Why does my system false alarm?

There can be many reasons, but the first thing you need to ask yourself is if this is a one-off or an ongoing problem?

 

Tags too close –

All systems have a back field detection / detection bleed. How much depends on which system. It should be first thing staff are told to check if the systems acts up. As a rule of thumb 1.5m should be tag free at each antenna.

 

Faulty lights (Halide) –

These are the lights that have to warm up when switched on, when running as normal there are no issues but when they are faulty will discharge a signal trying to ignite. Now if this is in the range of the system, i.e. for RF 7.2mhz – 9mhz it will cause an alarm. It is easily fixed just remove the offending bulb. It can travel up to 20m so worth watching the bulb and if the ignite happens when the system alarms you have your cause. 1 in 30 bulbs can cause a problem when faulty.

 

Signage –

Sometimes when new signage displays or maybe a clothes rack is moved near the system this can cause alarms. The reason is that the metal works in such a way that it acts like a massive tag and the system cannot tell the difference. I have seen this with racking up to 10m away. Tightening the item can sometimes fix the problem, otherwise you may have to find a new location for it.

 

System alarming when someone is walking in / the same person on way out –

On older systems keys/phones may have cause this problem but any systems purchased in the last 10 years should not have this problem. The most likely cause is known as tag pollution. The customer may have bought from another store but they have not deactivated this tags and this is what is setting your system off. I have seen where customers have no bags and the systems has still alarmed, this may be their purse which was source tagged in China (for example). The shop sold the item not knowing it was tagged and the customer was setting  tagging systems off throughout the town unaware why it was happening.

At all times when the system is set off, the nearest staff member should approach the customer and once it is established that the tag is from another store you should ask the customer to return to that store to remove the tag.

There are two reasons for this:

  1. Incase the item was stolen from the other store.
  2. To make the store aware they have a problem and to prompt them into fixing it.