ongoing problem with bell boxes

[poppit15]

Hi I posted a query a few months ago regarding the problems that I am having with my alarm system.

Would just like to say thank you to all who replied.

I have finally got around to having another look at the alarm system again and have tested all connections in the alarm control panle with a multimeter and they all seem fine. I have disconnected wires from both alarm boxes individually and tested them one at a time, which still results in bell tamper problem.

The fault now seems to be between the setting sab & scb - if i set the option to SCB which was how the alarm was originally set when installed the bell boxes constantly sound outside but the keypad does not show bell tamper and when I set the option to SAB the bells do not sound continually outside but then the keypad display is sounding bell tamper.

I was wondering if anyone has any idea has to what might be the problem, I was wondering if the backup batterys in the 2 live bell boxes might be flat even though they are only nearly 2 years old but i think that there was no power going to the boxes after the fuse blew and I didnt realise for quite a while so would this of run the batterys down in the bell boxes as the sound does sound like they are running off the backup batterys as the bell boxes are not that loud when sounding.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

thanks again
julie

[toscal]

SCB means Self Contained Bell. and SAB means Self Activating Bell.
What this really means is for SCB: bell box receives its power and trigger from the panel, but when an alarm is activated, the bellbox will draw power from its own on-board battery. Such bellboxes will generally be used when using more than one bellbox on a system, to keep current consumption from the panel to a minimum.
And SAB :The bell box draws all it's power from the control panel. The back up battery normally contained in the bellbox is there purely as a back up, should the power between the panel and bell be cut, ie power cut.
So as the bell is sounding in SCB mode then I would guess the batteries are OK. Though 2 years does seem a little on the short side. But its hard to say what sort of life the alarm system has had. And it wouldn't hurt to change them anyway.
Many bell boxes have a tamper switch which press against the wall if this doesn't press completely against the wall then it may cause a tamper. It is possible to disable this tamper either via a link in the bell box, or adding a wire across the switch.
Is it possible to check the continuity of the tamper wires running from the bellboxes to the panel. As one of these could be cut. A quick way would be to short these out at the panel. Though be careful as a wrong connection could damage your system.
Just had another idea. On many Bell boxes there is a screw tamper switch. This is normally the bottom screw on the bell box. This holds the outercase to the part that is wall mounted. There is quite often a tamper switch here, if the screw is missing or not tightened up properly then you could get problems.