FC comm failure in Vista 20P


  #1  
Old 11-23-11, 06:37 PM
R
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
FC comm failure in Vista 20P

I've searched the forum, and have a twist on this question. Just moved into a home with an A** system "safewatch 3000". Unfortunately, only 2 6150 keypads. It is revision 7.2, with a 2009 date code. Retrieved the installer code, changed the master code and brought it online after reconnecting the A** sabotage they do when a system is deactivated. Likely it was down for 6 months, but battery is good (haven't load tested yet, but no errors). Had 2 issues after booting. FC error and no attic siren. Noted that the attic siren wires were disconnected in the box, while the inside sounder is functional. Swapped the inside sounder to the attic and no have noise where it counts. The siren was a 20Watt speaker, that has normal resistance to the voice coil, and I'm not sure if the panel has a driver.....but that's not the issue now.

Have tried to clear the FC, no joy. We have ATT uverse, no copper landline, but the A** girl/tech department said U-Verse should work. Have 49 volts at the board on the tip/ring, have tried a DSL filter, switched the polarity of the phone line, still no joy. A** sales/tech came out, and no comm to central station. They concluded that since the relay didn't click for line seizure that the dialer portion of the board was dead.

So, can anyone tell me the likelihood of an otherwise functional board, which functions enough to show FC, having an isloated dialer error? I can easily replace the board with an earlier revision for $40, but didnt want to waste the time/$ on a lease home for 3 or so months.

Any help would be very appreciated.
 
  #2  
Old 11-23-11, 09:40 PM
F
Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 192
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Possibly the alarm isn't wired for line seizure properly with the Uverse. As a test you can eliminate the line seizure by removing the brown and gray phone wires in the panel and tying them down with the green and red wires on the panel. This will remove the line seizure and when you set the alarm off you should be able to pick up your house phone and listen to the alarm panel dial out. By listening in you may be able to tell if the panel is reaching the central station properly.

It may also be possible that your panel isn't going to work with uverse. There is no garuntees with voip lines. You may want to consider upgrading the panel to a Vista 21ip and hook it up through the internet or just delete fields 40-46 in programming and just use it as a local system.

The panel doesn't have a built in siren driver. You will have to find a siren driver or replace the speaker with an outdoor siren.
 
  #3  
Old 11-24-11, 06:02 AM
R
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thanks very much. I thought I didn't see sufficient power transistor complement to be a driver. How weird that the attic siren was ever installed...

As to the line seizure, I have already wired it in parallel to hear it dial out and no joy. I would assume that even with no phone line connected, it would still energize the relay for line seizure, and I hear/feel no movement from the relay. THere are no bulging caps on the board, no signs of heating or damage, so it seem weird that an isolated issue would kill just the dialer, and if so , how does the panel have enough brains left to announce the FC error? Any thoughts on this?
 
  #4  
Old 11-26-11, 11:00 AM
M
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Posts: 15,532
Received 293 Upvotes on 268 Posts
This is probably not the first alarm system this place has had and the prior system used speakers instead of 12v Sirens. As long as you pay attention to your power draw, you can probably just add a siren driver card, and be good to go.

Test the speaker to make sure it's good. Just connect it to an audio source.

The most likely problem with the phone connection is that connecting these digital/VOIP setups almost always end up reversing the phone line, as far as the alarm is concerned. Make sure that the pair connected to the red-green terminals on the phone jack are the pair that come from the phone adaptor _first_.
 
  #5  
Old 11-26-11, 11:27 AM
R
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Great idea on the multiple owners....I wondered why....I'll just whip up a driver board from the junk box and press on. The speaker does work...

Now, as to the FC issue. I have reversed the lines...no joy. Because of the complex multiple wiring, I'm not sure if the comm box is the first stop for the phone line. I can tolerate no line seizure, if I could just get it to dial. On the other hand, if it must be the first stop in this horrid daisy chain of doom....I can make that happen.

My question was to the viability of the board, I guess. Since we hear no click of the relay energizing, I didn't want to wast too much time on the other issues. Is there a way to determine the dialer is working? I have an oscilloscope, DMM etc., but don't have any info on the propriatary aspects of the board. I suppose I could scope it for the 12V at the relay coil, but I have only rarely seen a relay fail....Any thought on this?
 
  #6  
Old 11-26-11, 10:05 PM
M
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Posts: 15,532
Received 293 Upvotes on 268 Posts
Honestly, I think you are overthinking this. This is nearly _always_ either a programming error or a phoneline wiring error.

_How_ are you testing the dial out? Have you verified that the things you are triggering have a report code programmed? Have you taken into account the 30 second delay that is the default on these panels?

It's just a slightly modified Vista 20p, ADT really doesn't alter these much from the base hardware.

Dialers can, and do, fail, but it's rather uncommon.
 
  #7  
Old 11-26-11, 10:17 PM
R
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I appreciate your input and agree that I do tend to overthink things! I assumed the very isolated dialer fail was rare, but didn't want to waste too much time if it were a simple swap of the board.

As to the dialer....have waited for several minutes with the alarm triggered on several occaisions and no joy. Even tried this with the A** folks here, and nothing. Since I lack the 6160 keypad ($70 item) I've hesitated to embark on checking the programming, other than changing the master/ and recalling the installer code. Could I try this on the 6150 pad?
 
  #8  
Old 11-27-11, 08:02 AM
M
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Posts: 15,532
Received 293 Upvotes on 268 Posts
No, without the alpha keypad you cannot view the zone programming. If you are going to replace the main board, you will _still_ need the alpha keypad to setup the new board to match your existing configuration.

Based on the information provide, I can only suggest that you replace the alarm control.
 
  #9  
Old 11-29-11, 07:11 AM
R
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by MrRonFL
Based on the information provide, I can only suggest that you replace the alarm control.
By that, I assume you mean the main board? Since I've bypassed the line seizure, reversed the polarity, and no matter how I trigger the alarm I don't hear/observe the relay energizing, I suppose I've no other choice but to replace the main board....unless there is something I'm missing.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: