Any of you chaps got any experience in changing the battery in a burglar alarm?
My attention was drawn to our burglar alarm a couple of evenings ago when I had to turn off the power on one of the ring main circuits. As the alarm [a Scantronic 9448+] had been installed when the house was built 12 years ago, I Googled to see what information I could find out about it.
Apparently, they contain a back-up battery which normally lasts for 3 to 5 years, depending on make so, at 12 years, a change of battery is long overdue. Naturally, the manual says absolutely nothing about this as, I suspect, they want to preserve the mystique in order to provide employment for their engineers.
I've some apprehension about attempting to do the job myself as I've a fear of setting off the alarm and not being able to stop it! So, any information would be gratefully reveived.
Cheers
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The battery's probably under a cover that's protected by the alarm, ie a microswitch actuated by removing the cover.
Presuming you have the code to de-activate the alarm, then removing the cover to change the battery shouldn't cause a problem, hopefully.
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I presume you can isolate the alarm from the mains?
More than likely there will be some kind of anti tamper mechanism built into the alarm system somewhere and it will sound (if the back up battery is still up to the job) but as soon as you disconnect the battery then the alarm will shut up too.
If you know where the battery is, and can plan ahead with the job, you should be able to change it with the minimum amount of fuss.
More than likely it'll be a 6 or 12 volt sealed lead acid battery that you can purchase from Maplin and the like. Mind you, the last time I bought one of these batteries I found Maplin had hiked their prices up so got it from Toolstation instead at half the price.
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i used a motorbike battery as a substitute for the alarm at work,it last much much longer when i get burgled so it annoys the local proletariat
obviously still not seen any babylon though even though on both occasions my crime was important to them
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I got mine from e bay i tried B & Q but they were expensive do make sure it's charging ok.
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Yes, I've done this a couple of times down the years with minimal know-how (!) - last time sourced a battery on-line for about £15 delivered IIRC. The tamper alarm will go off initially when you unscrew the plastic cover but just enter the code (or ignore the noise for a minute) & switch batteries - just 2 slider connections. Then forget it for 5 - 10 years...
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H
you might want to change the battery in the bell unit too, it must be getting on a bit. As already suggested - Maplins. It's no big deal, especially if you've isolated the alarm from the mains and taken its battery out. Saves you going deaf doing the job :-)
JH
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Many thanks for the comments - I'll tackle the job tomorrow when most folks are at work, and I won't be disturbing their Sunday afternoon peace!
I'm not sure whether the outside bell has a battery back-up or not - as I say, there was naff-all advice with the installation.
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Googling brings up some info that might help, such as:
"Phone Gardiner Security on 0208 699 9900; ask for Scantronics phone number and then choose Tech Support"
www.diy-alarms.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=41
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I've changed the battery in my alarm a couple of times over the years. No problem.
I bought the last one from a local electrical parts factor:-
tinyurl.com/2uypm8c
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Just to round this one off.....
I opened up the alarm case to discover that the battery was a 2.1Ah Yuasa and duly sent off for a replacement from e-bay. The new one turned out to be 2.3Ah, but I was assured (I believe, correctly) that this one would be even better than the 2.1!
Of course I tried my methodical best to do the changeover this afternoon but, as feared, I managed to set the alarm bell going. Keying in our code didn't seem to make any difference and I suspect that somehow we had lost the memory/code when the mains electricity was shut off and the battery was being removed. Maybe we should have left the mains supply on during the operation??? [Can anyone confirm this?]
We keyed in various combinations of digits that the engineer had scribbled on the instruction (ha, ha) sheet and managed to quieten the beast down, stop the flashing lights and revert to the basic factory code. Tomorrow, after I've built up sufficient courage, I'll try and change it back to our preferred code.
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This is what's probably supposed to happen! If you cut the power supply to the siren the internal battery in the siren should sound the siren - it's a fail safe to stop the n'er do wells cutting the wire to the siren to silence it. If the siren doesn't sound when you disconnect the power and battery then the battery in the siren is kaput. If the siren sounds when you cut the mains power to the alarm, then the main battery is kaput.
What you should do is: enter the engineer's code, remove the cover from the siren and disconnect the internal battery, then you can remove the cover from the main unit, turn the power off, and replace the battery without the main alarm sounding. If you haven't got the engineer's code then you can open the main case which will set off the tamper alarm, enter your normal silence code, then remove the battery from the siren, then change the main battery.
We never set ours, so it got the heave ho when I fitted a new boiler and the flue went right through where the siren was. I worked out the above by trial and error and the internet. Then I found the installation instructions about 3 months later :-))
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