Cequra External Sounder -tamper Return Problem

[Jai]

Hi everyone, #

Wonder if one of you more experienced installers can help me diagnose this fault.

We have a Scantronic 9800 panel with the Cequra strobe /Sounder SAB. Has worked fine since installation ten years ago. However lately it has taken to intermittently trigger the alarm at seemingly random times and intervals with the fault reported as TR tamper return.

I have checked the panel by shorting the 'tr' terminal to the 0 volt line and it seems to get rid of the 'tr' display, so am assuming panel is fine.Did the same at the bell end to rule out the wiring and again it gets rid of the 'tr' display so am assuming wiring is fine too. but just incase it was the cable deciding to go high /low resistance for some reason (no damage to wire is visible anywhere) I decided to twist a pair of unused cores together and use them to send the 'tr' signal to the panel howvere it is still triggering at random times.

Battery is rated 7.2v and is reading 8.3v during charge and 7.3v when isolated.So that seems to be fine aswell.

Could this mean that perhaps there is an electronic fault with the Cequra Sounder pcb, or do any of you bright and more learned fellows have any suggestions as to the cause of this problem.

Many thanks

Jai

[kka]

have you tried a new battery just in case.

if not it could be the bell or it could be the panel, both the same age i presume.

how old is the battery in the panel.

do not know much about this sounder,but has the weather distorted it just enough to open the tamper spring, maybe.

[Alarm Protection]

The battery is dead TBH. Replace the battery in the panel and external bell if that is dead.

Why not get an engineer to check your panel and detectors???

Remember there is a high voltage in the panel!!

[Guest]

Hi there, it looks like KKA has pointed you in the right direction. Personally i would suspect the tamper switch then the SAB PCB. You seem to have isolated the wiring and proven that and the battery charging rates look fine too.Assuming that is the SAB battery.

If it is the panel battery that will require changing and the charging circuit checking out in more detail.

If you are unsure of what you are doing as there are high voltages present you may require the services of an engineer

[Guest anguscanplay]

shorted out at bell end cleared the tr then i am afraid youre right and the sounder is up for changing

still good advice to renew battery in panel as well

as i said before somewhere if you cant prove it is less than four years old change it anyway

changing a battery alone aint going to cure a tamper return fault

[kka]

i too would like to warn of the possibility of high voltage in the bell box. be careful

[Guest anguscanplay]

i too would like to warn of the possibility of high voltage in the bell box. be careful

power the system down before you start and remember to power back up mains first then the new control panel battery

dont be tempted to buy one too small the 9800 needs a 7 amp battery

[nikko]

I had a similar problem a few years ago, although not with a 9800 (think it was a Scanny 9600)

Everyting was measuring fine on inspection, however I'd leave site and sure enough the client would ring and say it had gone off on tamper again. It particularly happened whenever she switched on the hall light!

I started to go down the road of RFI, and fitted an isolating relay to the tamper loop, but this didn't fix it.

I measured resistance one more time, and the bugger just happened to go into fault, showing MOhms across +Ve and 0Ve of the sounder. The 9800 will hold a circuit up to 2kOhms but beyond that will show tamper as a means of alerting you to the problem.

[Monty]

the cequara is a good bell unit wuth built in cut off timer . prob just water in tamper sw tru shorting out in unit and see if clears tamp sw not expensive.

[Guest anguscanplay]

I had a similar problem a few years ago, although not with a 9800 (think it was a Scanny 9600)

Everyting was measuring fine on inspection, however I'd leave site and sure enough the client would ring and say it had gone off on tamper again. It particularly happened whenever she switched on the hall light!

I started to go down the road of RFI, and fitted an isolating relay to the tamper loop, but this didn't fix it.

I measured resistance one more time, and the bugger just happened to go into fault, showing MOhms across +Ve and 0Ve of the sounder. The 9800 will hold a circuit up to 2kOhms but beyond that will show tamper as a means of alerting you to the problem.

remember these units had no fuse so could be a real pia finding power shorts