Risco eurosec CPX wireless alarm system

[Maria Gill]

13 hours ago, james.wilson said:

I don't know the gear but was it all sensors or just 1 or 2

5 wireless sensors I'm guessing with 5 batteries having been replaced. I just don't understand why the system didn't kick back in once the main battery recharged after the outside cable was repaired. He's absolutely adamant that the power outage was nothing to do with the system failure. We're now concerned that should there be a power failure again, the system won't kick back in once the main battery is recharged. None of it makes sense to be honest. What are the odds on the wireless sensor batteries failing at the exact same time as the power outage? Many thanks for your reply

[Maria Gill]

13 hours ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

From what I gather on your posts above I would say:-

Not many systems are designed to last 30 hours with no power.

If the control panel battery is exhausted then your system may not power back up when the mains restores.

Your sensor batteries are separate from the mains failure/control panel battery failure, if they where failing you will never truly know now.

 

I would recommend radio sensors batteries are replace annually, they never last as long as the manufacturer claims.

There is no way I wouldn't recommand a full service to a non-maintained customer if it had not been serviced within 12 months.

If this isn't explained you'll be back again within 12 months to swap the batteries and the customer would expect this to be FOC.

 

 

 

 

T

 

1 minute ago, Maria Gill said:

5 wireless sensors I'm guessing with 5 batteries having been replaced. I just don't understand why the system didn't kick back in once the main battery recharged after the outside cable was repaired. He's absolutely adamant that the power outage was nothing to do with the system failure. We're now concerned that should there be a power failure again, the system won't kick back in once the main battery is recharged. None of it makes sense to be honest. What are the odds on the wireless sensor batteries failing at the exact same time as the power outage? Many thanks for your reply

The engineer said that the main battery had recharged itself and was fine but the wireless sensor batteries were dead due to not having had a service. A bit too much of a coincidence that they failed at the exact same time that the power was cut. As I said I don't believe that was the issue. Too much of a coincidence. We had no choice other than to call an engineer. We would not have purchased the system if it could fail in this way as its not fit for purpose. I get that it was off for 30 hours which is probably highly unusual but nontheless the main battery did recharge so it should have kicked back in.  We don't want a system that, for want of a better word, is so 'flakey'. We also set it at night and not just whenever we're out and not just for security but also to comfort our son, because we were burgled in our last house when he was 5 and it caused night terrors that lasted 10 years. 

[Maria Gill]

18 hours ago, Hillbilly said:

Remember on the CPX the system needs time to recharge the battery up to 11.8v and over to function or you will get Batt/Fuse fault.

£114 to get the system serviced and new batteries is about the standard price Imo.

Yes that's the message we got but when the main battery recharged we had no choice but to call an engineer as it still wouldn't work. He said it was our fault for not replacing the wireless batteries which were dead. It wasn't our fault. The system was working perfectly fine until the power outage. 

[sjsturner]

I don't install Risco kit, so can't help you very much here, but I'm just wondering what the protocol is for a detector that has "lost" comms with the main panel?

is it possible that the detectors were polling more often for a reply from the main panel hence depleting whatever charge was left in the batteries?

again I'm no expert on Risco so wondering what the other engineers think but I would say the batteries must have been low in the first instance, we change batteries each year on RF kit to maintain consistency of the system.

 

 

[norman]

As above, if the panel was dead the detectors may have been  polling (looking for it so to speak) this would tie in with all needing new batteries, but also on the back of this having a wireless system without a service contract is not a great idea imo 

[Maria Gill]

