Hiya

My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner had
died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small (about 3x2
inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a small black
plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left of the key hole,
still part of the box, is what looks like it might be an indicator of
some sort, but whatever position the key is turned to, the indicator
stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

Any ideas what they are.

Many thanks

--

Local hero wrote:
My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner had
died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small (about 3x2
inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a small black
plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left of the key hole,
still part of the box, is what looks like it might be an indicator of
some sort, but whatever position the key is turned to, the indicator
stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

It's probably a "panic alarm" box. There will be a large button to press
when you detect a burglar breaking in or already in. Pressing the button
will activate the alarm. The key is to reset it and would normally be
stored somewhere else.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

Mike Barnes wrote:

Local hero wrote:
My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner
had died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small
(about 3x2 inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a
small black plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left
of the key hole, still part of the box, is what looks like it might
be an indicator of some sort, but whatever position the key is
turned to, the indicator stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

It's probably a "panic alarm" box. There will be a large button to
press when you detect a burglar breaking in or already in. Pressing
the button will activate the alarm. The key is to reset it and would
normally be stored somewhere else.

Ah! Thanks - that makes sense of the positioning. It may be that what I
thought of as an indicator is actually the button that you refer to.
Now to find out how to do a reset on the alarm system to be able to
reset the code!!

--

On Sun, 30 Mar 2014 11:17:05 -0500, Local hero wrote:

Mike Barnes wrote:

Local hero wrote:
My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner
had died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small
(about 3x2 inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a
small black plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left of
the key hole, still part of the box, is what looks like it might be
an indicator of some sort, but whatever position the key is turned
to, the indicator stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

It's probably a "panic alarm" box. There will be a large button to
press when you detect a burglar breaking in or already in. Pressing the
button will activate the alarm. The key is to reset it and would
normally be stored somewhere else.

Ah! Thanks - that makes sense of the positioning. It may be that what I
thought of as an indicator is actually the button that you refer to. Now
to find out how to do a reset on the alarm system to be able to reset
the code!!

The indicator on ours is just that. The 'button' is basically the whole
of one end of the box, which presses inwards and then stays there until
the 'key' is used to push it out again.

I reckon that's what it is too. That's exactly where our two are placed.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
My posts (including this one) are my copyright and if @diy_forums on
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*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:07:34 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:

My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner had
died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small (about 3x2
inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a small black
plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left of the key hole,
still part of the box, is what looks like it might be an indicator of
some sort, but whatever position the key is turned to, the indicator
stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

It's probably a "panic alarm" box. There will be a large button to press
when you detect a burglar breaking in or already in. Pressing the button
will activate the alarm. The key is to reset it and would normally be
stored somewhere else.

If the previous occupant was elderly and frail, it may well be the "base
station" for a necklace-style fall alarm.

Local hero wrote:

It is positioned by the front door,

As said, it's a panic button and they're always incorrectly fitted right
by the front door instead of opposite it (where you'd end up if pushed
back into the house by a marauder.)

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

On Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:45:19 +0100, Scott M wrote:

Local hero wrote:

It is positioned by the front door,

As said, it's a panic button and they're always incorrectly fitted right
by the front door instead of opposite it (where you'd end up if pushed
back into the house by a marauder.)

Not always! Ours is a few feet back from the front door for exactly that
reason.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
My posts (including this one) are my copyright and if @diy_forums on
Twitter wish to tweet them they can pay me £30 a post
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Local hero wrote:

Hiya

My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner had
died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small (about 3x2
inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a small black
plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left of the key hole,
still part of the box, is what looks like it might be an indicator of
some sort, but whatever position the key is turned to, the indicator
stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

Any ideas what they are.

Many thanks

Press it and see what happens.

F Murtz wrote:

Local hero wrote:

Hiya

My Brother-in-law has just bought a house where the previous owner
had died, so no-one to ask questions of. Inside there is a small
(about 3x2 inches) yellow plastic box mounted on the wall, with a
small black plastic key (about 1.5 inches long) in it. To the left
of the key hole, still part of the box, is what looks like it might
be an indicator of some sort, but whatever position the key is
turned to, the indicator stays the same.

It is positioned by the front door, and there is another one in the
main bedroom.There are cables running to the boxes, but can't trace
them without a lot of removing of fixtures/boards etc.

There is a burglar alarm fitted, but he doesn't have the code and so
can't tell if it worked, or if it is related to this little key box.

Any ideas what they are.

Many thanks

Press it and see what happens.

Did try that Mr Muntz - with fingers in ears! But since the system
isn't armed, nothing happened.

But we think we just found the alarm code. So here goes!!

In message , Local
hero writes

Press it and see what happens.

Did try that Mr Muntz - with fingers in ears! But since the system
isn't armed, nothing happened.

I would have thought that if they were panic buttons then they were
more likely to be needed when the alarm was not armed, so the above
doesn't quite make sense.



But we think we just found the alarm code. So here goes!!

--
Bill

On Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:10:14 +0100, Bill wrote:

In message , Local
hero writes

Press it and see what happens.

Did try that Mr Muntz - with fingers in ears! But since the system isn't
armed, nothing happened.

I would have thought that if they were panic buttons then they were
more likely to be needed when the alarm was not armed, so the above
doesn't quite make sense.

In this case, 'armed' probably means 'turned on'. Those circuits are
generally 'live' the whole time the alarm system is on.


--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
My posts (including this one) are my copyright and if @diy_forums on
Twitter wish to tweet them they can pay me £30 a post
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 02/04/2014 06:55, Bob Eager wrote:
In this case, 'armed' probably means 'turned on'. Those circuits are
generally 'live' the whole time the alarm system is on.

I found that out when I tested ours. The infra-red ones made the
sensible beep from the box to let you know it had seen you. The panic
button set the bell off, even though it was in test mode.

Andy