Random beeps from alarm panels

bob4321

Member
Early this morning the alarm panels start to beep.  This has happened 5 times in the past 4 months.  The alarm is never armed (is in a ready to arm state) and mostly in the middle of the night so that we panic, jump out of bed and type in the alarm code thinking it needs to be disarmed.  This actually starts the arming process, so we type in the code again and disarm.
 
In case you are wondering, we have not started to arm the alarm yet - getting my wife used to the idea of an alarm is taking longer than I expected and this random event makes it harder for her to want to use it.
 
The alarm log never shows any information besides the arm and disarm pair that we do when it starts to beep.  There are no events for  long periods of time prior to the beeping.   There may some message on the panel when the beeps are occurring, but  in the rush to disarm it we have not taken the time to read it.
 
There are no faults showing anywhere.
 
Is there a listing or information as to what the beeps mean?  I could not find any form of detailed logging that might show all activity that occurred prior to the events.  The beeps are not even, but from what my wife said were 2 beeps, short pause, 2 beeps short pause.........
 
I do have the ISY hooked up to the ELK and the ISY log does not show any additional information.  At one point I tried leaving the ISY console up in detailed mode to show all ELK Activity, but the event was to random and sparse to capture.  In case you are wondering if the ISY could be affecting it, the first 2 times this occurred were prior to when I connected the ISY.  I even tried setting some programs in the ISY to execute on ELK alarm type events so that I could capture information in the logs, but these programs have never gotten hit.
 
Any clues would be great - could this be an internal hardware fault or software issue in the ELK itself?
 
Thanks
 
Is it a single beep or two quick beeps? The elk will beep twice if "chime" is set to tone and a zone is violated. If that is the case then set chime to voice and the next time it will voice which zone is violated.
 
Mike.
 
Yep. I had to realign one of my door sensors to keep it from chiming due to house pressure changes when other doors are opened/closed. I would not be surprised if the doors on a well sealed house will not move slightly when the HVAC turns on/off.

You also might want to replace the battery if it is more than 5 years old, which can be a source of seemingly random chimes. Those are usually accompanied with a low batt warning on the keypad.
 
The door sensors are all hardwired lunger types in the frame and push securely when the doors are shut and locked.  But the beeps aren't random.  They are a sequence of 2 beeps, quick pause, 2 beeps quick pause.  All very regular and continuous until I arm the system with the code.    I also have all door chimes disabled on the system so there are no chimes or beeps on opening or closing of doors.
 
I had thoughts that smoke or CO detector could be faulting, but we tested those and there were messages in the log to report when we forced those faults.  I get no log messages at all on this occurance.
 
Are you sure it's the Elk?
 
20 years in the business, I've been called for the "alarm is beeping and you need to fix it" service call and I've had microwaves, plug in devices, CO detectors and hardwired smoke detectors (non-alarm) as culprits and then some.
 
Only other item would be if your CO is about 4-5 years old, end of life annunciation.
 
Its 100% the alarm panels beeping - typing in the code to arm the alarm silences the beeping.  We've done this on two separate panels so far.
 
The CO detectors are 4 months old - would they sound through the panels if they were end of life or through the CO detector itself.
 
My question - is there some unpublished documentation or engineering document on the ELK that describes different beeps and their meanings? 
 
Guess my other chance to debug this will be to wait for it to occur again and try to capture what the display on the panel says at that time.  Will also try to record the beep sequence.
 
bob4321 said:
Its 100% the alarm panels beeping - typing in the code to arm the alarm silences the beeping.
Are you saying that it beeps continuously until you enter the code at the keypad?
 
bob4321 said:
Its 100% the alarm panels beeping - typing in the code to arm the alarm silences the beeping.  We've done this on two separate panels so far.
 
The CO detectors are 4 months old - would they sound through the panels if they were end of life or through the CO detector itself.
 
My question - is there some unpublished documentation or engineering document on the ELK that describes different beeps and their meanings? 
 
Guess my other chance to debug this will be to wait for it to occur again and try to capture what the display on the panel says at that time.  Will also try to record the beep sequence.
No secret menu with beeps. The display should give some information on what's going on, and with nothing in the log, it leads me to believe it's a controlled point (zone) causing the issue.
 
CO-Depends on how you wired them and the type; Most have a trouble relay contact that MUST be wired in with the circuit. If not, there's no annunciation of trouble. You also don't note the programming and if they're wired or wireless.
 
The next is whether or not the system is local or not (monitored) and if anything is connected to the panel. The fact that you don't have anything in the log and the system isn't noting an issue on the display would lead me to believe there's something else going on.
 
Could be a zone trouble or configuration issue, such as high or low resistance trouble on a burg point. If the system isn't armed, it's not going to do anything but a basic trouble and not be logged.
 
Don't arm/disarm the system, that's incorrect. Hit * to acknowledge anything on the system, take a peek at the user's manual.
 
mikefamig - yes, as soon as you type in the code it stops beeping and system starts to arm.
 
delinstallations - I will have to do my best to see what the display says next time this occurs.   That will be the only definitive way to know that the system is complaining about.  Will also not hit the code to arm the system but use the * and see if the acknowledge works to stop the beeps.
 
The system is monitored now, but the first two occurances it was not - so thinking that has no influence.
I have my ISY connected now, but it also was not hooked up for the first two times it occurred.
 
The CO detectors are hardwired and have the trouble relay wired in.  We have tested them by forcing all sorts of faults and could not cause the same beeps.
 
I think the only way to figure this out is wait for the next time it happens and see what the panel display says.  That may take another month or two to have it happen again.
 
I would look to see what sorts of reporting you're sending to the CS. The more you can send, including restorals, the better, so you can get an idea of what's going on.
 
Are you monitored via POTS or another method?
 
Am I correct to understand that the keypad is beeping continuously and there is no message on the LCD display and there is no entry in the log? That would be unusual or at least I've never seen it. If this is true I would call Elk or post the question on their web support forum.
 
Mike.
 
delinstallations - I will check on reporting is going to the central stations
mike - it is beeping continuously, but in the rush to turn off the beep both myself and wife have put in the code before reading the panel display.  So I'm not sure what is on the LCD.  But, the log has no entry at all besides the arm/disarm that we do to stop the beeping.
 
bob4321 said:
delinstallations - I will check on reporting is going to the central stations
mike - it is beeping continuously, but in the rush to turn off the beep both myself and wife have put in the code before reading the panel display.  So I'm not sure what is on the LCD.  But, the log has no entry at all besides the arm/disarm that we do to stop the beeping.
I think that the keypad will beep when you get a "lost comms" error and it will display on the lcd. This can be caused by a wiring problem to the keypad or faulty keypad. I had it happen once and corrected it by simply re-enrolling the devices.
 
Mike.
 
That sounds like the most likely candidate - will wait for the next 'event' and see what the lcd says.
thanks for the asisstance
 
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