Guys,

I have a Scopetronic house alarm, it was put in about 12 years ago and worked pretty well up till now. Over the last few days it's gone of when it's NOT armed, I looked in the manual to see if I could find out what the code ment and all I seem to come up with is

0-8 Read operator memory

could anyone tell me what this is and how to fix it or will I have to get the alarm company in.

cheers Mark

Jnealon

What comes up on the display when it goes off.
It is more than likely a tamper problem i.e. a loose cover on one of the sensors or a bad connection somewhere

Markjf

It's only got a small led display and the code flashes one number at a time,
It looks like two 6's with the front of the first six missing,


If you can make anything from that?

thanks mark

Reyman

Most alarm systems have 4 wires in the circuit. Two wires are used for the arm function i.e. if someone sets off the window detect device or door detect.

The other two wires are a passive circuit carrying a continuous current whether the alarm is armed or not. If the wires are cut at any time the alarm will go off.

This is a safety feature to prevent someone from disabling your alarm without you knowing.

You need to trace your wiring zone by zone and check for continuity. You'll usually find there's a diconnect at one of the detectors rather than in the wiring itself.

Lex Luthor

sounds like a possible tamper issue....did you or anyone do anything to any part of the alarm (sensors/control unit) lately?

When is it happening? How often?

Markjf

Sorry out all day only got back now and yes the alarm was going off all day, poor neighbours.

No one was near any of the sensors, panal or bell box as far as I know the only thing is I pulled a cable for the satellite across the attic on thursday, I didn't think I moved anything but I may have.

The alarm could be fine for 2 to 3 hours then go off, once I put the code in it's fine again for another few hours so I am thinking it maybe a problem with the board.

I have the hole thing disconnected now so we can get some sleep.

Thank you all for your help so far
Mark

tommo22

Scopetronics have a tendency to do this when they get old (especially the homeguard panels). The system is 12 years in and doesnt owe you any money at this stage. You've got your moneys worth out of it.
Best to rip it out and put in a more modern system.. the Aztec system is top notch and not that expensive... (comes with free dialler to call you when an alarm is activated)
Getting a service engineer out to try and repair that old panel will cost a lot more than the system is currently worth and it may not even fix it altogether.
Bite the bullet... get a new one:p

BTW: some people have mentioned it may be a tamper alarm caused by disturbing the wiring... NOTE: a tamper alarm will not activate the outside bell only the internal one and the outside strobe light. If your outside bell is going off you can bet your bottom dollar it is a faulty alarm panel...

Jnealon

The scopetronic panels will go forever. I service these on a regular basis and they are still going strong. There is no need to waste money by pulling it out and replacing it if it is only a wiring issue
One word of advice is to stay away from the astec alarm system. I get called out to repiar these fairly regular and on one occasion the home owners were very lucky that the alarm panel did not go on fire. They are badly designed and most proper alarm companies will not touch them

aidan.p.mullins

Where can I buy scopetronix alarms parts in Ireland. I have built an extension
and want to put in an extra keypad. Bought the original system off Diagem in Capel street but they seem to be gone now.:

poolergirl

I have just purchased a house with Scopetronic (HomeGuard) alarm system - no user manual in the house. The alarm went off yesterday while we were away with E tb coming up on the display. does anyone know what this code signifies? Also, does anyone know how to reset the code or is it a call-out job and is there anywhere to obtain a manual?

Reyman

poolergirl wrote:

I have just purchased a house with Scopetronic (HomeGuard) alarm system - no user manual in the house. The alarm went off yesterday while we were away with E tb coming up on the display. does anyone know what this code signifies? Also, does anyone know how to reset the code or is it a call-out job and is there anywhere to obtain a manual?

For the Homegueard tb means 'tamper bell box' . This means that somebody tried to take off the cover on your bell box and triped the tamper switch.

Or else the switch is not seated properly against the box casing and is operating at random (tends to happen in high winds, when the casing cover moves)

If the tamper is permanently on you won't be able to set the alarm

JamesM

Mine was doing that recently - the guy said that it was almost certainly a tamper problem at the bell box. He disconnected it and no problem since. Of course the bell still works, just the tamper side of things disconnected. What thief climb up to your bell anyway
Jim.

poolergirl

Thanks for the info Reyman and James M.

It happened over the weekend when it was pretty windy so that might be the cause alright. (It was also broad daylight and the next door neighbour didn't spot anything but that is not to say that there was nothing to spot). It is working fine now - arming and disarming fine. I will inspect the box this evening just to make sure. I should then really get someone out to service it to stop this from re-occurring?

