How to shut my house alarm up?

Found 10th Feb 2009

We bought a house with an alarm system already fitted - unfortunately the previous occupants were deceased and the house was empty so we had no instructions for it except the code. Anyway the alarm panel randomly beeps every so often, generally during the middle of the night. The problem is the contract for the alarm expired many years ago, theres no manual with the alarm and the company who fitted it want an extortianate amount to come out and look at it. Someone on their help line said "its probably the battery", but that was all. I know they probably have us over a barrell, but would this battery be in a sensor and could we replace it? The panel looks pretty tamper proof (ie theres no obvious screws to be able to take it off) but we are at the stage where we would just like to take a sledgehammer to it. To be fair if I could cut the wires to the loudspeaker on the box outside (ive had the cover off and although thats a bit noisey it looks fairly straightforward) then I would put a hammer thru the control panel! We dont really have any need for the alarm as we never remember to switch it on anyway plus our neighbours are great at keeping an eye on the place, most of them being retired. Anybody got any ideas of switching the alarm system off? I know perhaps its not knowledge that should be in the public domain, but the things driving us nuts BUT we dont want to pay a company over a hundred quid to come out and switch of their product in our house which we dont want.

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30 Comments

10th Feb 2009

Have you looked for a model number etc and looked online for help?

10th Feb 2009

As Titchimp says really. But failing that as you have already looked in the bell box you could disconnect the battery or siren terminal. Then disconnect the alarm inside the house as it should be on a fused spur.

10th Feb 2009

if you can take of the front panal of the controle box the batary will be inside ether replace it if you want to keep the system
or disconect battery and mains power serply

or failing that disconect mains suply and put up with the noise for a few hours

10th Feb 2009

There is normally a battery in both the bell box and control box but you say the panel has no obvious screws to get access. Does the panel look big enough to house a sizeable battery? If not this panel may just be a keypad and the guts of the alarm will be a separate box elsewhere in the house. You need to find this and disconnect the mains.

10th Feb 2009

If you really don't want it, then a local electrician from the local paper at £35-40 per hour will be able to remove it for you. About 20mins work for him so the cost to you should not be more than £40.

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Thanks all for the info, heres a shot of the panel

http://usera.ImageCave.com/harryb/bmx/DSCF2650.JPG

- in fact there does look to be some slots around the top and bottom. As for a control box - theres some sort of metal box on the wall in my daughters bedroom. Removing it from the mains should be tackled by an electrician though? Or is it a simple matter of flicking a switch?

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Titchimp;4336849
Have you looked for a model number etc and looked online for help?

Nothing that really gives away a model number Im afraid.

10th Feb 2009

it will be mains connected surely... get an electrician to disarm it if you dont fancy tracing the wire back to where its connected to and removing it yourself..the wire will lead back somewhere to a box supplying it(make sure leccy turned off at fuse box!!!).

10th Feb 2009

failing all else:

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/hs/gtb/LectureNotes/hammer_small.jpg

10th Feb 2009

The photograph is of the keypad, the control box will be located elsewhere. The control box will have an anti-tamper cover so the screws will be covered up. The screws will probably be TORX head or some other special type of screw. If they are standard screws then the cover will have a spring loaded switch behind, so when the cover is removed the alarm will sound. Usually the fuse for the mains supply is inside this box as well, the battery will also be in here.

Don't ring a an electrician, ring a specialist alarm installer. For a fee of about £40 he will replace the battery and perform a service to make sure all of the sensors are working.

10th Feb 2009

Any alarm company should be able to come and have a look at it for you, not necessarily the one who installed it. Get quotes from a few, you'll probably find that they don't all charge extortionate fees.

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Cheers all - 40 snots sounds much more reasonable! Anyone recomend one in the New Forest area? PM me if you prefer. Thanks again.

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

ps Liddle ol' me, Id still like to go down the hammer route though ;-)

10th Feb 2009

pugw$sh;4337279
Don't ring a an electrician, ring a specialist alarm installer. For a fee … Don't ring a an electrician, ring a specialist alarm installer. For a fee of about £40 he will replace the battery and perform a service to make sure all of the sensors are working.

aint it one of those specialist alarms tho thats useless without the subscription? think all the op wants is it disarming.

Banned

10th Feb 2009

If the mains power is disconnected it will still run off the internal battery. Can you take a picture of the bell box, see if we can't find it online?

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Will do - bell box being the bit outside on the wall or the metal box in my daughters bedroom??

Banned

10th Feb 2009

ghinzani;4338734
Will do - bell box being the bit outside on the wall or the metal box in … Will do - bell box being the bit outside on the wall or the metal box in my daughters bedroom??

its the bit outside, but take a photo of the metal box too

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Ah that box in my daughters room must be the control box - it says DSC Classic PC1565 - which Googles as an alarm.

Banned

10th Feb 2009

ghinzani;4338789
Ah that box in my daughters room must be the control box - it says DSC … Ah that box in my daughters room must be the control box - it says DSC Classic PC1565 - which Googles as an alarm.

Manual, will let you read to find the problem

dsc.com/ass…PDF

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Cheers mate - Il have a terry at it and get back with any more questions - appreciate your help.

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

Right I tried *2 to view Trouble Conditions zone 3 flashes - which indicates 'Telephone Line Trouble'. Whats wierd is I cant actually see where its plugged in to the phone line... which may well be the issue! All I would say is at some point a new phone socket has been installed by BT next to the old one and its wired through the old one. There is also a phone socket in my daughters bedroom, where the alarm box is - but that we were told was because the previous owner wanted a phone there.

The thing is if theres phone line trouble surely zone 4 would flash indicating it cannot communicate with the central station? Which sort of indicates its intermittant. However my internets on pretty much all the time and I dont see connection issues corresponding to when the warnings going on the panel.

What I would really like is to silence the panel. The alarm itself doesnt go off much, just the bleeding panel.

10th Feb 2009

My guess is that its meant to be plugged in at your daughters room.. meaning if someone breaks in they spend their time looking in the wrong place to disable the alarm. lol.

Banned

10th Feb 2009

Try ringing BT and say since you installed a new master socket my alarm has been playing up, mention the error code relating to trouble with the phone line.

Original Poster

10th Feb 2009

lumoruk;4343746
Try ringing BT and say since you installed a new master socket my alarm … Try ringing BT and say since you installed a new master socket my alarm has been playing up, mention the error code relating to trouble with the phone line.

Thats not a bad idea, only problem is it was years ago and the guy who had it done has passed on. Wonder if BT would do anything about it given those circumstances.

Banned

10th Feb 2009

disarm it and remove battery and power, if bt installed the extra socket then i think its there reponsibility even with new tenants/owners, but if they come out and there isnt nothing wrong they will charge you, you could do a line test to see if anything shows up on your line

Original Poster

11th Feb 2009

sassie;4345021
disarm it and remove battery and power,

Yes thats what I'd like to do.

Is it as easy as taking out the in-line fuse and then getting into the control box and removing a battery? Of course I will have to find the keys to the box first... never actually seen any here but there must be some somewhere.

Original Poster

14th Mar 2009

Just an update, as the family are away on hols I decided to pull the in-line fuse out and see what happens. Obviously the panels now dead, however its not started chirping annoyance or anything, does that indicate its not running on backup battery? If so does that mean the alrams disarmed and wont go off in the next few hours? I cant believe the solutions as simple as pulling out a fuse though!!...

Original Poster

3rd Aug 2009

Just an update, pulled the fuse and it lasted 5 months before chirping again, so just done the same again, hopefully will last as long.