Optima G3 Tamper problem

[ajstars]

My Optima G3 alarm panel - about 6 years old or so has begun to randomly go off showing tamper. Less than a year ago I replaced all the wiring, bell box and PIR's etc, so it is only the panel that is old.
Is this normally a problem with the control panel - ie is it likely to have reached its best before date? The numerical buttons are certainly not quite what they used to be!

[ch427]

more than likely a bad connection or switch not quite being made on the tamper circuit somewhere

[breezer]

when you replaced the cables were there any joins? if so how were they done?

alarms are very "sensative" to high resistance, if you have a joint that is just twisted and taped these can go high resistance. best way is solder them.

use a multi meter and check the resistance of each tamper cct, the one that is highest is the probable casue.

when checking the resistance do take the wires being checked out of the terminals

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[securespark]

Check the tamper springs on the bellbox are closing effectively.

Check tampers on PIR's - had any decorating done?

If you suspect the panel, remove wiring from the TAMP terminals & replace the tamper loop. If you still get trouble, there may be a PCB problem.

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[breezer]

its unlikely it is the panel

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[securespark]

I'm of that opinion too, Breezer, but it can be vitually ruled out by bridging out the tamper terminals.

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As George Michael once said, "..if you're gonna do it, do it right, right?"

[joe-90]

It's nearly always the bellbox tamper switch. It's the only tamper that is subject to moisture and corrosion. Link it out for a while and see what happens.

Oh and it can be (rare though) the tamper on your door contacts.

[securespark]

securespark wrote:

Check the tamper springs on the bellbox are closing effectively.

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As George Michael once said, "..if you're gonna do it, do it right, right?"

[breezer]

door contact dont have tamper switches (the latest ones for commercial / high security do)

if it was the bell tamper, i should hoe the bell itself went off too, all be it not for long, so i discount that one

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[ajstars]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies, I will give the circuit a test. As I say the whole system is very new and although not soldered, I made sure the contacts were all good and tight.
There is one join in the system (doh - now hidden behind boxing) made by a choc bloc. I can't imagine it is the bell box - that is the newest part - but I will get up there and look - after all it has been very wet this last week or so. Thanks again.

[ajstars]

So, I have tested the whole system and found no faults - all tamper circuits appear to be good and clean with no resistance and all have passed the 'shake' test without the alarm sounding. The bell box is working fine outside and is not rusty or damp at all.
The panic button seems okay as do all the PIR's and yes you are correct there is no tamper on door contacts!

The odd thing is that within a space of about 18 hours the alarm had sounded twice showing tamper and when reset it was fine again. I would have thought that if it was a problem with the tamper then it would occur all the time? It was not at a time that the heating went on or off, so I can't see what could be causing it.

The only fault I did find was that the 1.6A quick blow battery fuse had blown. Not sure if that was before I opened the case though or as I was poking around inside. The battery was fully charged and I have now replaced the fuse.

Any other ideas, short of leaving it for a while to see if it happens again and if so bypassing the tamper circuit (although if I am correct this would only bypass the PIRs, contacts and wiring rather than the bell box and control box tamper switches?).

For the sake of £30 and a few hours is it worth just changing the control panel??

[ch427]

the bell box tamper circiuit should be between terminals marked t and a(where the other bell box terminals are) the other tamper circuit is marked tamp,you could link the bell box out for a few days see if it happens and vice versa,there may also be some teminals for the rkp to the left with a tamper circuit,maybe one of the soldered joints on the pcb is playing up

[breezer]

ajstars wrote:

So, I have tested the whole system and found no faults - all tamper circuits appear to be good and clean with no resistance

that i dont believe.

what exactly is the resistance?

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[securespark]

breezer wrote:

door contact dont have tamper switches (the latest ones for commercial / high security do)

That's true, but to be fair to joe, he didn't say tamper switches, just tamper, and I always include a tamper pair in my contact circuits.

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As George Michael once said, "..if you're gonna do it, do it right, right?"

[ajstars]

Yup, you're correct - there is of course some resistance can't remember exactly what it was but it was nothing great.

Interestingly, I played with setting and unsetting the system a few times. At first it was fine then later when I set the system and unset it again the tamper circuit went off. I then reset it, left it for an hour or so and set it again and it was fine.
A while later I set it again and it went off straight away, every time showing tamper.

I think it must be the control panel after all, that is the only 'common' factor in it sounding. It would go off all the time otherwise.

I will obtain a new control panel now.