Question: I looked up the name of the alarm company on the alarm casing in goldenpages.ie and there was no record, so they might have gone out of business. In my previous abode Best Alarms did the installation (prior to me living there). Will they service an alarm installed by another company?

Also, does anyone have a full list of alarm codes for this brand of alarm and their meanings?

Reyman

poolergirl wrote:

Thanks for the info Reyman and James M.

Also, does anyone have a full list of alarm codes for this brand of alarm and their meanings?

It's not too likely anyone was climbing up a ladder to get at your alarm so it's most likely the tamper causing you trouble.

If you don't know the Engineering code it's hard to work on it because the thing blows your ears off when you climb a ladder and take the cover off to fix it. Apart from 7ft Guards asking you what you're at !

I have a copy of the HG user manual. If you're near a fax somewhere, pm me the phone number and I'll fax it to you when I get a chance. It's about 6 A4 pages

poolergirl

Spoke to the next door neighbour and she thinks that one of the kids on the street kicked a ball in which hit the door or the box. Mystery solved hopefully...

KoolKid

poolergirl wrote:

Spoke to the next door neighbour and she thinks that one of the kids on the street kicked a ball in which hit the door or the box. Mystery solved hopefully...

TB refers to a bell tamper.

thribb

Anyone still got a copy of this manual? PM me if so - thanks a mil!

BowWow

I've had a Scopetronic for about 14 years. Has worked well, but I'd like to replace with something with a dialer - any recommendations?

Jnealon

The new Europlex Signet or HKC securewatch

Reyman

The dialler is an extra with the HKC securewatch - it dials/texts about seven different numbers.
Cost: €70 plus the control panel

Carlow Dan

Sorry there guys, but can you (Reyman) or anyone recommend somewhere to buy the dialler you were talking about. I have a HKC securewatch alarm and I had a dialler that got damaged and had want to replace it (tired waiting on the alarm guy to come back) I'm based in Carlow.

Carlow Dan

Sorry there guys, but can you (Reyman) or anyone recommend somewhere to buy the dialler you were talking about. I have a HKC securewatch alarm and I had a dialler that got damaged and had want to replace it (tired waiting on the alarm guy to come back) I'm based in Carlow.

Reyman

There's a few places here in Dublin. But Carlow - I wouldn't be well up on.

Carlow Dan

Where abouts in Dublin?

Reyman

The place I get my HKC gear is :

Reliable Security Products Ltd

U3 Cian Pk Ind Est, Dublin, Co. Dublin
Phone: (01) 8372445

Coming from town It's a small road off the Drumcondra rd. on the right as you get near the Tolka river

onedin

Reyman wrote:

It's not too likely anyone was climbing up a ladder to get at your alarm so it's most likely the tamper causing you trouble.

If you don't know the Engineering code it's hard to work on it because the thing blows your ears off when you climb a ladder and take the cover off to fix it. Apart from 7ft Guards asking you what you're at !

I have a copy of the HG user manual. If you're near a fax somewhere, pm me the phone number and I'll fax it to you when I get a chance. It's about 6 A4 pages

Hi Reyman. I have a problem with the Scopetronic System. It is displaying a fault as " u2A " or " 2Au " Would appreciate if you could let me know what this means. Do not have a manual for the system.

Reyman

onedin wrote:

Hi Reyman. I have a problem with the Scopetronic System. It is displaying a fault as " u2A " or " 2Au " Would appreciate if you could let me know what this means. Do not have a manual for the system.

I got rid of my Scopetronic and replaced it with a HKC so I'm not so good on Scopetronic now. But from my memory there's no such message as u2A or 2AU. All the messages are 2 digit. U generally means - system disarmed.. Eg T2 means tamper zone 2; A2 means Alarm zone 2 etc.

The codes are hard to read on the Scoptronic - are you sure you're reading it right?

KoolKid

The u is just reftering to the system being disarmed. It may be a single didit display
so it would be going in order U A 2 which would mean system disarmed, last event alarm zone 2

Excelsior

Hey Reyman, sharing your knowledge here like this is brilliant. Reading this thread I've already doubled my understanding of home alarm systems.

I have a Homeguard Scopetronic- same old situation where I got the house but didn't get a manual. My alarm has been acting up by going off while not even armed and generally being a nuisance.

My display is now reading u-t2. So that means disarmed and tamper zone 2 but I was wondering if you could tell me any more about the tamper zones. Does that mean a window contact might be faulty and if so, is tamper zone 2 typically upstairs? Basically, can I learn anything more from this error message?

Reyman

Excelsior wrote:

Hey Reyman, sharing your knowledge here like this is brilliant. Reading this thread I've already doubled my understanding of home alarm systems.

