Eugene's DIY Den

The sounder is in the middle of the house behind two door, so I mightn't hear it. Even the sound from the panel is difficult enough to hear, even though I don't have an insulated door. Is there any way of changing the tone on the panel so it indicates a successful arm?

Well I only have it set to generate messages if there's an alarm or a power fault and daylight saving time changes. Also it messages me after there's an alarm and I unset the alarm (I think even after the first time it's armed again and then unset after the alarm occurred). So under normal circumstances I don't get SMS messages. If I remotely arm/disarm it using an SMS, I also get messages, but I only do that if there's a false alarm when I'm not at home.

No, I only have a GSM module installed.

I only get unset messages when I unset after an alarm occurs. I don't have the panel set to message when the system arms. I just got a message that there was an exit fault and a second message to say there was an alarm, showing the zone. Still wondering why there's a delay before the external sounder operates. I/'ll double check tomorrow to see whether I was imaging things. Bell delay is definitely zero.

Sorry, that was a typo. I meant does an exit fault not operate any sounders?

Ok, so I established there is a sticky contact on the external door, presumably this is waht caused the exit delay. Does an exit delay not operate any sounders?

I have an SW-1070 panel. My external doors are set to have entry/exit delays on full alarm, i.e they're on an entry/exit zone. An SMS message told me there was an exit fault when I wasn't at home. I listened to the series of events and then tried setting the alarm but when I opened my back door, the alarm didn't start beeping to indicate I needed to enter the code. However the internal sounder didn't operate when entry time was exceeded. So I listened to the alarm log again and it said there was an entrance fault I think, but strangely the internal sounder nor the external sounder operated. Maybe I had put the code in before that happened (not sure of the delay between end of entry delay being reached without code entry and sounder operating, will have to look where to find it in the manual). The next time I tested the alarm after arming it, it detected me opening the external door and started a countdown. I let it alarm and the internal sounder operated followed by the external sounder some seconds later. So that possibly indicates an intermittently-working contact. I notice too that when I open an internal door, when the alarm is armed, without opening an external door, the internal sounder operates, but it seems to take about 10 seconds for the external sounder to operate, so that's another delay I have to find in the settings. Anyway to cut a long story short, when I don't enter a code on entry, this appears to be called an entry fault on the zone, rather than an alarm as happens when e.g. a window or internal door is opened. So what is an exit fault? Does this mean when I armed the alarm and closed my external door, the contact didn't close on the door? The timestamp of the alarm seems to coincide with the time I left the house. Just checked and split-entry time is 0, changed from the default of 30 seconds. All other delays haven't changed from the default values, so not sure why there's a delay (or where it's set in the engineer menu) between the internal and external sounder operating when a non-entry exit zone sensor goes OC.

So I'm thinking this low measurement could be due to voltage drop on the connecting leads (which could amount to a few tenths of a volt at that current). The panel will only measure voltage at the board during a load test.. Next step is to check voltage at the actual terminals of the battery.

if the float charge is only 22 mA, it could take more than 24 to fully charge the battery, depending on its initial charge state. It is a 7 Ah battery.

I've got 5 PIRs (older ones so current consumption might be higher than newer ones). Also 6 shock sensors, a wired bell and two wired keypads. That's 14 devices (and there's also the panel itself that has to be powered), so if they're pulled a few tens of milliamps, it could add up. I'd have to check all the specs to see what the current consumption is.

So I left it for 3 days and performed a longer test this time. After ten minutes pulling 0.55 A, voltage stabilised at 11.9 V. (it was at 11.9 V after around 2 minutes).

I'll see if I can find some charge/discharge curves. Presumably if the battery was sitting on a shelf in a store, it may have self-discharged somewhat. Not sure what the self-discharge rate is for lead acid, but 12.9 V would have indicated that it was fully charged, but maybe not. I guess there's some variability. The panel is trickle charging it at 22 mA. That figure was 38 mA for the 6 year old battery (which I thought was a Yuasa, but it was an Interlogix. I presume these are just badged and there are a limited number of battery manufacturers)

I’m after putting a new 12 V, 7 AH lead acid battery into my alarm panel. Off load voltage was 12.9 V at the battery terminals before fitting. A fully charged 12 V battery should read around 12.8 V. When I did a load test, with the panel and sensors pulling 0.55 A, the voltage eventually dropped to 12.0 V before I stopped the test after a few minutes (the voltage fell faster at first). Float charge voltage for a lead acid battery (and from a panel) is typically 13.8 V. So just wondering since the battery isn't charged in a three state mode by a panel like a normal charger would charge it (constant current, constant voltage and then trickle maintenance charge), how long typically does it take a new battery to fully charge? I've seen figures of 24 to 48 hours mentioned.

Battery not at fault, it was the piezo element. However HKC say the battery should be good for 5 years, and now it's 8 years. However I tested it, and it can still power the sounder for the 15 mins set by the jumper.

I thought something like that may have caused it. Blew the plastic horn out with an air compressor, but it didn't make any difference. There was some corrosion around where the leads were soldered onto the element (it's just a flat disc with a metal plate on one side and a metal coating on the other). Cleaning that didn't do anything either. So I reckon the crystal just cracks and can't vibrate properly.