Alarm going off.....

[Fish]

The alarm on my van has suddenly started to go off all the time, and mainly in the middle of night

Never had an issue before, but suddenly the last week alone its gone off at least a couple of times every other night to the extent I have to go out and open/close doors, check windows etc! Sometimes I make sure everything is secure, as it always has been and is, only for it to go off again within a few minutes of going back to bed :angry:

Why would this suddenly start happening, is there a common denominator that this usually happens because........

It never goes off during the day at weekends, it seems to wait until the death of the night mid-week :mmm:

Any advice greatly received as I'm knackered

 

[Imurg]

Does it have a movement sensor?
If so, you've probably got a mouse!

 

[Fish]

Does it have a movement sensor?
If so, you've probably got a mouse!

pmsl, not a chance, Max spends quite a bit of time in the van with me, he'd be going barmy if he could sense a Mouse, do you want to hire him :smirk:

 

[Blue in Munich]

First thing I'd check is your battery condition; if your battery is a bit the worse for wear then there might not be enough juice in it to keep everything flowing as it should, alarm registers a reduced current interprets it as a problem and goes off. Because batteries don't like the cold, it is more likely to happen overnight.

If you've got a multimeter, check the battery on the 20v dc scale; 12.5 minimum with everything off, engine running it should charge at 14.5v minimum, if you don't hit either of those marks then I'd change the battery.

Depending on the age of the van, I'd also suggest cleaning up the earths, any electrical plugs and the fusebox. Recently had an electrical issue with the bike; speedo cutting in & out, giving spurious readings, losing starter circuit. Removing the fuse box, thoroughly cleaning it and giving it an anti-corrosion treatment resolved that.

Good luck.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Does it have a movement sensor?
If so, you've probably got a mouse!

Thanks for reminding me, I'd just about forgotten that particular issue!

 

[Khamelion]

Worse case, some little toe rags are being knobs, or they are after your van.

On the other hand, if the van has internal sensors, it could be the change in environment, hot through the day and everything expands and going cold at night everything starts to shrink, the movement could be what is setting the sensors off.

 

[SocketRocket]

Check for illegal immigrants sleeping in it.

Or

Cats climbing over it.

 

[SocketRocket]

Does it have a movement sensor?
If so, you've probably got a mouse!

Theres a Rat in me Transit, what am I gonna do!

 

[6inchcup]

poltergist activity,did you not get the exorsist kit as an extra,either that or atmospheric conditions.

 

[Rooter]

Check and lubricate (wd40) all of the door and bonnet/boot sensor/switches. These can get sticky and are a likely cause.

 

[Smiffy]

If you have a movement sensor, you haven't recently hung anything from the rear view mirror, like an air freshener or something?
I had a customer once who's alarm kept going off, spent ages trying to trace the fault and it turned out to be a set of beads they had hanging from the mirror.
Every time a lorry or bus went by it "rocked" the car and the swinging beads would set the alarm off.

 

[Rooter]

If you have a movement sensor, you haven't recently hung anything from the rear view mirror, like an air freshener or something?
I had a customer once who's alarm kept going off, spent ages trying to trace the fault and it turned out to be a set of beads they had hanging from the mirror.
Every time a lorry or bus went by it "rocked" the car and the swinging beads would set the alarm off.

Love beads?

 

[Smiffy]

Love beads?

I can take them or leave them

 

[Fish]

Some interesting replies, I thank you all :thup:

By the way, I'm sure I said it was my transit van so there's no rear mirror and nothing hanging, other than me this morning :smirk:

 

[6inchcup]

Love beads?

now they are a pain in the arse !!!!

 

[Hobbit]

A spider. Had this sort of thing before, and it was a huge spider! It was that big it had tattoo's