After a power outage last night the DSC 1555 panel showed Zones one through seven in alarm. The central station of the system only have six physical zones and two of those (5 and 6) are not in use, they just have a resitor connected to them.
Anyway we cleared zone 1-4 by opening/closing window/door in each zone.
Zone 5-6 was cleared with the help of Ranger American who installed the alarm. They walked me thru some programing over the phone.
Unfortuntely they did not clear Zone 7 which is in fact a "Ghost Zone" since we do not have a connection point for it in the Central Station.
Now Ranger American wants $250 to replace the board in the central station.
What really gets to me is that before I called Ranger American and while I still had Zone 5 - 7 lit I was able to arm the system by bypassing those zones i.e.
* 1 050607 .
But since Ranger American helped me clear Zone 5 and 6, I can no longer use that method, it won't allow me to bypass zone 7 using the same method.

In fact, right now, after pressing #, the only led lit on on the panel is the zone 7 alarm, no system or ready or arm or anything else is lit.
It seems like Ranger American managed to clear Zone 5-7 to the extent that they are no longer candidates for bypass. But for some reason the zone 7 led is till on and is preventing me from arming the system.
Does any have any ideas or do I just have to bite the bullet and fork out the $250? Could I replace the board myself?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

I would really appreciate any advice you may have. Is there a way to totally reset the system? Thanks.

 

There is a hardware reset method, but I have a suspicion that you may have actual hardware issues here. DSC hardware does have some vulnerabilites to voltage transients (one reason why I don't install a lot, here in lightning prone, FL).

One possibility, is that it is a programming issue. The panel will support up to 32 zones, including 2 via the special zones built into some of the keypad models, and more via wireless.

If the program has been corrupted, and these higher zone numbers have been set with anything other than the default "null" value, then they will show as a open zone. Some of the zone types are not bypassable. If they are trying programming your system remotely, they may be applying the wrong template to your system.

The hardware reset is a _very_ last resort. If the system eprom is damaged, you may not be able to get back into program mode

 

Thanks for the reply.
When I was on the phone with Ranger American the goal of the programming they walked me through was to set zone 5,6 and 7 to Null zones. I believe it was successful in so much that 5 and 6 no longer are lit. I believe 7 has also been set to Null since when I try to bypass it it won't allow me. Before the re-programming I was able to bypass it using *1.
But even though zone 7 has succesfully been set to Null, the zone 7 led is still lit. I would like to be able to re-program this zone in to something so that I could at least bypass it and arm my alarm again.
Can someone tell my how to program a zone in to something (anything) other than Null?
Thanks.

 

The problem here, is that I don't know Ranger's install code. On a DSC, there is no back door to program mode, other than the remote software. Your choices are to have them fix it; try to hardware default the panel (bearing in mind that Ranger may use the installer lockout feature), or junk the thing and start fresh.

 

step on MrRon's toes, I was wondering if your system has a smoke alarm connected? Could that be zone 7?

Please ignore me if I'm way off-base.

Trying to help!

 

Good call! I am honestly not sure how a two wire smoke wired to the PGM shows up on a 1555 system. The few I've worked on haven't had smokes.

 

The code that was used to program the zones to null, is that not the code I need? Ranger gave that to me. I do not have any smoke alarm connected (as far as I know).

On the DSC 1555 panel Zone 7 is not spelled out i.e. there is 8 leds but only Zone 1 thru 6 are labelled, led 7 and 8 are just there with no text adjacent to them. And as I mentioned earlier there is no physical connection point in the central station for more than zone 1 to 6.

I guess I will have to pay them the $250 to replace the board in the central station but it seems like there should have been a way to fix this, especially since Ranger made it worse by making Zone 7 un-bypassable and thus preventing me from arming the alarm.
Does anyone know anyone else than Ranger American in the Dallas area that does alarm repair and is reliable and affordable? I'm not monitored by Ranger (or anyone else) so I have not incentive to go to them in particular.
I have no idea if their price is a good one or not but I like to check with another company if possible.

I really appreciated you guys trying to help and I really like this forum, it has be "bookmarked" for my next diy disaster (they are frequent in my house )

 

If you have the installer code, then you can check to see if anything is set up on zone 7. (what you see will depend on whether you have a LED keypad, or a LCD keypad)

Enter program mode: *8+[install code]
Enter 001 (zone definitions) The data for the first digit of the first zone configuration will be displayed. Press one of the panic keys (if you have the split ones press both halves). This will advance to the next digit. Do this 11 times. If you see _any_ lights or numbers on the 12th, 13th, or 14th press this means that zone 7 or 8 is not set as a null. One more press will return you to the section selection point (the keypad will beep 3 or 4 times)

If there is data on those last registers, you can repeat the above steps, but on the 12th press, instead of using the panic keys, simply press 0 until the panel returns to the selection point.

I hope this makes sense, DSC programming is not very intuitive.

 

The 12th -14th step did not show anything which confirms that zone 7 and 8 are set to nulll.
And this is what Ranger was having me do, set them to null, in the hope that it would clear the alarm. But 7 is still lit.
If I could program 7 to something other than null I may be able to bypass it with *1 which would then allow me to arm the alarm, this how I did it before Ranger had me set it to null.

Would you know how to do something like that, to assign something other than null to zone 7?

Thanks.

 

With the help pf the installer manual I have managed to get the delayed alarm function back i.e. the alarm that you enable when you are not at home i.e. *0
It will also allow me to arm for immediate alarm i.e. *9 CODE but when I arm it that way and open a door I get nothing, no alarm siren. Very weird.
But at least half the battle is won, we can now have the alarm on when we are not home. I guess I can buy some cheap home depot alarms to protect us when we are home.
I really appreciate your help Ron, your last post was what brought me some understanding on how to go about the programming. As you said it is not intuitive but I'm making progress. Thanks.

 

DSC's "instant" alarm function is a little deceptive. You still have the programmed exit delay time before the alarm is actually active, it just doesn't produce an audible countdown. I've had a _lot_ of customers try to test their instant alarm swear that it didn't work. It's not a bug, it's a feature....

You can also check section 020. It's possible that one of the keypad zones got turned on. If not, then you most likely have a damaged board. If you are prone to voltage transients in your area, I'd invest in a surge supressor (they make them specifically for alarm panels that protect the 16vac input and the telco line).

 

Ron,
I had no idea about the "silent" delay and you are correct, the instant alarm is working as well I if I just wait for 30s! Great!
I still have the 7 led lit but it does not affect arming the alarm so at this point it is only a cosmetic flaw which I may or may not fix.
But for all practical purposes the problem is resolved.

THANK YOU!

 

If you have the installer code, could you give it to me? RA in Orlando wouldn't give me mine...

 

In my case it was 6321. RA also had me try 5555 first which did not work. But maybe it'll work for you.

 

I may haved missed something here or be on the wrong track, but maybe you could try disabling zone 7 altogether in section 202? Go into programming mode and section 202, press 7 to turn off zone 7 LED, exit programming. If that doesn't turn it off I think you are in trouble!