House alarm question

[nap61]

Living in S.E. ,you live with the threat of storms. However, Isaac was the first (very) near miss at my new house and property. It was not a big storm by our normal standards (think Betsy, Camille, Katrina, Rita, etc), but it moved so slow that it cause widespread power outages and flooding. I was luckier than many in that I had no serious damage and only lost power for about 2.5 days. I haven't set up an emergency power system yet. When the power went out, a yellow warning triangle on my house alarm control pad lite up and stayed on. The system was powered by the back up battery for about 1.5 days then went dead. When the grid power came back on, the yellow triangle lite again and stayed on. The manual says that if your house power or neighborhood power goes out and the warning light comes on, call for service. I checked the battery (small 12V) and it seems to be OK (almost 14V). I pressed the reset button and that did nothing. I would hate to be forced to pay a service call every time the power goes out. Does anyone have any ideas on what my next step should be?

Norm

 

[Willl]

Does anyone have any ideas on what my next step should be?

Not to be a smart arse, but how about telling us what brand and model your alarm is ?

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Norm,

Give your alarm service company a call. This is probably something they can handle remotely over the phone line the alarm is connected to. The manual states you should give them a call, but I doubt it will mean they actually have to make a service call to your house.

Lost

 

[nap61]

Thanks Willl and Lost. I think I solved the problem. It appears to have been a lost telephone/communication warning. I tried to reset the time/date and the warning cleared. Reading on the internet led me to believe it was a T/C warning.

Willl,
You asked a reasonable question about the make and model of the unit. I hope you understand why I was reluctant to put that information on the internet.

Thanks again
Norm

 

[westcliffe01]

Loss of power and or communications is often the first sign you are about to be hit by something else other than the weather. So it does not surprise me that the alarm system would try to bring your attention to that fact. It apparently does not communicate the problem very effectively, however...

 

[OcalaPat]

Loss of power and or communications is often the first sign you are about to be hit by something else other than the weather. So it does not surprise me that the alarm system would try to bring your attention to that fact. It apparently does not communicate the problem very effectively, however...

If my alarm looses phone connection, a VERY annoying noise emanates from the control panel as well as the control box in the closet. Perhaps you should have Ur alarm company look at that for you. I would think that you would want to know if you loose that connection.

 

[nap61]

Moss,
Only close family members know the locations of the landmines and claymores!!!!!!

Norm

 

[Jstpssng]

Thanks Willl and Lost. I think I solved the problem. It appears to have been a lost telephone/communication warning. I tried to reset the time/date and the warning cleared. Reading on the internet led me to believe it was a T/C warning.

Willl,
You asked a reasonable question about the make and model of the unit. I hope you understand why I was reluctant to put that information on the internet.

Thanks again
Norm

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Some of the things I see on FB make me wonder why people don't just put a sign on their front lawn saying "hey riff raff, I'm gone for the weekend!

 

[Misfire]

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Some of the things I see on FB make me wonder why people don't just put a sign on their front lawn saying "hey riff raff, I'm gone for the weekend!

How does someone whose location is the broad SE comprise himself by posting the alarm make and model? If his installation is like most homeowner alarms, there is a little sign at the entrance to the property with the alarm company's name on it. Most of them sell a particular brand/model that is customized for them by the manufacturer. It's particulars are pretty well known. Simply reading the sign will give a really skilled thief more information than he could get from a TBN post.

A dumb thief (most of them) wouldn't know how to use the info anyway.

 

[newbury]

And hopefully they are not on TBN.

 

[MossRoad]

Ha! Good one.

I used to date a girl that lived next to a bar. Every time their phone stopped working they knew the bar had been robbed because the theives would cut the phone lines to the bar AND the surrounding houses. Of course, that was before cell phones.

At our old house I ran a parallel phone cable outdoors right next to the existing one and hooked that into our alarm system. If anyone would cut those lines the alarm would trigger and the outside lights would flash while the siren blared. In a neighborhood with houses so close, that's usually all you need. Theives will run and look for easier targets. Out in the country, with isolated houses, that trick may not work. The thieves will hang around at a distance to see if the cops show up. That's why cell phone service on an alarm system with battery backup these days should be considered.

 

[Jstpssng]

How does someone whose location is the broad SE comprise himself by posting the alarm make and model? If his installation is like most homeowner alarms, there is a little sign at the entrance to the property with the alarm company's name on it. Most of them sell a particular brand/model that is customized for them by the manufacturer. It's particulars are pretty well known. Simply reading the sign will give a really skilled thief more information than he could get from a TBN post.

A dumb thief (most of them) wouldn't know how to use the info anyway.

I.was making more general statement regarding things posted on the internet.However this is open to the public.

Guess I'm just paranoid... or they really ARE out to get me.

 

[The kid]

Living in S.E. ,you live with the threat of storms. However, Isaac was the first (very) near miss at my new house and property. It was not a big storm by our normal standards (think Betsy, Camille, Katrina, Rita, etc), but it moved so slow that it cause widespread power outages and flooding. I was luckier than many in that I had no serious damage and only lost power for about 2.5 days. I haven't set up an emergency power system yet. When the power went out, a yellow warning triangle on my house alarm control pad lite up and stayed on. The system was powered by the back up battery for about 1.5 days then went dead. When the grid power came back on, the yellow triangle lite again and stayed on. The manual says that if your house power or neighborhood power goes out and the warning light comes on, call for service. I checked the battery (small 12V) and it seems to be OK (almost 14V). I pressed the reset button and that did nothing. I would hate to be forced to pay a service call every time the power goes out. Does anyone have any ideas on what my next step should be?

Norm

Norm, what I would do is search the internet for the model of security system you have and add "battery problem" to it. There are forums for just about any topic you can imagine. Most security systems are locked from preventing the home user to meddle with it. Ours was obsolete and called tech support, told them I was an installer troubleshooting this system. They sen me a full set of CD's to troubleshoot. They then told be they no longer support that system. Some require a lockout code. There is always a backdoor to get into the reprogramming (code #). That's the info you seek You might even get lucky and find an installation guide online. Good luck.

 

[nap61]

Thanks for the replies. I did some research and with that and the info from TBN, I solved the problem.

Misfire,
They, and we all know who THEY are, could not find me from the one post. However, from other posts and information (unauthorized) on the internet, it would not be hard to find me or anyone.

Norm