My new house is equipped with a Euro-Meridian home security system,
but I have yet to get round to arranging a contract with the
installers. On Saturday all hell broke loose at around noon as a power
cut, closely followed by restoration of power, closely followed by
ANOTHER power cut happened in quick succession. The security klaxon
then went off, which was so loud all I could do was rush to the
consumer unit and flick the main switch. This stopped the klaxon, but
immediately switched on the outside wall alarm. So I switched on the
power again, breathing a sigh of relief that all noise had ceased,
only then to discover that by moving from the garage (where the
consumer unit is) back into the house, the movement detectors were now
all wide awake and the klaxon started up again!

Eventually, after ten minutes of rushing around, thinking I'd get my
sledge hammer and knock the f***ing klaxon off the wall, I instead
removed the cover and disconnected one of the cables. That killed the
little ******* stone dead, heh heh! Thankfully, I then only had to
contend with mild beeping for 20 minutes from the keypad unit on the
hall wall.

Of course I don't know any security number/pass code/secret handshake!
Like I said, I never got round to setting up a contract yet, although
this will be my first job tomorrow morning.

On speaking to the emergency number, where the guy was incredibly
helpful, but said he couldn't send an engineer out as I was not on
their books yet, apparently I should have been told a pass code.
Apparently I should have been given a "tag" which you wave at the
keypad to silence the alarm.

I've never had a security system (and never been burgled). I didn't
buy the house on the basis of its being equipped with a security
system. It was just some other bit of gubbins which the developer had
had installed, but would be of little concern to me if it simply
wasn't there.

How can a powercut cause mayhem like this? Supposing I am away on
business or on holiday and a powercut occurs? Do the neighbours have
to suffer (for 20 minutes?) until I return in two weeks? Or do the
police break in and steal all my arthouse movies?

I finally got round to reading the Operator Handbook, and this thing
is so complicated I'd rather learn how to fly crop sprayers. How on
earth any normal person without a degree in electronics and a hotline
to specially trained security gurus is expected to understand it all
is totally beyond me. I've read the booklet from cover to cover and
it's all as clear as mud. Maybe there are training courses on themes
like: "How to Live in a Security Conscious Home". In my Handbook there
are schemes for leaving a window open intentionally, tests for walking
around ("WALK TEST COMPLETED"). I mean, anyone would think this is a
mini version of Fort Knox they're trying to protect! All, I believe, a
tad excessive for a quiet backwater such as this. How much did this
whole system cost the developer, I wonder?

MM