House Alarm

nickmisky

Hi there,
A freind of mine has a burgular alarm (in the UK) and the panel is getting hot. Is this likely to be a loose neutral somewhere or maybe depleted batteries?
Many Thanks, nick.

ABLE1

Not knowing the panel maker and voltages involved some of the below may not apply. But it should give you some idea of what can be looked for.

First disconnect the AC power and see how long the battery can keep it up. If it dies quickly Less than 10 minutes replace the battery. New batterys should last 8 to 10 hours or more from new. Really depends on the load. They are designed to last 3 to 5 years. If the battery is older than 3 years replacement should be considered.

If I was there I would be checking the battery voltage with AC on, should be 13.58 volts or there abouts. When AC off voltage will drop to 12 to 12.5 and hold for some time at that voltage then drop below 12 and below.

If there is a short on the aux power connections (ie keypads, motion, glass breaks, etc.)this will cause excessive power draw on the supply and will cause excessive heat. By removing the positive lead for aux power and keeping the panel powered give it some time to see if the heat drops off. If it does cool down, connect one device at a time. This method will be best to use a multimeter in amp mode to see the actual current draw. Most devices will draw less than 50ma. That is milliamps. If you find a one that draw more I would suspect it to be a problem.

It is also possible that some device on the board was damaged by a voltage spike and is causing the excessive heat and will soon so south. Just a matter of time.

Hope he can find the problem before some serious damage occures. Like the thing starts smoking, catches fire, and burns the house down. This would be extream but is possible.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Les