solar panels setting off burglar alarm

[gc.cableguy]

Hi all,

A property in which i installed an alarm system about 10 years ago has had solar pv installed. Every time the sun shines and the panels produce more electricity they set off the burglar alarm. The pv company can find nothing wrong. Has anybody for any ideas?

GC

 

[Manator]

One possible problem I could guess at is interference along a cable length, if the PV cables have been run in proximity to your alarm cables it could be sending a false reading to the control panel setting off the alarm. I would firstly check the cable routes and if you find this is the problem get the guys back to reposition their cables, and charge them for your call outs.

 

[Doc Hudson]

Welcome to the forum, You have not actually said how much testing you have done, Is this regular or very intermittent fault? say weekly or much longer? You need to establish what sort of alarm signal is being generated. Is it a tamper alarm, or a 'phantom genuine' intruder detection. Are any zones indicated on the panel as being the source of the trigger? Can you isolate any zones for a trial for a few days if the event is frequent? Have to re-rested all of your cables to confirm that the solar installers have not damaged any wiring? Have you checked the alarm panels battery is fully functional. Low batteries can cause a few weird events and the solar aspect may be just coincidental?

Doc H.

 

[gc.cableguy]

Hi Doc,

Have not tested anything yet as i thought it would be down to pv installers. Every time the panels produce electricity i.e. on sunny days it sets off smoke alarm circuits which are wired to burglar alarm panel. i am going to house next week, will probably diss connect smoke alarm circuit first as you suggest.

GC

 

[Mark c]

PV isn't white mans magic or voodoo! Nothing the PV is doing is going to set an intruder alarm off. I would expect it to be a fault with the alarm and nothing more. Ask the client if they're happy for you to turn the PV off for a while to demonstrate it has nothing to do with the PV and let them loose some FITs in the mean time.

Same old story, blame the PV or electrician!

 

[Manator]

PV isn't white mans magic or voodoo! Nothing the PV is doing is going to set an intruder alarm off. I would expect it to be a fault with the alarm and nothing more. Ask the client if they're happy for you to turn the PV off for a while to demonstrate it has nothing to do with the PV and let them loose some FITs in the mean time. Same old story, blame the PV or electrician!

Whenever a fault occurs it is often a good idea to ask the client if they have done anything recently that could give rise to the fault. It is not about laying blame at anyone's feet but rather to establish a possible starting point for future testing.

Since my first reply more information has come to light that would make my first assumption very unlikely has a cause, and would now suspect that it is nothing more than a faulty detector and is just coincidental to the PV installation. I think the system installed would probably be the veritas who did their own smoke and heat detectors wired to the main control panel, however I may be wrong.

 

[Doc Hudson]

Hi Doc,Have not tested anything yet as i thought it would be down to pv installers. Every time the panels produce electricity i.e. on sunny days it sets off smoke alarm circuits which are wired to burglar alarm panel. i am going to house next week, will probably diss connect smoke alarm circuit first as you suggest.

GC

Anyone who has ever spent much time fault fault finding will know the most important rule. Never assume anything that you have not actually proven yourself.

Doc H.

 

[steptoe]

PV isn't white mans magic or voodoo! Nothing the PV is doing is going to set an intruder alarm off. I would expect it to be a fault with the alarm and nothing more. Ask the client if they're happy for you to turn the PV off for a while to demonstrate it has nothing to do with the PV and let them loose some FITs in the mean time. Same old story, blame the PV or electrician!

dont say that!

thats one of my big selling points! :slap

 

[binky]

Never heard of PV installation causing issues with other equipment. Only coincidence could be damage caused during fitting. Smoke detectors do only have a 10 year life anyway, so maybe they are trying to tell you to chnage them