I have a Homeguard Scopetronic- same old situation where I got the house but didn't get a manual. My alarm has been acting up by going off while not even armed and generally being a nuisance.

My display is now reading u-t2. So that means disarmed and tamper zone 2 but I was wondering if you could tell me any more about the tamper zones. Does that mean a window contact might be faulty and if so, is tamper zone 2 typically upstairs? Basically, can I learn anything more from this error message?

Tamper zone 2 could be caused by a break in the wiring or more likely a break at one of the detectors. If you didn't put in the wiring yourself, it's a bitch to find out what way the wiring has been done. That's why no one wants to do maintenance on strange alarm systems. If you're patient and trace the wiring section by section you'll find the fault.

My recommendation don't mess around - start from scratch. Rewire it with a new alarm with at least eight to ten zones, it's easy Then you'll understand it and tracing will be straightforward in the future because you can confine each zone to typically one window or one IR detector.

scruffybeat

hello there, could you please help me, i have just moved into house with a scopetronic homeguard system, it will not turn on and u...t...p flashes on the led panel, it worked for the 1st few days but it just stopped for some unknown reason, please help if u can and let me know what u...t..p means, thanks a lot

2 stroke

Had a scopetronic in a previos house, briliant alarm. But had a misterious habit of going off when not armed. We discovered it could arm itself during a power spike. saw this happen occasionaly when using power tools and especialy when switching off bathroom light and switching on hall light at the same time. We fitted a surge protector and never had a problem after that.

northdublin

to get around the problem of the tamper untill you install or have time to fix it, you can put a loop in the panel at the tamper thats giving the trouble. a staple or a short piece of wire and just bridge out the connection. it wont fix the problem but will let you turn on your system without inhibbiting a full zone. bware that when you open the panel you will trigger the panel tamper, when this happens it will set off the alarm so just switch it off by entering your code

KoolKid

2 stroke wrote:

But had a misterious habit of going off when not armed. We discovered it could arm itself during a power spike. .

Arming itself??? I dont think so.. More likely the system was registering a fault due to power surge etc...But certinly not arming itself.

2 stroke

Koolkid I kid you not. I have witnessed this happening several times in my own house. Bathroom and hall switch were side by side and you would often switch both at same time and hear the system arming. I have seen it happening in other houses also. I had a yellow drill that was very good at setting off unset alarms without drilling through wires or creating tamper codes. I changed to a cordless sds drill a few years ago and havn't had a problem since.

Hughesa58

thribb wrote: »

Anyone still got a copy of this manual? PM me if so - thanks a mil!

Bit late now
Only saw this today

I have scanned JPG images of the Installation & Programming Manual
Bit too big to attach

Hughesa

KoolKid

Activating an alarm when its disarmed does not mean the system is arming itself!!!

blindman

koolkid wrote: »

Activating an alarm when its disarmed does not mean the system is arming itself!!!

I've seen this happen, we only set the alarm when house is unoccupied (very rare), we have never had a false alarm when away from home but sometimes the system arms itself when we are indoors, next time someone activates a motion sensor the alarm sounds.

KoolKid

[sigh] The system does NOT arm itself.
It activates because there is a tamper or some other fault activating it.
Even when the system is disarmed it is monitoring certin condidtions on a 24hour basis.

AF

Dear Reyman, would you mind faxing me through a copy of the User Manual too please? I'm at 01 2052331 telephone #

af:)

Reyman wrote: »

It's not too likely anyone was climbing up a ladder to get at your alarm so it's most likely the tamper causing you trouble.

If you don't know the Engineering code it's hard to work on it because the thing blows your ears off when you climb a ladder and take the cover off to fix it. Apart from 7ft Guards asking you what you're at !

I have a copy of the HG user manual. If you're near a fax somewhere, pm me the phone number and I'll fax it to you when I get a chance. It's about 6 A4 pages

ryue65

Markjf wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I have a Scopetronic house alarm, it was put in about 12 years ago and worked pretty well up till now. Over the last few days it's gone of when it's NOT armed, I looked in the manual to see if I could find out what the code ment and all I seem to come up with is

0-8 Read operator memory

could anyone tell me what this is and how to fix it or will I have to get the alarm company in.

cheers Mark

Ive a similar problem, SCOPETRONIC HOMEGUARD installed in 1994 in our next door neighbours house whom have gone away (for a long while!) , and left us the keys. However their alarm is going off every 3 / 4 hours as follows, regardless of whether set/unset :

• when alarm is set : - full alarm ( inside & outside box ) triggers
• when alarm is disarmed : - only the internal bell trigger
• alarm code E 2

Given that its not my house, I wont rip it out and put a new alarm in!

