What could be the cause of false alarms in a home alarm system (installed by a company, not a do it yourself)?
March 11, 2010 by
Filed under american alarm company
No pets on the premises.
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It could be operator error, low batteries in the sensors, bad connection. It could be a number of things but the alarm company should be calling you to see or tell you which alarm is faulty. I would call the alarm company.
Recently, my keypad started beeping every minute or so. I’d have to arm it then disarm it to make it quit so I called the company to come check it as no faults were showing up. It turned out to be old batteries in the wireless door alarms. If you have any wireless door alarms, check the batteries. If the battery fails while the system is armed, the system goes off thinking the door has been opened. You can get replacement batteries at battery specialty stores like Batteries Plus. They cost a bit, but it’s cheaper than paying the security company or false alarm fines if you have those.
Mine was caused by my not closing the back door completely. I closed it enough to allow the alarm to be set. A gust of wind after I left, next thing I know I’m getting a call from the alarm company.
I have seen instances of false alarms being caused by cockroaches crawling around inside the alarm.
misaligned sensors.
Low batteries, sensors may need adjustment, motion aimed wrong, spider webs in front of motion detector, or just a funky system….But when the alarm goes off it should tell you which area went off…..keep track of which one goes off, cause you may have to call them to come back out to check it out…….
Many things can cause false alarms. The first thing to look at is the source of the false alarm.
If it is a motion detector, you might have a bug in the sensor or the sensor could have gone bad. Motion detectors also are prone to environmental issues (Particuarly the cheaper ones) Drafts, sources of heat and direct sunlight on the lens can cause problems.
Door contacts are typically fairly stable, unless of course you are talking about a wireless system (many more variables there). As a previous poster mentioned, mis-aligned contacts is common. Another possibility is a poor solder connection or loose wires. Contacts do occasionally go bad as they are a magnetic switch enclosed in a sealed glass tube. Sometimes the glass breaks and the contact is exposed to oxygen.
I have posted some more information about false alarms and common causes on my website at http://www.keepsafesystems.ca. If all else fails, call the company or individual who installed it.