Short answer
Steady beeping from a keypad (not a siren) almost always means a trouble condition: the panel lost AC power, a battery is low, a sensor stopped reporting, or it could not reach the monitoring company. Entering your code usually silences it, but it comes back until the cause is fixed. The keypad display, or the trouble menu, tells you which one.
On this page
Alarm or trouble?
First make sure this is a trouble beep and not an alarm:
- Alarm: loud siren, keypad shows FIRE, ALARM, or a zone in alarm. Treat a fire or CO alarm as real: get out and call 911.
- Trouble: a short beep or chirp from the keypad every so often, usually with a yellow trouble light, a triangle or wrench icon, or a message such as CHECK, BAT, or AC LOSS.
- Smoke detector chirp: a single high-pitched chirp every 30 to 60 seconds from a ceiling detector, not the keypad. That is the detector's own battery or end-of-life warning.
The usual causes
- Power outage or tripped outlet. The panel switched to its backup battery. Often happens after a storm or when someone unplugs the transformer.
- Low battery in the panel. Backup batteries last about 3 to 5 years.
- Low battery in a wireless sensor. Often several sensors in a row, since they were all installed at the same time.
- Communication failure. The phone line was disconnected, the internet changed, or an old cellular radio lost service. See communication failure.
- A sensor stopped reporting (supervision loss) or a cover is open (tamper).
See the cause and silence it, by brand
| System | See the trouble | Silence / acknowledge |
|---|---|---|
| Honeywell VISTA (wired keypads) | Read the display: CHECK, BAT, AC LOSS, FC. See CHECK message. | User code + OFF. Repeat once the problem is fixed to clear it. |
| DSC PowerSeries | * 2. See trouble codes. | Press any key or #. The trouble light stays on until fixed. |
| Honeywell Lynx, Lyric, ProSeries touchscreens | The screen shows the trouble and the zone. | Enter your code to acknowledge. |
| 2GIG GC2, GC3, Edge | Tap the alert or status icon on the home screen. | Acknowledge the alert on screen. |
| Qolsys IQ Panel | Swipe down the status bar or open the alert. | Acknowledge the alert on screen. |
Touchscreen panels and app-based systems (Ring, SimpliSafe, Abode and similar) usually also send the trouble to the app, which is often the easiest place to read it.
Fix it so it stays quiet
- AC power: find the plug-in transformer (often in a closet, garage, or basement) and make sure it is plugged in and the outlet works. Some are on a switched outlet that someone turned off.
- Panel battery: replace it. See replacing the panel backup battery.
- Sensor battery: see wireless sensor low battery.
- Communication: call your monitoring company. If the panel used a landline you no longer have, or an old 3G radio, it may need a new communicator.
Beeping in the middle of the night
Backup batteries lose capacity in the cold and during power cuts, so trouble beeps often start at 2 or 3 am. Some newer panels can hold trouble beeps until morning, but many older ones cannot. Silencing it with your code buys you hours, not days. If you cannot fix it right away, ask your alarm company whether they can delay trouble beeps remotely; some systems support that.