Q1: what does code t2 mean?
Q2: Any clues on how to disable the alarm and/or fix it?

I understand that it may need a 12v 7AH battery. Q3:If this is the issue, where exactly on the panel motherboard is the battery? at the back? I haven't dismantled the board yet, but am tempted to do so if it goes off again in the middle of the night!

WRT to alarm codes, here are some of the ones that Ive learned from searching the net:

ff fuze
F1 mains failure
TB tamper box
PF power failure
L Panel box lid removed

Q4 : Any clue why UKPANELS wont release the manual to non-trade personnel on this particular make only?

derek_g34

Q1: what does code E2 mean?

This is probably t2 (Looks like a capital e with the top missing) This is the code for tamper 2 which is a 24 hour circuit. This circuit protects things while the system is disarmed i.e. junction box lids or motion detector lids.

Q2: Any clues on how to disable the alarm and/or fix it?

If you just want to shut the system up, you will need to enter the engineer code. The factory code for this panel was 0 1234. "c" will appear on the display if you have the correct code. If you want to do a quick repair, you will need to open up the main panel. This is a cream looking box around 250wide x 350long. The internal sounder will activate when you open it as there is a tamper swith mounted on the printed circuit board that is closed by the lid. Just put the code in the silence it. Look for two terminals marked t2 and wire across them. Make sure the tamper switch closes when you put the lid on, the system will not arm if you have not closed it correctly.

I understand that it may need a 12v 7AH battery. Q3:If this is the issue, where exactly on the panel motherboard is the battery? at the back? I haven't dismantled the board yet, but am tempted to do so if it goes off again in the middle of the night!

The battery will be sitting in the bottom of the panel with two leads going onto it, possibly red and black - you cant miss it. A word of warning - If you disconnect the mains supply and the panel battery, chances are the battery in the external bellbox will take over leaving you no control over it.

Q4 : Any clue why UKPANELS wont release the manual to non-trade personnel on this particular make only?

Not sure. This panel was manufactured in Ireland. They do not have a homeguard manual listed.

ryue65

Thanks derek_g34 for the prompt response. It is much appreciated. You are indeed correct wrt to a 't' and not a 'E'. As I was taller than the readout screen, it appeared as if the code was an 'e'! Doh!

Im not going to try to troubleshoot the mainalarm panel tonight. Will do that during daylight hours. Unfortunately the engineer code didn't work. I tried it and some others variants with no success

Im guessing that the lads who installed the original box also changed the engineer code.
Thanks again
Bren

ryue65

Thanks to Derek's feedback, and help, I think I resolved the problem for the moment, without having to completely disable the alarm.

The error code was in fact t2 and not e2. It referred to TamperZone 2. I opened the alarm panel and jumpered out the T2 set of wiring inputs, closed up the box and rearmed the full system. All of the remaining zones and tampers are activated and functional.

I was able to get 2 nights sleep uninterrupted.

derek_g34

Glad to be of assistance.

Ladypolgara

Hughesa58 wrote: »

Bit late now
Only saw this today

I have scanned JPG images of the Installation & Programming Manual
Bit too big to attach

Hughesa

Hi Hughesa58

I saw a post from you that you scanned the manual for Scopetronic alarm system. I bought a house few months ago with one of these and while I set it when going out, don't know how to do zones when going to bed. Given that there was a burgular in my driveway last night, I'd really like to know how to do this. Not sure if I'm allowed put my email on here to send on? Do you know? Thanks.

scopetronic

Rental house with what looks like an OLD scopetronic system. Been working fine up until last couple days.

Can set the alarm and leave the house as per normal, came home yesterday and alarm gong off. Display said P A in sequence.

Alarm went off multiple times while in the house and had to reset with the code and then even though 'u' was displayed it went off again.

Would put code in, and would show P A 2 or P A u depending on whether the code was put in. Every time opened the back door irrespective of what was on the display, it would go off! HELP

Jnealon

Check any panic buttons to make sure they have not been pressed or become loose

buzzby

Hi, I have a homeguard panel which has given no problems for the last 10 years or so. I had to change the bell box which I done yesterday. Since then the Bell Tamper will not close, I have disconnected the bell completely & bridged the Tamper Return & Bell Hold terminals at the panel with a 470ohm resistor & the Tamper Bell is still open. Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

KoolKid

Sounds like the panel has had it . Try removing the leg of the resisitor from hold off & connect to a permanant negetive
Also check all fuses

fred funk }{

Why did you change the bell?