Not so alarming
Jan. 18th, 2007 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysAs I was getting ready for bed last night I heard a sound a bit like a muffled siren from somewhere inside the house. It was the sound of electronics in distress. I traced the noise to the master control box for the house alarm system. Not a good sound given that the alarm was disabled. I took the cover of the panel off to find that the backup battery system was the source of the sound and quite a bit of heat besides. The battery was quite hot and obviously in the process of failing. Disconnecting it sorted out the offending sound. Not that I cared so much at that point. I casually mentioned taking the panel off above, but I didn't mention that that activates the alarm sirens and I couldn't shut them off via the keypad. The resulting noise only stopped off when I disconnected the battery as well as turning off mains power to the alarm. Boy those little piezo sirens pack a lot of noise power. The thing is what I was just able to make out was that while the internal noisemakers were making this racket, the main siren outside was not working. Clearly time for the alarm system to get a proper service.
It has been a long time since I had the alarm serviced. The company that did it last time has gone out of business. This morning I called the people who had bought out their customer database since that seemed the logical course of action. In the spirit of handing out credit where it is due, I have to say I was very impressed by the experience. The people on the phone were friendly and efficient as they took my details and explained likely costs. The service chap arrived when he said he would and explained exactly what he was doing. He quickly went through the problems step by step isolating the single faulty component and replacing it rather than taking the easy and expensive (for me) way out of replacing the whole unit. He also gave me a price breakdown as he went so that it was a no surprise exercise. He even told me where I could get a replacement battery next time which would be cheaper than getting them to do it. All in all a very professional operation. It gives you a good feeling to know that it is possible for an operation can be run like that.
It has been a long time since I had the alarm serviced. The company that did it last time has gone out of business. This morning I called the people who had bought out their customer database since that seemed the logical course of action. In the spirit of handing out credit where it is due, I have to say I was very impressed by the experience. The people on the phone were friendly and efficient as they took my details and explained likely costs. The service chap arrived when he said he would and explained exactly what he was doing. He quickly went through the problems step by step isolating the single faulty component and replacing it rather than taking the easy and expensive (for me) way out of replacing the whole unit. He also gave me a price breakdown as he went so that it was a no surprise exercise. He even told me where I could get a replacement battery next time which would be cheaper than getting them to do it. All in all a very professional operation. It gives you a good feeling to know that it is possible for an operation can be run like that.