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Veritas R8 PIR problem

Hi guys

We have a Veritas R8 alarm system. This morning we noticed that walking into the kitchen did not activate the part alarm unset procedure. I performed a walk test and both the kitchen and the living room PIR are not working.

The red light in the PIR still works, it is just not activating the walk test procedure. Are PIR's self powered with an internal battery or do they take power from the main alarm panel? The reason I ask is I have put quite a few chipboard screws in the upstairs chipboard floor to cure loose / squeaking boards, and am now thinking worst case scenario that some how a screw has pierced a cable. But if the PIR takes power from the panel this hopefully cannot be the case as the red light in the PIR still comes on upon detection.

Can PIR's fail but the red light still activate? Could this be a problem with the main alarm panel? Is there any other tests which I could carry out to narrow down the problem?

TIA

Reply to
diy-newby
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If your PIR's are blinking "red" when you're walking in front of them, chances are they are in fact hard-wired to the control panel. That having been said, there are many reasons why your panel won't register the PIR's. If they are programmed as "auto home/away", some panels (like the DSC products sold in Canada) won't change state (show an "open") when you walk in front of them. The best way to "walk test" your PIR's is to ARM the system in the "away" mode (your panel may require you to open the delay or exit door to do this). Wait for the exit delay to expire and then walk in front of the sensor. If the siren sounds, your PIR's are OK.

Worse case scenario could mean that one of your screws has penetrated the four conductor wire to the PIR and shorted the two zone wires out. Hopefully that hasn't happened.

Reply to
Frank Olson

Could you explain what this means; "...not activate the part alarm unset procedure."?

Reply to
Crash Gordon

He's speaking *English*, you American buffoon. You'd have to be Canadian to understand him from this side of the Atlantic. :-)

Reply to
Frank Olson

When in part set, activating the kitchen PIR starts a countdown procedure where the code needs inputting in a certain amount of time before the alarm sounds.

Reply to
diy-newby

I am guessing from your post, the living room and kitchen PIR's are close to each other, even possibly on same cable, and I expect you have caught a cable when re-securing the floor boards.

The Veritas R8 does not have resistors to alert you to this type of fault, the detectors work on a normally closed circuit. When the detector light comes on a small relay opens the circuit causing the alarm to activate. This is not happening because you have created another closed (short) circuit with the screw.

Reply to
Paul Ekins

ah an interior delay zone...yuck.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

That's not wrong, they must work in that way in part mode. Part set means that the installer programms the interior PIRs to be off so you can live, work, walk inside your house with the perimeter protection on (magnetic contacts, ir beams etc). In the way you describe the behaviour of the PIRs, i understand that the installer programmed them in that way to protect the interior area even in part set mode but they change into delay zones in order to give you time to unset the system. In the full arm mode you will see that the PIR's will cause an immediate alarm.

Spyros Kintzonides Proguard - Greece

Reply to
Proguard Security

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