Unusual solutions for false alarms

Some systems just can't be fixed using normal repair methods.

We had a customer who called and said their system was not working.

So I went out and saw they had installed a new door, and they just needed a magnet installed. I installed the magnet and checked the rest of the system. All OK.

Then thereafter, every weekday at exactly 1:00 PM, there was a false alarm. I went out and checked it again. Asked employees about their arming/disarming procedures, etc. They told me they did not return to the office until 1:30 PM from lunch, so they were not even there! And no one else was there either.

I used every trick in the book to find any trouble with the system. Swapped out everything electronic too....

Next day, alarm goes off at 1:00 PM!

I then decided to play "detective". The next day, I parked my truck outside their office at 12:50 PM and asked our monitoring center to radio me if (when) the alarm goes off.

At 1:00 PM, I saw someone go into the office next door. Then the monitoring center radioed me that the alarm just tripped!

So I asked the people at the office next door if I could examine their door, they said OK, fine (they were aware of false alarm problems next door). The door had a wired contact on it, yet the office did not have an alarm system!

So I asked if that door used to be part of the office next door. They said "Yes. We re-partitioned the two offices so we could have more space over here." Arggggg! (Thanks for telling me about these minor remodeling details folks!)

So the solution to that problem was to take the door [next door] off the system....

Reply to
Bill
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Yep! been there too.

Also, if you're going through a contract central station and some idiot installer from another company puts in an incorrect account number in one of their panels...thats another fun one to deal with.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

I once got a call from a customer in Berlin, CT saying she couldn't arm her system. I drove down, checked the system and almost every window would not set up. The windows were really nice and clean so I asked and was told the cleaners had washed all of the windows.

Upon further inspection I discovered that almost none of the magnets were lining up with the recessed contacts. It turned out the window sashes are removable. The cleaning company had taken all of them out, set them up on sawhorses and washed them outside. Most of the windows were of two sizes and the cleaners didn't realize they needed to go back in the same frames.

Fortunately, whoever originally installed the windows had placed numbered tacks on each sash and in on each frame. After a bit of sorting everything was back to normal. A year or so later the cleaners came back. They did the exact same thing. Arrrgh!

Reply to
Robert L Bass

That's a good one!

Reply to
Bill

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