HKC securewatch beep.....

CiboC

We have an old HKC Securewatch panel beside the front door of the house.

The alarm never worked since we have moved in (over 7 years) and some of the cables to the various sensors are actually loose (as in not connected to anything!)

The keypad still has power. It never really posed a problem except when the power went off and it would issue this irritating beep every 5 seconds.

Problem is today it has started this beep. All the time. Power is fine and was not cut at any point during the day. It's driving us crazy! Nobody knows the code, previous owners didn't know the code, alarm was already broken for them too!

I am tempted to just cut the cables leading to the keypad. It's driving us nuts! Any other options?

KoolKid

Power the system down totally. Remove the mains fuse at the panel & disconnect the back up battery.

CiboC

Where would the battery be located? presumably not in the control panel beside the door?

I've never gone looking for the 'brain' of this alarm anywhere, I think it may be in the attic? Would that be a typical place for it to be put? The only reason I am suggesting that is because I have never found it anywhere else in the house!

Popeleo

I remember something similar as a keyholder in a previous job - 10 pm, I was working late and alone and the HKC alarm wouldn't set and had started to beep similar to how the OP described.

Luckily, I figured out the problem quickly enough. The back-up battery had died. And as luck would have it, I disassembled a computer UPC and it had two of the exact same batteries inside, so I was able to use one of them in the alarm panel and the beeping stopped and I could set the alarm and go home without waiting hours for the alarm guys to come and repair it.

Anyway, in this case, there is no point replacing the battery. Just do what KoolKid suggested and cut the power to the main panel. And when you open up the panel to disconnect the battery (maybe not necessary but better safe than sorry), there is probably a tamper switch, so the alarm might go off. It's OK - once the panel has no power, the alarm will stop.

Popeleo

CiboC wrote: »

Where would the battery be located? presumably not in the control panel beside the door?

I've never gone looking for the 'brain' of this alarm anywhere, I think it may be in the attic? Would that be a typical place for it to be put? The only reason I am suggesting that is because I have never found it anywhere else in the house!

I'm not an alarm professional but I have never seen one in an attic. They are usually meant to be accessed easily enough, so most I have seen are near the front door or under the stairs. When you say 'control panel', do you mean the keypad or something else? The main panel in my house is similar to the one in my old job - in a beige-coloured box about 300w x 500h x 100d (12" x 20" X 4"). Undo the one screw at the front-top (with a tamper switch) and the front of the box comes off. The battery is inside the box.

coxy123

CiboC wrote: »

Where would the battery be located? presumably not in the control panel beside the door?

I've never gone looking for the 'brain' of this alarm anywhere, I think it may be in the attic? Would that be a typical place for it to be put? The only reason I am suggesting that is because I have never found it anywhere else in the house!

A common location is beside the main fuse board/consumer unit - worth a try.

CiboC

coxy123 wrote: »

A common location is beside the main fuse board/consumer unit - worth a try.

No, it's not there - I have seen a beige coloured box as described above in the attic though!

The beep stopped last night, but shortly after the main siren outside the house went off for about 2 minutes, and then again a few hours later. It's been quiet since but I reckon it's time to do a HAL9000 job on this particular piece of equipment.....