Howdy!

We have this alarm that came with our home. I have the code to arm it, but it will not arm until i bypass the 2 zones that show up on the keypad as "Trouble". One is a door sensor, the other is a glass sensor. I have verified that the hardware exists for these zones.

What are the steps to troubleshooting these zones?

Thanks!

 

First, basic caveat: Brinks alarm controls are proprietary. There's no reprogramming them for local use without the cooperation of a Brinks installer.

That said, it sounds like you just have a couple of open zones. Are these wired or wireless?

 

Thank you for the reply MrRonFL.

I understand it is proprietary, though I am content with the current setup so i dont think programming should be needed.

The system is completely wired. I believe when we moved in, only the glass break sensor was showing the error. Since then, the door sensor has errored out as well.

 

Door contact test is easy: First, try putting a magnet directly on the contact in/on the door frame. If it closes, then you need to align the magnet on the door or replace a magnet that has gotten lost.

If not, the next thing to try is pulling the contact out/off of the door frame and short the wires at the back of it together. If the zone closes, then you just need to replace the contact.

Much the same goes for the glassbreak, but if the glassbreak is an acoustic glassbreak, you need to makes sure it has power.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

The magnet method did not work. As the sensor is built into the framework of the door, getting to the wires might not be as simple as I had hoped. (also, its about 50 degrees outside, and the wife started complying about the temperature with the door open ) Here is a picture of the glass break sensor: http://i.imgur.com/Zorc7.jpg Neither of the LED's have ever been lit.

I see on the inside of the panel door, there is a schematic of the connections to the mainboard, seen here: http://i.imgur.com/Gx8un.jpg

Is it possible to test if the circuit of zone 1 is closed from testing across points 12 and 13? Same for zone 6 across 20/21..

 

Yes, take any one of the zone wires off and jumper the terminals with a 4.7k ohm resistor (yellow, violet, red for the first 3 bands. Available as places like radio shack).

If the zone closes, then you have a problem with the contact/glassbreak.

Does the glassbreak have power at the +/- V terminals?

You can test the zone wires. Depending on where the resistor was installed in the circuit, you will either read 4.7k ohms on the circuit (+/- 10% or so), or you will read a closed switch. If you read an open, you either have bad contacts/devices or damaged wiring.

That's the essence of alarm troubleshooting. Seperate the dumb switches that are the field wiring from the alarm control.

 

So the mainboard must detect 4.7k ohms across the 2 power points in order to view the zone as closed?

I detect no power at the g/b sensor. Its odd however, the black/red cables that i was expecting were actually green and white. I tested those at the sensor as well with no voltage.

Testing at the mainboard, i detected 13.7v across 12/13, and 20/21.

Should I be able to test the resistance across the sensors @ 4.7k without power applied to them?

Thanks for all your insight.

 

If you look at the glassbreak, you will see that it is a 4-wire device. Power is supplied (normally) from the aux power terminals (7 & 8 on your main board). The green/white are just the zone wires. The voltage you see on the zone wires is just the supervision voltage. It doesn't power the device.

If the zones are properly closed, then yes, you should see the EOL resistor. Some versions of the brinks hardware does have the resistor built in.

Again, trouble shoot the field wiring independently from the alarm control.