On 1 Mar 2004 05:04:43 -0800, Charles Middleton wrote:

I though that if the mains went off (powercut etc) then the battery
in the system would power the alarm. When I restored the power the
alarm stopped sounding.

Seems to indicate that the battery in the panel is knackered. Any
decent system will have a battery in the sounder as well as in the
panel. The sounder is "held off" by volts from the panel. If those
volts disappear (cable cut, duff panel battery during power outage
WHY) then the sounder will decide something is amiss and make it's
displeasure known, running from it's own battery.

I took the battery out of the alarm control box thingy and tested it
with a multimeter. It showed approx. 12 volts so it cant be flat.

You need to see what it is under load, a 6W side light from a car will
draw about 1/2 an amp and do as a suitable load. Or, if your
neightbours don't mind the noise, measure the voltage with the battery
installed in the panel and the mains to the panel switched off.

TBH 12v off load for a fully charged SLA seems on the low side to me,
I'd expect over 13v.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail