Alarm Fault at 4am thismorning!

[lolly]

Hi Guys,
Wonder if you can help. My alarms are quite old now but still working.
I had the Battery replaced last november, i have sensors in all the rooms (all working fine)
This morning at 4am the inside bells were ringing really loud. I tried to disable via digi keypad, but after about 10 mins kept going off. I have now turned off the power switch located to where the control panel is and all is quiet at the moment.
What happened last night as usuall we armed the garage circuit c and went to bed as normal. When the bells were ringing i disabled the first time with my 4 digit code and i had the BF light up along with the fault and service light. Since turning off the power switch, the keypad first went dead, but now power light is flashing and the day light is lit as normal, as if the battery is doing what it is supposed to! How weird is that?The kepad is a series 3200 Modern Alarms one but the family friend (engineer) is in spain on holiday and i have no way of contacting him. I know when he changes our battery he has an engineer code to use when he removes the battery control panel cover, so obviously dont want to touch this in case of more trouble, although i know how easy it is to change (frustrating!!) But i dont think it can be the battery.
Has anybody any idea what it could be and how to fix please? I dont want to put the power back on to the alarm in case the same thing happens again(prob will) as i probably have already woken up the neighbours enough thismorning.
Thanks from a very frustrated lady!

 

[Europlex]

But i dont think it can be the battery.

Oh yes it is.

Explanation of Codes shown on the 3200

By the way it's bF not BF

c1 to 8 Detector circuit open.
t1 to 8 Circuit tamper open.
o1 to 8 Detector circuit omitted (isolated).
E1 to 8 Entry via a detector circuit.
S1 to 8 Detector circuit on Soak test.
EA Alarm on entry
EF Exit fault
bF Control panel battery fault
PF Mains supply failure.
Sr System reset (Total power failure).
AP Aux. (Detector) power failure.
Lb Control panel low battery.
rt Illegal use of keypad (excess number of keypresses).
rP Remote keypad missing.
rr Total power failure (engineer reset required).
u1 to u9 User access number (U5 = Duress, U9 = Keyswitch)
AE Access Engineer
AA Arm area A (Full set).
Ab Arm area B (Part set).
Ac Arm area C (Part set)
Lt Control panel tamper.
tr External bell tamper.
cF Communications failure (External signalling).
LF Telephone line fault.
cc Communications completed successfully.

 

[joe-90]

Thanks from a very frustrated lady!

My sorta gal.

If removing the power allows the panel to go dead then your battery is dead. The idea of the battery is to take over when the power is removed.
The battery should last at least 5 years so I doubt that a new one was put in last year. BF means battery fail/fault.

 

[lolly]

HI Guys,
Yup, battery changed 14/11/09 just checked my book.
When i turned off the power switch then the keypad went dead for a few minutes. Then, how strange the power light flashing on the keypad with the day light illuminated as if it was now working ok on the battery back up. I just switched on the power to the control panel and everything lit up as normal, managed to set my garage using the c zone and it worked as normal. BF code not now showing, but before when the battery went dead last year nothing i done could delete that and my engineer had to put his code in before he removed the control panel lid. Thats the bit i dont understand. How can it all appear normal now. I have to go out thismorning and am wary of setting the alarm in case it goes off, but then again after 20 mins the outside box will shut down anyway, maybe i should give it a try, what do you think?
Thanks,
Lolly

 

[lolly]

Hi Guys,
I have just returned home and put the power back on and alarmed the garage whilst home,and so far everything is working fine, no fault codes showing on the keypad. How weird, no Battery Fault code or service/fault codes showing. Could there be any other reason this happened do you think? Obviously the battery must be ok, and have had no other problems with the alarm since the new battery was installed in November.....hmmmm....spooky!
Cheers Lolly.

 

[SAF]

I agree with the other guys who have answered your posts BF does indicate a battery fault. One question though, if you tuned the power off and everything went dead, did your outside sounder start ringing? If the mains is off and the battery was flat I'd expect the outside bell to ring.

Strangely though you said that the power light was flashing (to let you know the mains is turned off) and the day light was lit. This indicates the battery has some life still left in it.

Could it be a bad battery connection?

Whatever the fault was lets hope it was just one of those one off glitches that happen from time to time and fingers crossed you get a good nights sleep tonight.

S.A.F.

 

[lolly]

Hi
Thanks for your replies.
Yes its weird, everything seems normal now, garage still set and nothing strange has happened. Perhaps it was a glitch (hope so!) Perhaps there could be a loose connection somewhere, cos i do keep my ironing board next to the control panel in a cupboard, maybe i have knocked it too hard, but then the case is metal.
Would it be ok to unscrew the cover and take a peek or will that cause a tamper fault I dont want to start messing with things in case i start a whole loada trouble...
Thanks
Lolly.

 

[SAF]

Hi lolly,

If you open the cover you will set the tamper alarm off. To be honest, if you open the controls you'll find that many wires, and with respect, you won't know what you're looking for so could cause more trouble.

Personally while its working as it should be I'd go for the 'don't fix what isn't broken' approach. If the fault happens again, then investigate further.

S.A.F

 

[joe-90]

Does the panel hum louder than it did? Does it feel a bit warmer near the transformer than it did? If so your battery is developing an internal short.

Just because some guy says he put a new battery in doesn't mean he put a new battery in - just a different battery that seemed ok. It's pretty common practice amongst the less scrupulous end of the market.

 

[lolly]

Hi,
Thanks again for your replies.
I am going to leave it and see if it happens again, hopefully not at 4am in the morning!!

The panel is really quiet, deffo no humming at all.
The battery definitely was a new one, but i suppose thats no guarantee it wasnt perhaps faulty.
He is a really close friend of the family for over 50 years and Alarms and security is his business, so he hasnt tried to have me over, he actually fitted it all, and in 20 years i have only ever needed 2 new PIR's and updated to the keypad and a few batteries along the way.
It just makes me so curious, but time will tell.I have his mobile number for him abroad, so if it happens again i can at least contact him for a solution or for somebody he knows that can call round.
I will post back again to update on the goings on!
Thanks all again for your help and expert knowledge, just keeping things crossed now...

 

[lolly]

Hi,
Well, after a couple of weeks of everything working normal and as it should, the problems have started up again. 12.30pm last night inside bells ringing, have had codes bf and sr and now bF flashing and just fault light with normal day light showing up. Everynow and again the keypad will emit a continous tone (without bells) which i can stop with my code, it has been quiet now for about an hour. I have been in contact with my engineer who is away abroad, but he is at work and will contact me later when he is home. What i am worried about is, i have to go out for a couple of hours and want to know if there is anyway i can disconnect the inside bell box above the front door without causing a 'tamper' problem, cos i am worried about the neighbours! Dont think my outside bell box starts up when i am having problems. I have left the mains power switched on the the control box, cos now when i switch it off, the bells inside seem more frequent.
Any advice would be greatly welcomed until i can solve my problem.
Cheers Guys.