External Box - Live or Dummy?

[Jasmine H]

I really hope someone here can give some advice on a query with our house alarm. We have a monitored ADT system which was installed by the previous owners (maybe about 8 years ago), but we never took the contract out ourselves (so it is no longer monitored) and have never turned the alarm on. 

Earlier the internal siren suddenly started going off and the control panel display had gone blank so the fobs did not work to turn it off. After phoning ADT and not getting much help there, my husband eventually managed to take the fuse out of the control panel and disconnected the backup battery in the control panel and internal siren.

That stopped the racket thankfully, but my query is related to the external box on the outside of the house (the one that flashes with blue leds). We are not sure whether this is a live box or a dummy box and it is too high to easily check and neither of us are good up ladders.

If it was a live box would it have gone off by now? We are worried that if it was connected up, it may suddenly go off when the battery starts to die and if this happened in the middle of the night it would be awful...

 

[binky]

if you have only 1 bellbox, it is almost certainly live. Depending on the state of the battery in that, it will go off at some point as the battery discharges to a certain level, usually about a day after turning off power. It may well be knackered anyway, but a quick shimmy up a ladder is neede to disconnect the battery (wear ear-defenders or stick some cotton wool in your ears). If ADT did annual maintenance checks, then the battery might only be few years old. If they didn't then at 8 years it is proably knackered, hence the panel went off. It should have gone off with the internal panel. Most alarms I've come across will last about 8 hours on battery.

 

[Jasmine H]

Hi binky, thanks for responding so quickly.

There are actually three boxes. One at the front, one at the back and one on the converted garage. The one at the back and the one on the garage no longer have the leds blinking so I assume these were definitely dummies on which the battery has gone, but the one at the front still blinks.

We have lived here for 5 years now so that would seem like a long time for the battery to be going if it is a dummy?

 

[Essex1]

Or just pop up there and fill the box with expanding foam.  Job done.... :B

 

[Doc Hudson]

If you are not confident up ladders the other solution is get a local electrician (with ladder) to pop round and make sure it is dead for you.  Then you will know for certain.

Doc H.

 

[Jasmine H]

I think we may have to Doc H. I suffer from vertigo and hubby will not go any more that a couple of steps up a ladder, so can't sort it ourselves. We don't have a big enough ladder anyway.

 

[binky]

if the battey is 5+ years old then it has probably died/ dying by now, they generally need replacing in the 5-7 year mark. The front will probably go off sometime later today. Oddly enough the dummy boxes tend to have more flashing LEDs than the real ones. Its should be a 12v system, so any electrican or local handyman could help (friendly neighbour?) Usually 1 bid screw holds cover on. When you emove cover the bell should sound (hence ear defenders are useful) sounder is normally attached to cover so a few quick snips of the wires will shut it up. You can do the same on the internal panel. This will then allow you to re-power the system and keep the boxes looking live. If you can't get anyone today, then that might be  a good idea to stop the external box from going off.

 

[Jasmine H]

Thanks. Taking on board your advice I have now managed to get a local man to agree to come out this afternoon to take a look. Hopefully he will get here before the battery dies (if it is indeed a live box), but it may be touch and go!

I think the internal panel is totally dead, battery was leaking and display was blank even though it had mains power going to it. So not sure it will be possible to power it back up today.

 

[Jasmine H]

One last thing just popped into my mind. If the alarm goes off before the man can get here, how long do you think it will sound for before the battery fully dies?

I just want to know what to tell the neighbours in case they come round asking what all the racket is  

 

[Andy™]

if the battey is 5+ years old then it has probably died/ dying by now, they generally need replacing in the 5-7 year mark.

batteries in the bellbox's always seem to be exempt from this, they usually outlast the internal batteries by many years. usually obvious by how many bellboxes have good enough batteries to make a noise for a while after the internal has lasted minutes at most in a power failure

One last thing just popped into my mind. If the alarm goes off before the man can get here, how long do you think it will sound for before the battery fully dies?

I just want to know what to tell the neighbours in case they come round asking what all the racket is  

it should sound for a max of 20 minutes

 

[binky]

if the main battery was leaking then it is probably the original unit, and neve been changed. The bell box won't last long, though Andy is right in that they seem to outlive the main battery, some of the old ones are quite funny, I had one that sounded more like a strangled duck  - think they use a capacitor rather than a battery

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

My money is on its a dummy box with a couple of batteries in it. As it has an internal siren and remote signalling, so no need for a real external sounder.

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

If it was a live box the internal batteries would make it sound immediately the power from the panel is removed, not some time later.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

If it was a live box the internal batteries would make it sound immediately the power from the panel is removed, not some time later.

Normally yes, but I have had it on very rare occasions where the external sounder stated some time later, but not days later.

 

[Jasmine H]

And the answers was......

Dummy!

After all that it turns out it was a dummy box, but worth getting a man out to check for peace of mind.

 

[septiclecky]

And the answers was......

Dummy!

After all that it turns out it was a dummy box, but worth getting a man out to check for peace of mind.

So if you had tried to use it and not have a monitoring contract then any one breaking into your house would have had a field day as no alarm would have gone off

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

So if you had tried to use it and not have a monitoring contract then any one breaking into your house would have had a field day as no alarm would have gone off

No. Sorry that is not correct.

Assuming it was working, (But no contract) if there had of been a break in the internal siren would have gone off