Optima G3 alarm problem

[MarkHanlon]

Late last week the street had a power cut and all the alarms went off. However, I couldn't get our strobe to stop flashing, even after pressing reset, setting and unsetting the alarm, or even doing an engineers strobe test. It just kept flashing although the rest of the alarm worked fine.

Over the weekend I took off the front panel (caused the tamper to light and alarm, which was silenced by the user code) and then just disconnected the +ve strobe wire. This stopped the strobe and all seemed good.

I was then in the process of playing around with a few other settings when the keypad stopped responding. And the remote keypad is also locked out. The front cover is still off, but I don't want to replace it in case the tamper alarm fires again and I can't reset it!

The system clearly needs a new battery, but how can I go about changing this and getting the system back responding again? Having the external alarm sound for 20 mins without the ability to stop it won't be fun!

Cheers, Mark

 

[sparkymarka]

keypad is locked out because you have a tamper on system clear tamper and press reset .

 

[EightyTwo]

Leave the mains connected whilst you change the battery.

 

[Europlex]

Leave the mains connected whilst you change the battery.

..... and kill yourself when accidentally touching the panel and the loose mains cable at the same time.

EightyTwo. They are DiYers here, NOT, professional alarm engineers.

Turn the mains OFF advice is the CORRECT advice.

What you/I do is our way of doing things but, not the way for DiYers.

Be sensible.

Never had dealings with a property when an Electrician was killed working on a 'LIVE' system then?

I had to remove the alarm so it could be used at the new house.
Wife & children insisted on the move.

Mark, turn off the mains before opening the panel.

 

[MarkHanlon]

Ok, so if I turn off the mains the external alarm will sound (for 20 minutes! That's one thing I want to shorten...) while I change the battery and then I should replace the cover (to push in the tamper spring) and turn the mains back on and preset RESET? Am I right in thinking that at that point the alarm should stop sounding and the keypad should start working again?

Are there any consequences of leaving the strobe +ve wire unconnected, which was the original problem I was trying to fix..?

Thanks for your help so far, Mark

 

[Europlex]

To change your battery :-

1. Get the new one
2. Turn off the mains to the control panel
3. Ignore any sounds
4. Open the panel
5. Remove the old battery
6. Fit the new battery
7. Ignore any sounds
8. Close the panel
9. Turn on the mains
10. Enter your code once/twice to stop the noise


I don't know your panel I'm afraid but this 1 to 10 won't be far wrong.

ps Forget the 20mins this will only take a couple, go for it.

 

[EightyTwo]

They are DiYers here, NOT, professional alarm engineers.

Turn the mains OFF advice is the CORRECT advice.

Fairy snuff...

 

[MarkHanlon]

Thanks for the very sensible advice there Europlex. It did make me approach the job with caution, but in the end did it without disconnecting the mains. I made the call after seeing how easy it was to remove the old battery, and having changed numerous light fittings and suchlike in the past decided that this was a safe task. But I echo that that was my decision and anyone else reading this should consider the risks and consequences.

The new battery has been in place now for a couple of days so I'm assuming that it will now be fully charged and will therefore keep the alarm active (but quiet!) in the event of a power cut. I'll have to cut the power and see what happens...

Cheers all,

Mark

 

[Swalesecurity]

Leave the mains connected whilst you change the battery.

..... and kill yourself when accidentally touching the panel and the loose mains cable at the same time.

EightyTwo. They are DiYers here, NOT, professional alarm engineers.

Turn the mains OFF advice is the CORRECT advice.

What you/I do is our way of doing things but, not the way for DiYers.

Be sensible.

Never had dealings with a property when an Electrician was killed working on a 'LIVE' system then?

I had to remove the alarm so it could be used at the new house.
Wife & children insisted on the move.

Mark, turn off the mains before opening the panel.

The battery on these is located no where near the mains in. You can change the battery without disconnecting the mains. If they are stupid enough to lick contacts then that's there problem. Eighty is right. The alarm pannel is ok to keep on mains as it draws very little power. Hence you don't need part p to install. Don't quote me on this but I believe its only 12v.

But good advice from both!