Im new to this and I was hoping if I can get some help on my Vista 20 P. I had it installed a year ago and everything was find . It is partitioned in to two areas. One is my house with motion sensors and door tabs ( wireless ) and this all works fine . I have the other area of partition my garage with only one motion sensor wired . The key pad say not ready. and it shows zone one and that is my motion sensor. When you walk into garage the motion sensor does detect me with the ired light but noughthing on key pad . If i by pass motion sensor the key pad will let you proceed to set the alarm. I have two keypads (one in house one in garage ) they both do the same thing( for garage partion ) Im using key pad 6160 RF , Aurora PIR ( might be the pet immunity looks like it from pictures ) Vista 20 P . I dont know any Installer codes. It was all working fine untill my kids had a party in garage . They had a stobe light going and a fog machine . Garage is 16x24 9foot ceiling with the wire stapled to ceiling ( No signs of loose or bare wires ) I hope all of this info can give you some understanding what I have . ( ps. garage is heated)

Thanks Jaquar760 ( ontario Canada )

 

If what I am reading from you is correct and the motion does detect you,
it sounds like you have a wire problem. It could be just one conductor of the four that are to the motion.

It still has power, so that takes two of them (red and black) out of the equation.

one way to find out if this is the problem is to open the motion detector, remove the two wires (white and green?) and short them together and see if your zone clears. If this does not clear your zone your wire is bad.

Good luck

 

I have crossed the yellow and green wire at the motion senor and still no change in key pad saying not ready . I crossed the green and yellow wire at the entry where the wires all come in. I have two sets of wires coming in . One goes to key pad (green , yellow ,red and black ) and the same on the other line that goes to motion sensor. From the entry to the panel if about 60 ft. underground in pvc condut that also runes hydro to garage. What wire and where do you think i should start . Again everything was working fine for ayear . Motion does detect when i walk in to garage by showing red light . I did find that the key pad is a 6150 and not 6160rf and again the system is Vista 20p with two partion .Could i check to see if the line is good by doing something at the alarm panel ? that way i would know if it is the wire in the conduet.

Thanks Jaguar760

 

Since you know which zone the motion detector is on, if you short from where the incoming zone wire connects to the zone resistor to the other terminal for the zone, and the zone closes, then clearly the wire somewhere between the panel location and the device is damaged/has a bad connection.

Damage to this kind of wire can be hard to spot. The wire is small enough to break inside of the insulation without it being visible.

If there is such a long run from point a to point b, if there are any junction boxes involved or splices that's where I would check. Clearly you have power, so it's the other two conductors in the 4 conductor for the motion that you need to trace.

There's no magic bullet for this. All you can do is start at a known starting point and follow the wire back until you lose the continuity.

 

should i start at the panel and work towards sensor ? Do we agree though that it is a wire and not the sensor . And would i use contiuity tester or move the motion senor closer to panel to se if it works. If I unhook wires fromm sensor will it loose its identy and will i have to reprogram it .

Thanks

 

Ummmm, no. Disconnecting the motion will not cause it to "lose it's identity". The zone definition is programmed into the system control. The motion detector is just a relay controlled by a motion sensing switch. The panel input is what determines the identity of a zone.

Otherwise, yes, this is a straight continuity test situation. The simple test I use is to twist the pair together at one end, and check for the short, working backward away from the shorted wires. Like I said, no magic, just be methodical and logical, and look at any place that makes sense, like any point the wire has a splice or passes through a location where it could be damaged.

 

I just did a continuity test in three areas and even right at the panel including right in panel . There is no sign of a broken wire on the green and yellow. This wire comes right from motion sensor to alarm panel . could it be the other set of four wires that comes from panel and goes to key pad?

Thanks again for your help

 

No, if they are keypad wires they have nothing to do with the motion detector. With the motion connected to power and the zone pair connected to the relay on the motion, if you read the zone contact pair at the panel end, do you show continuity?

If the wires are good, but the zone doesn't close when nothing is tripping the motion, then the only thing left is that the actual relay in the motion has failed, and you need to replace the motion unit.

 

hate to keep bothering but is there a way to test sensor. If the yellow and green wires are shorted at the sensor do you think they would close the circut like the person first suggest. I did do this first with no luck . But is it that the way alarm systems work . Next question on the green wire at the sensor there is a would i think it is a resister. The green attachs to ressiter and resister attachs to sensor . I did notice in the main panel when i unlocked it there was 5 to 6 extra resisters sitting in box . Do you thinkl this has anything to do with anything i m doing ? When i did the continuity i did before the resister. Thinking again to you think a strobe light shining towards motiondector would do harm. It did stop working after the party like i said in my first post ( sorry about spelling)

Hope I can get this up in runing ( I was told the installer would come back for sevise call of 80 bucks a halve hour.

 

Yes, if the resistor is at the detector end, you have to include it it the circuit when you are trying to test the wiring, or the panel will not see the circuit as being closed. If you short the end of the yellow to the loose end of the resistor, and the circuit closes, then that's your motion detector test. If all wiring to that point is good, then the detector is the only thing left.

A strobe light will not likely damage one of these things, however, a large crowd of people with lots of movement in front of the device could make the relay cycle so many times that the little relay literally wears out. It's rare, but it does happen.

 

MrRon tell me (and him) if you think this is a bad idea

but try moving your other motion to the problem location.

I would power down the panel first, by transformer and battery, to insure that the power wires don't get shorted.

that is the last thing I can think of to really determine if it is the motion or the wire

 

if i power down the system will it loose its memory . I don't have any installer codes to reset the system remeber i have two partictions the one with the problem has only 1 wired motion sensor the are part has three wireless sensor and door sensors . No wired motion sensor. Do have a old motion laying around sensor don't know if compatitble ( how would I know)?

Thanks again

I just tryied shorted yellow to green including the resistor still have no luck.Could it be resistor ? would continuity test work with resistor . I do have two types of multy meter if you tell me what to do and what to set the meter and would i should or not see ( one meter that is digital has more option to choose from .

 

no, powering down does not affect anything, exept for the time and date which is in the user programming. *6 I believe.

sorry, I forgot that you had wireless motions elsewhere.

but your last post here states that you shorted with the resistor in place and still did not clear so that takes us back to the wire.

the best way to test the wire is to take the resistor out of the loop.
short one end and do a continuity test from the other.

the only other thing that could be a problem is the zone on the panel itself.

if it is not the wire it sounds like an expensive service call.

 

I guess im going to have to call in for service . But what is confussing is that when i by bass the sensor the unit will set to ready . I can set the alarm and disarmed with no problems

Thanks again I will let you all know what it is in the end for futuer use

 

bypassing that zone is just that, bypassing.

you are telling the alarm panel to ignore that that zone is open so you can go ahead and arm. it is completely normal for this situation.