Hills R8 alarm earth connection?

[tready]

Hi austech crew,

Was changing the battery in our alarm at work the other day and noticed only positive and negative were connected to the board, Looking at the manual it says it should be connected to the power packs earth connection.

The alarm was installed by a supposedly qualified security tech. Question is does it matter if its not connected its obliviously been working ok all this time so don't want to touch something that's not broken. Whats the cons of having it disconnected?

Thanks

[mtv]

Yes it does matter.

The earth is a safety requirement.

The manual states:
Earth / Ground.
To comply with ACA S009 & AS/NZS3000:2000. Connect to the 16.5V AC plug pack earth wire.

[secure]

I have always connected the earth. Some techs think it's best left disconnected.
I think reasoning was mainly due to storms/lightning damage voltage spike coming via the earth and damaging the panel.