Accenta/Optima Intruder alarm - beeps at midnight

[Marnhullman]

The alarm was professionally fitted 13 years ago and has worked without fault until approx 12 months ago since when at precisely midnight every night the alarm beeps about 10 times. I have replaced the battery and I have replaced what I thought was a faulty keypad but neither have cured the problem.

I have considered resetting the unit by shorting out the terminals as described in the user guide which seems a bit drastic but the wretched beeping is loud and frequently disturbs my sleep.

Any guidance appreciated.

 

[lectriclegs]

Are you sure it's the alarm that's beeping?

 

[sparkymarka]

Post a picture of the keypad , plus the pcb

 

[secureiam]

10 times but only at midnight

 

[Marnhullman]

All

Thanks for your replies.

Attached are photos of the keypad and PCB.

Although I said the noise disturbs me, actually it's my wife, I'm a bit hard of hearing so I haven't heard the noise but my wife and guests have. I did sit up 'til midnight one night but I couldn't hear the sound and my wife did but was too slow to get out of bed to identify where, precisely, the sound was coming from. My wife says the beeping is similar to that when the alarm is set so I assume that's the source.

I've tried to record the sound using the voice recorder app on my phone but it cuts out after only a few minutes so I've downloaded another voice recorder app and will try that tonight.

Regards

 

[sparkymarka]

Looks ok ...

 

[secureiam]

powers on system unset.

 

[DoctorZ]

Hi Marnhullman
Newbie here
Any developments on this?
I have the same system and a similar problem. 12 years old and has worked absolutely perfectly... till now.
I set the alarm on the LCD upstairs to arm the sensors downstairs before going to bed.
Beeped around 0600 hours. No apparent reason. The beeping is like the front (delayed last exit/first entry) door has been opened. Battery is only 2 years old.
I unset the system while it was beeping then set it.
30 minutes later, started beeping again.
Would be grateful for any pointers please.
Thanks

 

[sparkymarka]

Are you saying ….it started bleeping …you got up and turned it off and it stopped ? And then the same thing happened again ? If so sounds like one of your detectors ….an exntry / exit type or part entry exit type is activating….

 

[DoctorZ]

Yes, got up (rather shaken - thought burglar opened front door!) and turned if off (unset the system) and it stopped. Half an hour later, it beeped again and turned if off. The event logs show nothing about detectors being activated.

 

[Handymanjo]

Do you have a pir as an entry device ?
Check movement sensors for spiders inside the case and out.

 

[DoctorZ]

Thanks for the tip. Entry device on front door is magnet switch, not a PIR detector. I checked the door switch by using the 'Chime' function and it's operating as expected.
I've stopped setting the alarm when going out as I am concerned the alarm will go off and disturb neighbours. Not a great feeling given that police recently informed us of a burglary in the area.

 

[sparkymarka]

If that’s the case the only thing you can do is let it go into full alarm ( external bell) then turn off ….thus will show the zone causing the issue

 

[DoctorZ]

Update... (long, sorry)

On the night 17/18 Jan, I set the alarm (sensors downstairs) on the keypad upstairs before going to bed and... low-and-behold I woke up to beeping at 0430. I rushed to the keypad and, as suggested by Sparkymarka (thank you ), I let it go into full alarm.
I then stopped it after a few seconds before I become unpopular with the neighbours

Here is the event log on the LCD:
23:20:21 17-Jan Code entry
23:20:25 17-Jan Set program
04:30:54 18-Jan Entry start
04:31:43 18-Jan Entry timeout
04:31:46 18-Jan Code entry
04:31:46 18-Jan System unset


So at 04:30:54, the panel believes the Zone 1, timed entry, has activated. The only detector on Zone 1 is a magnetic switch on the front door.
Possible causes:
1. Faulty magnetic switch
2. Faulty wiring on Zone 1
3. Something else.

To establish if it is 1 or 2, I used the Chime facility on Zone 1 to check if there is false activation (while alarm is unset). There is a red LED on the main panel that comes on when front door opens. Very handy. One week since then, and there has not been a single Chime indication (apart of course from when the door is actually opened, after which I've pressed 'Reset' to turn off the red LED).

Am I right to eliminate 1 and 2 and concentrate on cause 'Something else'? Any ideas, please?

The only faults I could think of are in the panel itself eg.:
a) hardware (dry joint?) or
b) software (firmware corruption?), or
c) ...?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sparkymarka]

That log doesn’t indicate which zone started the entry exit timer …..don’t assume it’s zone 1 as it could depend on what other zones have been programmed in part set