Eircom Phonewatch Problems and Fault

tradman

Hope someone can help. Have Eircom phonewatch for the last 3 years, a wired system, never any problems. In the last week the alarm was activated 3 times falsely for some reason. There was no one breaking in so I have been booked in for an engineer to come out.

The kicker is I have decided to leave the alarm off - not set it at all - but the feckin thing is going off anyway in the middle of the night at random sometimes twice a night (typical it doesnt happen at 4 in the day).

I rang phonewatch and they have no record of these "middle of the night" activations. I asked them is there anyway to turn off the alarm system completely until the engineer gets out in a few days but they said no. I dont believe them. I would be great if anybody knew anything so i can stop tearing down the stairs at 4 in the morning with a bat. Thanks !

JOJOC

Hi
Had a similar problem about 2 weeks ago, it was making a beeping noise every 4 hours from 11pm, i rang them and they told me the battery was low in the front door sensor - while i was on the phone to them they asked me to open up the box and put in some code which seemed to work - they had to send out an engineer anyway.

Hope this helps!

fred funk }{

It could be a Faulty panic button or a problem with a tamper circuit. More likely a tamper because tampers are not normally sent into the central station. If you had the engineers code you could put it into engineer mode and it wouldn't go off. I don't know their engineer code but I'll make a few calls and see if I can get it for you.

northdublin

eircom phonewatches engineer codes are unique to each alarm so you wont be able to get it unless your ringing them directly. you can inhibit the zone or temporarily remove it untill its sorted. phonewatches helpline is a load of crap and who ever you were talkin to doesnt know what there sayin. im presuming since its only in 3 years ts a hkc and there very versitile so there would be more then one way to sort that out untill an engineer calls. ill pm you some info that might be helpfull

fishdog

I asked them is there anyway to turn off the alarm system completely until the engineer gets out

If you are really deterimened, do this:

1) Turn off the electrical power to the alarm panel. This can normally be done by removing the fuse from the spur outlet beside it.

2) Open the alarm panel (not keypad) this normall has just 1 screw. The alarm will go off when you do this. Get someone to enter the code when it does.

3) Disconnect the battery leads (simply pull them off)

If you have an outside bellbox this will sound until the battery in it dies, this may take 30 minutes or so.

northdublin

fishdog wrote: »

If you are really deterimened, do this:

1) Turn off the electrical power to the alarm panel. This can normally be done by removing the fuse from the spur outlet beside it.

2) Open the alarm panel (not keypad) this normall has just 1 screw. The alarm will go off when you do this. Get someone to enter the code when it does.

3) Disconnect the battery leads (simply pull them off)

If you have an outside bellbox this will sound until the battery in it dies, this may take 30 minutes or so.

just to point out that if the op does this procedure the engineer might have to re-learn in all the id sensors which is what phonewatch installs on 99% of its wired alarms and would charge an arm and a leg to do either that or walk off the job saying they would have to come back another time. other then that thats the easiest way disabling the alarm. the person the in the call centre should have told the op how to disable the zone or put it into soak which is done via the keypad, atleast the alrm would still work and wouldnt leave unexpected work for the service guy

Dano954

Had the same thing a few weeks ago, turned out to be the batteries needed to be replaced, I think they aim to change them at least every 4 years.

sparkfireman

happened to a mate of mine.... Turned out to be loose wiring in the sensors that needed tightening.... if it turns out to be this. make sure the engineer tightens them all!

fishdog

if the op does this procedure the engineer might have to re-learn in all the id sensors

(Engineer?? )I dont think so. Why would the alarm "forget"?? It would not forget the engineer code, or user codes or other parts of the programme. Perhaps the date and time would be wrong, that is all.

would charge an arm and a leg to do either that or walk off the job saying they would have to come back another time.

Then go elsewhere for your monitoring! PM me and I will send details of alarm installers that will service the system, reprogramme and take the system over without charging a fortune in return for getting a monitoring contract.

I think the OP feels that he has not been looked after and just wants a good nights sleep!! If I were him I would disconnect now and deal with any issues later!

Besides, I think Eircom would be understanding if the owner did this.

northdublin

if the op does this procedure the engineer might have to re-learn in all the id sensors

(Engineer?? )I dont think so. Why would the alarm "forget"?? It would not forget the engineer code, or user codes or other parts of the programme. Perhaps the date and time would be wrong, that is all.

this happened to a couple of alarm with id sensors that i did calls to. ive no explanation why but a few i went back to commision and give demos the id sensors and only the id sensors had unlearned themselves.

fishdog

this happened to a couple of alarm with id sensors that i did calls to. ive no explanation why

Fair enough, I take your word for it. I would still disconnect the alarm if I could not get someone to fix it