DSC PC5010 trouble light - with add ons


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Old 07-19-06, 05:18 PM
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Question DSC PC5010 trouble light - with add ons

I am unable to clear the trouble light and recurrent beeping on a 7 year old DSC PC5010 (Power 832) system. I have read all the helpful feedback to others and applied all I can and hope you can shed some light for me.

One complication is that I have the phone access (Escort 5580), wireless (for smoke only) and intercom (PC5928) modules as well. The *2 command started indicating battery problems and I replaced the older of the two backup batteries. The message that I now get most consistently (LCD keypad) is "Gen Sys Trbl". I have reset the system quite a few times and its behavior afterward does not seem to be consistent. It used to report "Loss of clock" - but now it doesn't do that after I have followed your instructions to add AC power before connectiong the batteries. Also, the trouble chime now takes several hours to complain rather than complaining soon after restarting.

One guess is that my startup sequence is more complicated because I have 2 transformers and 2 batteries - what needs to be done? Another guess is that the 5204 power unit is malfunctioning. (this is the card that the accessory cards get their power from)

Please describe problems that might be particular to my system and how I should handle this situation.

Thanks!
 
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Old 07-20-06, 04:12 PM
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According to the manual:
Light [3] - General System Trouble. This trouble will be present if the PC5204 Power Supply module has an AUX failure, PC5204 Output #1 Trouble, or a printer connected to the PC5400 Printer module has a fault (off-line).
If you are running the power supply on it's own transformer and battery, the one thing you need to make sure of is that the outputs are connected correctly. For example:

Output O1 is supervised in the same manner as the BELL Output of the PC50X0. If O1 is not used, if no continuous load is connected, or if a siren is connected, a 1000Ω re sistor, DSC model EOLR-1 must be connected in order to prevent the indication of a trouble condition.
This is one of those cases where there is probably some simple little connection that you didn't know needed to be connected or dummied with a resistor.
 
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Old 08-03-06, 09:23 PM
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Ron - Thank you for the insight. I finally had time to explore this further. I read the entire PC5204 installation instructions that you exerpted. There is also a TAMper terminal that has to be connected from TAM to Blk if a case tamper is not used to avoid 'trouble conditions' - mine was connected. The O1 terminal looked like the culprit.

As you instructed I ran a 680 Ohm resistor I happened to have from the O1 to the Aux terminal and when I restarted I saw something I haven't had in a long time - no trouble light
and *2 resulted in "there area no trouble conditions" I don't know why this has been more of a problem lately. The audible warning is new, and I think there have been times when the light has been off.

I ran without problem for two days - and now I am getting a message I have gotton variants of before after the light and audible signal started up again.

Here it is: Device Low Bat, * -> No Zone Low Bats, * -> No Keypad Low Bats, * -> Low Battery, * -> Key 1, * -> Key 2, * -> Key 3, * -> Key 4, * -> Key 5, * -> Key 6, * -> Key 7, * -> Key 11, * -> Key 12, * -> Key 13, * -> Key 14

What are these "Key" things?
Note that 8-10 are not there. In the past these "keys" have listed less or different numbers.

My wireless smoke detector has fresh batteries and my backup batteries are 1 yr and 1 mo old. I get a specific trouble message for the main batteries when they are bad.

The trouble condition is now cleared again, but since I have seen it before and thought I had this fixed with the 01 resistor I figure I better nail down this Battery "Key" thing to further eliminate my "troubles".

Thank you for your sage advice and quidance.
 
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Old 08-04-06, 03:59 PM
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"Keys" are the wireless keyfobs used for the system. For some reason, your panel thinks you have a bunch of them and they all need batteries.

You may have possibly accidentally entered serial numbers into the keyfob slots while programming the wireless reciever (or someone did). If you don't have any keyfob devices, you just need to go into the reciever programming and delete any entrys in the wireless key locations.
 
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Old 08-17-06, 01:10 PM
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Key Low Battery

I now understand about the Keys - I do not have any. The only change I made to this system after buying the house was to have a PC5132-433 NA wirless unit added by the servicing company in order to add a smoke detector. Can you believe they left smoke detection off this complex system!

I finally found the installers code and checked section 804 to see if 41-56 had anything but 000000 - they don't. What else could cause this low battery trouble. It will be fine for a week at a time and then be persistent.

Thanks RON!

Mike Gasman
 

Last edited by MyTarga; 08-17-06 at 11:04 PM. Reason: spelling
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Old 08-17-06, 03:52 PM
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So far as I can tell from the installer manual, if it says keys, it's talking about the keyfob units. It's possible that you have a bum reciever board.

Since you have the LCD Alphanumeric keypad, you can go into the system log to look at what it's got recorded as the troubles. This will usually give a lot more information than the basic trouble readout.
 
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Old 08-20-06, 11:18 AM
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I have an answer for your wireless key issue. It was buried in a 3 year old memo from DSC:

"Subject: PC5132-433 V4.20 (MASTER) WIRELESS KEY LOW BATTERY ISSUE
This is to inform you of an issue regarding the PC5132-433 v4.2 wireless receiver. Over time, the PowerSeries control panel will display an incorrect wireless key low battery trouble.
The issue is caused by leaving unused wireless keys programmed with serial number [000000].
Please note that if the issue occurs, panel operation will not be affected in any way.
One of the options listed below should be performed to prevent the issue from occurring. If the panel is already displaying an incorrect wireless key low battery, the only way to remedy
this is to change the control panel as well as performing one of the following:
1. The PC5132-433 wireless receiver v4.20 can be programmed to prevent the issue from occurring. Program serial number [100000] for all unused wireless keys. This can be done locally
via a system keypad or remotely with the DLS2002 software. A special DLS2002 utility is available on the DSC website which will assist with the programming change.
2. Upgrade the PC5132-433 wireless receiver software
Upgrade the PC5132-433 wireless receiver v4.20 (Master) to the new v4.22. The integrated circuit (or chip) is socketed and can be upgraded in the field. The PC5132-433 will not have to be reprogrammed. All wireless programming will remain unchanged.
Please see the instructions included at the end of this document for information regarding obtaining the new software and upgrading the PC5132-433 wireless receiver."
 
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Old 08-20-06, 09:05 PM
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Thanks for the forensic research! I have considered calling DSC for this, but laying this out on this forum for eternity will be so much more useful. I will set mine to 100000 and see what happens. The directum that: "If the panel is already displaying an incorrect wireless key low battery, the only way to remedy this is to change the control panel as well as ...." makes me wonder if I have to change the (which?) panel even if the situation has cleared temporarily.

It has continued to have trouble light and beep after a few days and then complain for an hour or so. I looked at the event buffer when it happened and there was no listing regarding the issue - and the trouble was cleared after I did so.

Thanks Ron -

Mike Gasman
 
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Old 08-21-06, 04:30 AM
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It's hard to tell. Truthfully, DSC has historically had issues with it's wireless hardware (they completely abandoned their 900mhz system for good reasons).

I hope it helps.
 
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Old 08-21-06, 06:17 AM
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If I need a new wireless panel - my fix will be to fish a hardwire lead to the box. Now that I know my house better - I think it is possible.
 
 

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