DSC Neo alarm going off in the middle of the night… any ideas?

Help Requests and Troubleshooting Forum
1

Hi!

I have a DSC Neo house alarm that’s gone off twice this week in the middle of the night, even though the system wasn’t armed. Both times I was home, with all windows and doors locked. There was no message or alert on the display.

When I punched in the code, it actually activated the alarm instead of turning it off.

The system is 5 years old. I’m thinking of changing the batteries in the smoke detectors, even though I did that 6 months ago. The smoke detectors usually alert when the battery is low, though.

Any thoughts on what could be triggering the alarm, given it wasn’t set?

Thanks in advance!

2

Was it the physical indoor siren or the keypad making noise? I get this service call often, and it’s usually a faulty smoke detector that came with the home.

3

Was it the siren that went off or just the keypad? I’ve seen installers accidentally cause the keypad’s tamper module to trigger. You can check the alarm memory by pressing *,6, and your master code to look at the event buffer. That’ll help you see if it was an actual event or an installation issue.

4

Thanks for the help! It’s the indoor siren that goes off, both times at 3 AM and 4 AM. I’ll try checking the event buffer and see what I find. The house is 5 years old, and this hasn’t happened before.

5

@leecole2
It could be the smoke detector triggering the system.

6

Angelina said:
@leecole2
It could be the smoke detector triggering the system.

Thanks for the suggestion!

7

Try entering *6 and your master code to check the event buffer. If nothing shows up, it might not be the alarm system making the noise.

8

I’m following the manual, but when I press *6 and the code, I only get a flashing keypad symbol. Nothing happens when I try to scroll.

9

leecole2 said:
I’m following the manual, but when I press *6 and the code, I only get a flashing keypad symbol. Nothing happens when I try to scroll.

It sounds like you have an LCD keypad, not an alphanumeric one. Unfortunately, the LCD model doesn’t have the event buffer feature.

10

@AlarmAuthority4
Thanks for the clarification! Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next? Should I try replacing the smoke detector batteries?

11

leecole2 said:
@AlarmAuthority4
Thanks for the clarification! Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next? Should I try replacing the smoke detector batteries?

Is the siren that’s going off connected to your alarm system, or is it the standalone smoke detector’s alarm? If the smoke detector is wired into the alarm system, or connected wirelessly, it could be the culprit. Knowing the model of the smoke detector could help narrow things down.

12

Any idea why both incidents happened at 3 AM and 4 AM?