Old Phonewatch Alarm decommission

LockRay

Hi all,

moved into an old house last year with old Phonewatch alarm. Monitoring was active but this has ceased since. I want to decommission and remove the alarm in its entirity. It is wireless, my only concern being the SAB outside. If I go at it I am sure it will ring until I get the battery out. Last alarm I installed was Astec back in the day, but that is well over 20 years ago now. I do have ear defenders so if this is my only option I am good with it. But if there are alternatives I would appreciate them.

Thanks

Jamiecullen20

I worked for phonewatch sales 2 years ago and that box looks like a dummy box. They haven’t installed live boxes since 2014-2015 I think from when they switched to the red and black colour scheme.

What I would recommend is you switch off the system at the consumer unit and wait for the battery to die from the panel. I’m not sure then how you’d properly decommission it after that. Would you be looking to get a new system in after?

LockRay

Thanks @Jamiecullen20, there is a dummy box on the back of the house, but the one at the front has LED's flashing so I am assuming it isn't a dummy box. I'll try killing the mains to it and see where that gets me. Of course leaving the dummy box(s) in place isn't the worst idea either.

Regarding geting a new system, having dogs has always been a probem with them barking / jumping at windows and activating nuisance alarms. I might try something like discrete cameras as an alternative to see how we go.

Bigmac1euro

Ok so my father had that panel installed in the house and the box at the front of the house was fake with a fake box at the back. (Plenty of fake boxes have an LED that flashes)

(I advise getting up on a ladder first and checking the box at the front)

A sensor broke at the back door one night and the internal alarm kept going off and it was really really really loud. IIRC I killed the power to the panel but this is also a trigger which will set the alarm off. There is a battery in that panel you need to open the panel and pull the battery out.

I suggest not killing the power but opening the panel first.

Remove the internal battery. (This may trigger the alarm)

Then kill the power to the unit.

if this triggers the outside alarm (if it’s connected) then be ready to kill the power to the house and at this point you’ll have to find the power source to the panel at the front providing it’s not battery operated which now that I think about it, it probably is.

Jamiecullen20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117719014#Comment_117719014

Message me and I can offer you some advice on a new system :)

Shark7

Jj

Shark7

Jj

LockRay

OK so after takingthe advice of @Jamiecullen20 I went ahead and removed power from the panel. The panel remained powerd by battery for 6 days before it finally gave up. In the six days it intermittently beeped and required intervention - just to hit the disarm button, but thankfully it was normal daylight hours. Neither bell box did anything, but the front one (which I believed to be real) still has a red led flashing regularly. So this too seems a fake bell box. Thanks all for your advice.