Yet another Aritech CS350 Cabinet Tamper issue...

jasonb

Hi there,

I've read through a few similar posts here about this, but either they weren't the exact same, or I ended up not understanding the answers, so I thought I'd put up my own one.

I've an Aritech CS350 alarm fitted about 13 years ago. For the last few years (maybe 5 or so) it sometimes goes off when not set. The message is always 'Tamper - Cabinet Tamper' and doesn't give any zone or anything like that. It could easily be a year of nothing, and then it might happen a couple of days in a row.

And that's what's happened recently, at 4:30 am two nights ago and 11:20pm last night. Same problem (alarm going off) and same message (Tamper - Cabinet Tamper).

From what I've tried to understand here from similar questions, it sounds like it's not a box on a door or window (as that would have a zone in the error?) but maybe the main box itself, or the one on the wall outside?

Any advice would be appreciated, please keep it as simple as possible as I know very little about the system. I do have the Engineer Code if that helps.

Thanks...

J.

altor

jasonb wrote: »

Hi there,

I've read through a few similar posts here about this, but either they weren't the exact same, or I ended up not understanding the answers, so I thought I'd put up my own one.

I've an Aritech CS350 alarm fitted about 13 years ago. For the last few years (maybe 5 or so) it sometimes goes off when not set. The message is always 'Tamper - Cabinet Tamper' and doesn't give any zone or anything like that. It could easily be a year of nothing, and then it might happen a couple of days in a row.

And that's what's happened recently, at 4:30 am two nights ago and 11:20pm last night. Same problem (alarm going off) and same message (Tamper - Cabinet Tamper).

From what I've tried to understand here from similar questions, it sounds like it's not a box on a door or window (as that would have a zone in the error?) but maybe the main box itself, or the one on the wall outside?

Any advice would be appreciated, please keep it as simple as possible as I know very little about the system. I do have the Engineer Code if that helps.

Thanks...

J.

If you go into engineering and check the log is it saying cabinet tamper for the alarm activation. There is also an taper loop covered in 18/19 on the board, is there anything wired in there?

KoolKid

On the CS350 this can only be the lid tamper switch on the aux tamper wired into terminals 18&19.
If tthere is zone tampers wired into these terminal disconnect them for now and close off with a staple or short length of cable.
After that you would need a multimeter to check the resistance on that loop to find the fault.

jasonb

Thanks for your quick replies...

Ok, firstly I went into the Engineer Log, chose Display Log and it went through the events. Apart from the usual Arm and Disarm events, there were the two 'Tamper' ones. It just had the word 'Tamper', I don't know if it's possible to get more details on each event?

When you say 'lid tamper switch', do you mean the lid of the box on the wall, or any lid on any box / sensor?

If I'm reading your instructions right, you're telling me to:

1. Remove the lid of the box on the wall
2. Check Terminals 18 & 19 to see if anything is wired into them
3. If there is, disconnect the two wires for the moment, and use a staple or wire to join terminals 18 and 19.
4. Use a Multimeter to find the fault on the loop.

If that's all correct, I've a couple of questions...

1. If I remove the lid of the box, will the alarm sound, and if it will, can I disable it first? Also, if I disconnect 18 and 19, will that cause the alarm to sound until I put the staple in?
2. If I disconnect the terminals, does that disable the alarm, or only the Tamper feature, and if it's only the tamper feature, does that invalidate my House Insurance.
3. What exactly is the 'loop'? Is it the wires going all the way around the house, from the main box to every sensor and back, checking for tampers? And do I use a multimeter to test them?

Thanks again...

J.

KoolKid

The panel tamper refers to either the aux tamper inputs in the main control panel or the lid on that control panel.
IIf there are zone tampers wired into terminals 18&19 then yes, it could refer to a lid on any zone tamper that is wired into terminals 18&19. That's why I suggested disconnecting and closing off those first. This will not affect the operation of that as an alarm zone.

kub

Lads I don't know about yourselves but whenever I went on a service call on a CS350 with that fault it was always something wired into 18 and 19.
Of course if guys back in those days were competent with eol resistors then that would not have been the case.

KoolKid

I prefer duel EOL wiring as it makes finding these problems so much easier. But as you know there are installers out there that don't even understand the basics of resistance.

kub

KoolKid wrote: »

I prefer duel EOL wiring as it makes finding these problems so much easier. But as you know there are installers out there that don't even understand the basics of resistance.

Absolutely, it separates the boys from the men.

altor

jasonb wrote: »

Thanks for your quick replies...

Ok, firstly I went into the Engineer Log, chose Display Log and it went through the events. Apart from the usual Arm and Disarm events, there were the two 'Tamper' ones. It just had the word 'Tamper', I don't know if it's possible to get more details on each event?

When you say 'lid tamper switch', do you mean the lid of the box on the wall, or any lid on any box / sensor?

If I'm reading your instructions right, you're telling me to:

1. Remove the lid of the box on the wall
2. Check Terminals 18 & 19 to see if anything is wired into them
3. If there is, disconnect the two wires for the moment, and use a staple or wire to join terminals 18 and 19.
4. Use a Multimeter to find the fault on the loop.

If that's all correct, I've a couple of questions...

1. If I remove the lid of the box, will the alarm sound, and if it will, can I disable it first? Also, if I disconnect 18 and 19, will that cause the alarm to sound until I put the staple in?
2. If I disconnect the terminals, does that disable the alarm, or only the Tamper feature, and if it's only the tamper feature, does that invalidate my House Insurance.
3. What exactly is the 'loop'? Is it the wires going all the way around the house, from the main box to every sensor and back, checking for tampers? And do I use a multimeter to test them?

Thanks again...

J.

If you have the system in engineer mode then opening the control panel will not set off the alarm.
Check if anything is wired into terminals 18 and 19.
If so there may be an issue with a tamper on a device installed on the system.
Only checking with a meter will find this fault.
Another option is to bypass the tamper detection on the devices by putting a loop of cable across terminals 18 and 19.
This system would be classed as a working alarm rather than a system up to today's standards. In fact even our grade 1 alarms installed today do not require tamper protection of devices. I would ask the insurance company to clarify what they class as a working alarm to be on the safe side, after all its them who are offering you a discount off your premium. The alarm system will function without tamper protection on the devices although repairing the problem is always the better solution.

jasonb

Thanks for all your comments. It went off again at about 1am, so today I'll be putting it in Engineering mode, opening up the lid and I'll see how I get on. Should I turn off the power first or is it ok to work with Terminals 18 and 19 with the Mains still on?

Thanks...

J.

kub

Just solely for safety switch off the mains.

jasonb

Yeah, I was kinda thinking that myself, thanks...

J.

jasonb

Well, all done. Into Engineer mode, turned off the power, removed the box lid and removed the cables going into 18 and 19. I labeled them and tidied them and then put in a 3 or 4 inch length of wire into both ports and labeled that. Closed it all up, turned on the power again and it all seems to be fine.

Of course, I've no way of knowing if it's fixed, apart from opening one of the sensors maybe. But that's for another day.

Thanks for the excellent advice and instructions...

J.

altor

jasonb wrote: »

Well, all done. Into Engineer mode, turned off the power, removed the box lid and removed the cables going into 18 and 19. I labeled them and tidied them and then put in a 3 or 4 inch length of wire into both ports and labeled that. Closed it all up, turned on the power again and it all seems to be fine.

Of course, I've no way of knowing if it's fixed, apart from opening one of the sensors maybe. But that's for another day.

Thanks for the excellent advice and instructions...

J.

Hopefully that sorts it for you.
All easy when you know how ☺