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Phonewatch Alarms

  • 15-10-2007 8:59pm
    #1
    rmacm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,039 ✭✭✭


    Hi

    Mods I'm not entirely sure if this is the right place to post this so move or leave as you see fit.

    I recently moved into an apartment and there's an Eircom Phonewatch alarm in the place (its one of the older models). It isn't being monitored by Eircom so as I understand it it's acting as a standalone alarm. About 2 weeks ago it decided to go off one night about 02:00 for no apparent reason it wasn't armed or anything. Eventually I managed to find the code to turn the thing off and I noticed the status light was blinking. So I hit the status button and it read out an error report and then the status light stopped blinking.

    Fine I thought because I was more inclined to tear the box off the wall for waking me up at 02:00 than figuring out why it went off so I left it. So last weekend I was away and when I came back I didn't look at the alarm box (it wasn't set over the weekend) but later on in the evening I saw the status light blinking again repeated above procedure and got the same error report. Now I can't remember what the error was exactly but it did mention something about "tamper control" or something along those lines. Anyway the error was cleared and I made sure it wasn't armed before I went to bed so it didn't go off again.

    I'm just wondering if anyone has come across a Phonewatch alarm doing something like this before and have any idea why it's doing it. There wasn't anyone in the apartment to mess with the alarm and the place wasn't broken into so I don't see how it could have been tampered with. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps there was a power cut and this caused it.

    Cheers
    Rory


Comments

  • #2
    northdublin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 459 ✭✭northdublin


    is it the d-a or the premier model?. does it have a little lcd screen?. when you press staus button and it gives the message you have to press the clear button to wipe the log otherwise it will keep flashing.
    the newer phonewatch systems automatically clear the log once you have pressed the staus button.
    if it goes of again because of a tamper fault, make sure its not the master control unit tamper. there is a pressure switch on the back of the unit so if its removed off the wall it will go into tamper. if its a zone that is tampered youre knackered, those systems are on 319 mhz and are discontinued.so not much hope of getting a new sensor without going trough phonewatch and even at that it would be a reworked unit salvaged from the many upgrades they are doin.


  • #3
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Make sure its not still connected to the phone line as it might be making calls which you'll be billed for.


  • #4
    rmacm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,039 ✭✭✭rmacm


    northdublin wrote: »
    is it the d-a or the premier model?. does it have a little lcd screen?. when you press staus button and it gives the message you have to press the clear button to wipe the log otherwise it will keep flashing.

    Ok there's no LCD screen on it and I've no idea what a D-A or Premier model is....but it is old it actually has a Telecom Eireann Phonewatch logo on the alarm panel so I'd imagine it was installed in the mid ninties.
    northdublin wrote:
    if it goes of again because of a tamper fault, make sure its not the master control unit tamper. there is a pressure switch on the back of the unit so if its removed off the wall it will go into tamper.

    Right that's jogged my memory ever so slightly the error it gave out was something about Master Control Unit Tamper and then a time. Is this a good or a bad thing? From what you said above it wasn't a zone tamper so it's related to something else.
    BostonB wrote: »
    Make sure its not still connected to the phone line as it might be making calls which you'll be billed for.

    It's not connected to the phone line so that's ok thanks for the tip though.


  • #5
    northdublin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 459 ✭✭northdublin


    the panel itself is not fixed directly to the wall....there is a mounting plate on the wall fixed with 4 screws and the panel slides onto this. the panel has a pressure switch on the back so if its removed the alarm will activate. the system does not have to be armed for this to happen as most panels are tampered with when the system is off. its basically to stop anyone disabling the panel when its not armed.
    if the panel has not been disturbed recently then its for the bin,usually its the sensors that show up intermittant tampers but ive seen a few panels do it too.
    if the panel was still connected to the landline and was dialing out your phone would go dead for about 20-30 seconds while the system sends the info trough to the monitoring station, so if this occurs when an activation takes place you would be still connected.if the phone dial tone does not dissapear then its disconnected.

    im presuming its a wire free system, and if so its the premier model you have. you can upgrade the panel to the newer one if you wish and keep the old sensors but you would have to go trough phonewatch. there current system is on a differant frequency but via a bridging unit the newer panel can be made compatable with the older sensors.


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