Burglar Alarms.

[Bramleyboy]

We live in the country and have a burglar alarm. This goes off regularly and we've had the system checked a few times. The engineer says it's spiders that set off the alarm as there's nothing wrong with it and we do find very big spiders in the house!! Somebody told us to put conkers by the alarm. Are there any more positive suggestions anyone can come up with as our neighbours are getting fed up!!! Thank you for any advice however small.

[sunny-dave]

Turn the alarm off - it's neither use nor ornament.

They are the curse of modern countryside life. The plods won't come anyway.

[Mick-the-Miller]

Always close your internal doors when you go out.

[tamborine]

Install floodlights & cctv with a rottie or 2 ;)

[Gizmonster]

Is it always the same zone/PIR going off ??
We had the same problem a while ago at our previous house.
The alarm had always been fine, then it started playing up, going off nearly every day and it was always the same PIR.
Well, I decided to open up the PIR and what did I find inside ?? .... a small spider that had prob got in through the little hole where the cable went into the unit itself. Obviously every time the spider cross the sensor, it was picked up and the alarm went off. Solution - spider evicted and some silicone sealant applied round the hole with the cable, to stop other spiders gaining entry.
My advice - check the inside of your PIR's .... you just never know what's lurking inside :P

[Gizmonster]

Forgot to add - after the spider was evicted, the false alarms stopped, so it was def the rogue spider setting our alarm off.

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds to me to be a contradiction there. If spiders can set it alarming then there is something very wrong with the design. Sounds to me like a confession that their product is unfit for purpose.

[Buenchico]

I'm with Old_Geezer on this one: you need to find a better security firm!

Consider how a spider might be setting off your alarm system. For example, it would have to be a ruddy big spider to activate a pressure pad! Similarly, I've never heard of a spider managing to open a window (and thus break the circuit between the window and its frame). At a guess, I'd assume that spiders are breaking the beam (by crawing across the sensor) on an infra-red system. So the solution is simply to get a system that doesn't use infra-red beams (e.g. a system that identifies an 'open circuit' when a door or window is opened and/or has pressure pads in place inside doors and windows).

[buildersmate]

Of all the comments above, I find Gizmonsters the most plausible.

The IR sensors that I use have a link jumper inside that can be adjusted for one, two or three `hits` in short succession before the signal is returned to the control box. The normally used setting is one, but I have had to change one sensor to setting two before it would cease false triggering every now and again.
I think most of these little boxes are made to one industry standard, as an OEM item. Worth a look inside.

It isn't about plods coming out, SD, its about the blighters being dissuaded to continue once the alarm triggers. Generally works unless you are located miles out in the sticks with no neighbours.

[Bramleyboy]

Thank you Gizmonster and Buildersmate. I don't know why the others bother! Haven't they got anything better to do? I know from past experience, thieves can do terrible damage and upset in just a few minutes. Bramley.

[Canoeman]

It could be a spider, this is not unknown with intruder alarms. However, another area to look at is the PIRs. Inside these units there are normally a set of small posts that have a link between some of them. By adjusting the link (moving it to connect different posts together) the pulse count of the PIR can be altered thereby making it less (or more) sensitive. This of course varies from model to model but may cut down or eradicate your false alarms.
l'm assuming you are closing doors and windows, and not leaving pets in rooms covered by sensors.
Good luck, I know it's annoying when it happens.