do alarm sounders go bad?

[tattri]

At some point the sounder on my home security system stopped working (everything else is still working fine). I know how to troubleshoot it, but it's in a crawlspace and I want to have as much information as possible before I go back down there. Is it possible/likely that the sounder just stopped working and needs replaced? I swapped out the panel to a Vista 20-P a few years ago, but the sounder is probably 25 years old or more. Whoever originally installed it used those telephone splice connectors and I noticed damp spots on the floor joist behind them, could that be related? They connectors were sitting against the joist, I pulled them away to look at them.

Bonus question: The wiring info on the sounder says yellow is "STDY", what does that mean? It's not connected to anything.

 

[brianmoooore]

Most sounders have an internal rechargeable battery, which would be doing exceptionally well if it was still good after 25 years.

 

[tattri]

I got a new sounder off of Amazon for about $12 and now it's working again. I don't think it's quite as loud as the old one, but it's better than nothing at all. Maybe I'll get motivated to find a better one later, but it will do for now.