What happens to your security system when you lose AC power?
Your security system was installed with a 12-volt backup battery to provide backup power to the alarm panel for ten to twenty-four hours (depending on the size of your system and the condition of your battery). When your AC power goes out, the system will transfer to the battery and continue to work at the same arming level as before. To conserve power, the lights on the keypad may reduce to a flicker. When power is restored, the system will automatically go back onto household power and begin charging the battery back to its normal levels.
Why are my keypads beeping and how do I stop it?
Since no battery lasts indefinitely, a loss of power is considered a critical situation. Depending on your system, an "AC Trouble" may be displayed and/or a pulsing sound may be activated. To stop the sound, you need to acknowledge the situation by doing one of the following:
• If your keypad has an ON/OFF button (Napco 3200): Press the lower button marked "Reset"
• If your keypad says Security Command (DMP): Press any blank top row button
• If your keypad has a "P" on the 9 digit (Napco 1008): Hold the "9" key for three seconds
• If you have a system that "talks" (ITI Commander): Change the arming level.
Please note that every time that you arm or disarm the system, it may be necessary to repeat this action.
Does Hammond know about my outage?
Hammond systems are programmed to send a signal when a panel has been on battery backup for an hour. An isolated outage could be related to other conditions and would result in a call from our central station. A condition which affects large numbers of people in the Hudson Valley is probably anticipated and certainly noticed and therefore, notification calls are generally considered unnecessary.
What will happen to my system if my back-up battery becomes completely depleted?
If power is not restored within the life of the backup battery, then there will be no power at all supplied to the system. In the minutes or hours before that time, your keypads may become unresponsive and your sirens may begin to "whine". If the system is armed, motion sensors and smoke detectors will activate, causing alarms to be sent to Central Station. These alarms are generally recognizable to us as being power related.
What should I do to be prepared for a power outage?
Make sure that you know the location of your main panel box (CPU). Locate the transformer or the circuit breaker that provides AC power. Know how to acknowledge an "AC Loss" condition on the keypad. Call us at Hammond if you are unsure of any of these.