I must point out that from beginning  I have received an absolutely appalling service from the firm In question. It took 10 phone calls on day one to arrange a visit , with their phone system not working properly. I spoke to 4 different women,  each of whom gave me conflicting information. I confirmed the time someone could be there on the following day to let them in and they left me a voicemail message confirming it had been booked in at a totally different time than I had said. They phoned again to tell me it would be £25 for one battery, then called again to say the first woman had got it wrong and it would in fact be £50 for two batteries. This was all whilst I was at work and having to sneak out to take/make calls. I was exasperated at this point and pointed out that I was appalled at the way it was being handled. I asked one lady her name and she abruptly said ''it was Kim' clearly pointing out that she had already told me her name and yes, I know it was rude of me, but I said 'isn't it still Kim?'  I was so fed up by this point. I had taken emergency leave the day before whilst a 5 foot by 2 foot deep hole was dug through my block paving, I had lost a freezer and fridge full of food and was now spending half my day trying to get someone out to look at my alarm. On day two when the visit had been arranged and my son changed his plans so he would be home, I received a call from the company asking for payment of £104 by card or they wouldn't attend. I said my son had been left cash and I didn't have my bank card to pay on the phone. They said they couldn't attend.  I contacted my neighbour who had previously said he would pay as it was his builders who  had caused all the problems. He made several calls over two hours to make payment on his card, experiencing tha same probl ms I had, and left me a message to say it was paid but they wouldn't commit to a time. I had to call them again to confirm the time. Again, this took a lot of time and about 10 calls on day two. It gets worse. As I said the invoice blamed lack of service causing the alarm failure and it went so far as to even say it was not due to power failure. I went to the alarm shop at the weekend and asked for the invoice to be reissued without the comment. I also asked if he could explain why he believed that the power outage had absolutely nothing to do with the alarm failure. He couldn't and was extremely rude and intimidating.  I was perfectly pleasant and polite explaining that I just required an explanation as I needed to be able to rely on the system. He so happened to be the engineer that had attended. He said it wasn't the builders fault so they shouldn't have to pay and it was my fault.   I told him I hadn't asked for any such opinion which he had no right to make and he said I was lucky he came out after how rude I had been to the staff ( believe me I hadn't considering!) . He then lied about my son saying he had been extremely rude to him when he attended the property. My son is 24 (probably same age as engineer) and was with his dad at the property and all he said was "hello, come in, can I get you anything?" And " thank you, bye". The engineer finished with "Get out of this shop". I was absolutely mortified by all of it. I had to stop my husband and several friends from going back to the shop as I think such individuals are dangerous and things would have just escalated with him telling more lies. It's all been so stressful and he had me in tears so I left the shop before letting him see me like that. Sorry for the long post but you might now all understand why I don't trust anything that has been said to me by the alarm provider/engineer. Thank you all very much indeed for your kind responses and assistance. 

[PeterJames]

32 minutes ago, Maria Gill said:

Yes that's the message we got but when the main battery recharged we had no choice but to call an engineer as it still wouldn't work. He said it was our fault for not replacing the wireless batteries which were dead. It wasn't our fault. The system was working perfectly fine until the power outage. 

The problem was because the battery had discharged completely, the panel was unable to deal with charging the battery and powering the control panel efficiently so the panel had locked up. Recycling the power would have restarted the panel, the Lithium batteries in the detectors would not have had anything to do with the panel locking up. The reason I asked if the company is approved is because you can appeal to their inspectorate for a full explanation as to what happened, the inspectorate should ask the right questions for you and if the company is bluffing then it will be found out. I am not familiar with the wireless version of the CPX but the 600 series definitively does indicate low battery on detectors well in advance. Have you checked your user manual what does it say about detector batteries and low battery warnings?

[sixwheeledbeast]

29 minutes ago, sjsturner said:

I don't install Risco kit, so can't help you very much here, but I'm just wondering what the protocol is for a detector that has "lost" comms with the main panel?

is it possible that the detectors were polling more often for a reply from the main panel hence depleting whatever charge was left in the batteries?

again I'm no expert on Risco so wondering what the other engineers think but I would say the batteries must have been low in the first instance, we change batteries each year on RF kit to maintain consistency of the system.

I agree, I don't know the CPX well enough to know if polling would be an issue.

However, if polling where a part of the issue then I would say it's likely all the radio batteries would fail and need replacing.

 

It's more likely the system locked up when the power was restored as PJ says.

 

To move forward if you feel you have a complaint ask to speak to someone at the company and explain, if this does not give you a satisfactory resolution take it up with there inspectorate if approved.

Finally take a service contract up with another company that support your system, having a system without one is only asking for grief in the long run.

[Maria Gill]

13 minutes ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

I agree, I don't know the CPX well enough to know if polling would be an issue.

However, if polling where a part of the issue then I would say it's likely all the radio batteries would fail and need replacing.

 

It's more likely the system locked up when the power was restored as PJ says.

 

To move forward if you feel you have a complaint ask to speak to someone at the company and explain, if this does not give you a satisfactory resolution take it up with there inspectorate if approved.

Finally take a service contract up with another company that support your system, having a system without one is only asking for grief in the long run.

Thank you for your response. My earlier post explains what happened when I asked the engineer for an explabnation. It doesn't make good reading. Apologies for its length but I needed to explain everything so that folk will understand why I'm aggrieved and why I don't trust the alarm company or the engineer

[norman]

Life's too short imo, raise a complaint with with the company cc'ing any associated inspectorate and engage a new company to maintain the system going forward then move on.

 

I note your location, is the company a national one?