Alarm bell working intermitingly

[Bobby21]

I have an alarm at home and the outdoor bell stopped working properly. When the fuse box trips it used to go off for 15mins and now it just makes odd beeping sounds if anything, odd meaning it beeps sometimes a few seconds sometimes not at all sometimes continues then stops as if it's getting power then not. I thought it was the 12v battery in the alarm box so replaced it but the problem still occurs. The keypad is working fine on battery power but the bell just doesn't continue to constantly ring anymore. Any ideas?? 

[sixwheeledbeast]

Needs a new external sounder from what you say. As an aside your breaker tripping shouldn't trigger the siren, that indicates another unrelated fault.

Some you can replace the battery pack but it's not worth the effort unless it's fairly new, the plastics fatigue and the Great British weather gets to them.

Ladders, ear defenders and be careful not to electrocute yourself on the strobe flash if DIY.

[Bobby21]

Thanks for the response. The fuse box is fine I was just testing it out by tripping the fuse to see if it works but this month its stopped working... 

 

When you say external sounder is that the full box outside needs replacing? Will it fit with the wiring already there as the alarm is probably 15 years old.. 

[al-yeti]

2 minutes ago, Bobby21 said:

Thanks for the response. The fuse box is fine I was just testing it out by tripping the fuse to see if it works but this month its stopped working... 

 

When you say external sounder is that the full box outside needs replacing? Will it fit with the wiring already there as the alarm is probably 15 years old.. 

As said above , you testing the bell by tripping  the fuse  box means there was another fault 

 

Probably the battery which you have now replaced or your battery fuse maybe gone or charge circuit dead , hence why you still get something from the box when you trip it 

 

And then additional as above replace bell box 

[sixwheeledbeast]

As above I wasn't referring to a fault with your consumer unit. Systems are not suppose to trigger outside when you remove the power!

Yes you should be fine reusing the wiring if there is no fault with it.

[Bobby21]

Thanks again.my fuse box has always done this.. If it was ever tripped or the power to the house was cut off the alarm siren would go off and use the 12v battery power.. So on that basis I don't think there is a fault with the power but defiantly some kind of siren issue.. Wil try finding a replacement tomorrow.. Checking to see if the bell can just be replaced rather than the full box... 

[PeterJames]

1 hour ago, Bobby21 said:

Thanks again.my fuse box has always done this.. 

It not your fuse box doing it.

The siren is not supposed to sound when the power is tripped, could you imagine the chaos if this happened to every alarm in your street in a power cut.

 

There is a battery in the bell that is designed to make the external sounder sound when there is no connection from the control panel. The panel is constantly supplying voltage to the external sounder, if it loses the voltage like when someone cuts the wire going to the sounder the battery then takes over and the sounder sounds.

 

The panel also has a battery inside, this battery keeps the panel powered in a powercut, this also means that the panel is able to keep the voltage going to the external sounder thus preventing it from sounding in a powercut. The fault you describe, your external sounder sounding in a powercut, there is something wrong, as above probably battery or battery fuse or charging circuit.

 

The sounder intermittently sounding is  a symptom of the fault, not the fault, to test if the sounder is good, with the power on set the alarm off by aring it and walking into the armed area. If the sounder sounds as it should, then you need to get someone that knows what they are doing to take a proper look and make a proper diagnosis of what is actually wrong.