Risco eurosec CPX wireless alarm system

[Maria Gill]

I would appreciate it greatly if someone could advise me about an issue with the above system. We purchased this system 21 months ago which has worked fine up until neighbouring builders disturbed an underground electricity cable. We were left without electricity for approximately 30 hours until National Grid dug up our garden to resolve the issue. The alarm did not kick back in despite power being restored and the installer said it was nothing to do with the electricity cable being cut but that the failure was down to the system not having been serviced so the sensor batteries had gone flat. Call me cynical but that is a massive coincidence. Anyway, apparently the main battery was fine so he said he only had to replace the sensor batteries (5 small Panasonic lithium batteries for which he charged £50, plus call out (total £104 which we want off the builders)).

 

I was told over the phone that we would need two batteries at £25 each. I understood that the wireless batteries lasted two to three years. Is this correct?   Also, why didn't the alarm start working again when electricity was restored? The engineer is adamant that it is our fault for not having a yearly service but I just see this a ruse to get more money out of us. Again, call me cynical! We have never had issues with previous (different) alarm systems and had one for 10 and another for 15 years with no problems.  We have no intention of paying £104 a year to those guys to replace batteries when we paid £450 for the system. 

 

Was as it the power failure (cut cables) that caused this or was it the wireless batteries (coincidentally) running out at the exact same time that caused the issue with the system? We just don't understand why the system did not kick back in when power was restored. 

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks 

Edited October 14, 2017 by Maria Gill

[al-yeti]

Being a house basher it sounds about right

 

Regardless of power outage I would do the same change batteries in sensor and any others that need it

 

£450 is cheap for the system 

 

And £104 for the repair is a very good price 

[MrHappy]

your £50 visit was cheap, £10 each for a sensor battery was dear

 

We'd be more than £104 & if non contract we'd might not come at all

 

By contrast

 

A daytime visit for my house telephone would be £120+vat if my equipment is not at fault

 

The business telephone line went off some months ago £450+vat for an engineer to attend on Saturday morning I declined, they fixed some days latter at the exchange (there a bunch of clowns)

 

I pay call costs & line rental.... you've provided no income for your alarm co. since the install

 

I'd change lithium radio alarm battery's every 2 yrs & the lead acid battery every 5yrs unless they fail earlier

 

In your case I'd **assume** the end station, radio expander & keypad ect... stopped working after 10hrs or so.

when powered back up it recharged its battery but shows L! for every radio device or something ? The batterys may not need replacing at this point but I'd expect who however replace them has measured them & found there down on volts?

 

 

 

Any fault with your CPX will appear in the log, view it ?

[al-yeti]

 

It's possible for the panel not to kick back in , and also it doesn't really matter to be honest almost everyone who doesn't service there system yearly has this issue of similar types there's nothing an engineer could do to make your alarm not come back on unless for example there's an engineer's reset required 

[Maria Gill]

1 hour ago, al-yeti said:

Being a house basher it sounds about right

 

Regardless of power outage I would do the same change batteries in sensor and any others that need it

 

£450 is cheap for the system 

 

And £104 for the repair is a very good price 

Thank you for your reply. They upgraded the old (different) system when we bought it so they didn't provide the main battery hence the cost. I personally don't think it was a good price as it takes them less than 5 minutes to get to our house and it took less than 10 minutes to replace the batteries. That's all they did. It wasn't a repair.  I don't understand how the 30 hour power outage could possibly have  had no bearing on the system failing.  I can understand the main battery running out because 30 hours is such a long time but when it recharged after having been reconnected to the electricity supply why didn't the system work? We were told the sensor batteries would last 2 to 3 years not 21 months. It's too much of a coincidence that the sensor batteries failed at the exact  same time that the underground electricity cable was cut by the builders. There had been no issues whatsoever before that. I genuinely believe there is more to it but I don't know the answer. Having said that it concerns me that the sensor batteries can stop the whole system from working. That can't be right. What if they failed whilst on holiday?

1 hour ago, al-yeti said:

Being a house basher it sounds about right

 

Regardless of power outage I would do the same change batteries in sensor and any others that need it

 

£450 is cheap for the system 

 

And £104 for the repair is a very good price 

 

Just now, Maria Gill said:

Thank you for your reply. They upgraded the old (different) system when we bought it so they didn't provide the main battery hence the cost. I personally don't think it was a good price as it takes them less than 5 minutes to get to our house and it took less than 10 minutes to replace the batteries. That's all they did. It wasn't a repair.  I don't understand how the 30 hour power outage could possibly have  had no bearing on the system failing.  I can understand the main battery running out because 30 hours is such a long time but when it recharged after having been reconnected to the electricity supply why didn't the system work? We were told the sensor batteries would last 2 to 3 years not 21 months. It's too much of a coincidence that the sensor batteries failed at the exact  same time that the underground electricity cable was cut by the builders. There had been no issues whatsoever before that. I genuinely believe there is more to it but I don't know the answer. Having said that it concerns me that the sensor batteries can stop the whole system from working. That can't be right. What if they failed whilst on holiday?

T

 

1 hour ago, al-yeti said:

Being a house basher it sounds about right

 

Regardless of power outage I would do the same change batteries in sensor and any others that need it

 

£450 is cheap for the system 

 

And £104 for the repair is a very good price 

 

[Maria Gill]

Thank you all for your replies however I'm still none the wiser  as to why the main battery didn't kick back in to make the alarm work once electricity was restored. There wasn't a fault with the alarm per se and there wasn't a repair. The underground cable was cut which resulted in the power outage. There is no way that that wasn't related to the alarm problems we experienced. Call me dumb but I just don't understand why it didn't come back on or why sensor batteries that were less than 2 years old suddenly ran out at the exact moment in time that the outside cable was cut. It' has to be all connected. I see no logic in any of it. I appreciate you all taking the time to comment though

[al-yeti]

doesnt make sense for them not to provide a new system battery if replacing main controls

 

however doesnt change the fact most would change all the sensor batteries and the system battery at this stage and £104 cheap fix

 

i seen some come back and say sorry panel or wireless repeater has been spiked i have to put a new one in cost total now £450 again , so he did well on that charge 

 

 

[Maria Gill]

18 minutes ago, al-yeti said:

doesnt make sense for them not to provide a new system battery if replacing main controls

 

however doesnt change the fact most would change all the sensor batteries and the system battery at this stage and £104 cheap fix

 

i seen some come back and say sorry panel or wireless repeater has been spiked i have to put a new one in cost total now £450 again , so he did well on that charge 

 

 

Thank you for your reply however it still doesn't explain how the cut cable and alarm failure were in no way connected or why it didn't come back on once power was restored. Thank you any way

[petercts]

Hi

regardless if the battery is new or old ,no alarm will last a 30 hour power cut once the battery is completely exhausted. . ie flat they will never recharge from the control panel

the design is to  provide approx. 8 hours battery power and then recharge within approx. 24 hours  once the battery is flat the control box does not have the capacity to recharge it

with out damage to the circuit board  so a replacement battery is the cheaper option.  The wireless battery  replacement is often done early as precaution whilst on a service call 

otherwise people complain  about paying twice when the low battery warning starts only a few months after the last visit

[MrHappy]

56 minutes ago, Maria Gill said:

why it didn't come back on once power was restored. 

 

A deeply discharged battery may prevent the controls from restarting cleanly as it pulling the voltage down...