Hi All,

 

I have a self installed (4 years ago) Scantronic I-ON40 running firmware 2.02.01 with a brand new 7Ah battery and brand new bell box battery.

 

My problem is that after a prolonged power cut (over 24 hours, of which I've had a couple recently) when the backup battery runs flat the alarm starts sounding, which is beginning to annoy my neighbour. This happens even if the alarm was not 'set' when the battery fails.

 

I cannot stop the alarm sounding (except by going up a ladder and disconnecting the bell box battery) because the keypad panel is obviously dead (no power).

 

Does anyone have any suggestions/modifications I can make to avoid this, or is it normal behaviour for this alarm? Would a firmware upgrade help?

 

Many thanks.

The alarm is designed that way in case the cable to the bell is cut, it has its own in the bell. You could remove the battery out of the bell but I wouldn't recommend it as if the alarm ever is attacked by an intruder there is a risk he could shut the bell up. In your case if I couldn't fix the power outage issues I'd be providing battery backup that could deal with it.

Can you install a bigger battery in the panel?

Many thanks - that makes sense.

 

Do you know if the bell box would sound for a limted time (30 mins) or until the bell box battery runs out?

 

Second question - I think the manual states a max battery capacity of 7Ah. Can I just wire in a larger battery, maybe 21Ah (although I accept it may have to wired externally to the main I-On40 box)? Can the internal charger cope with this?

The PCB in the 40 is unique to that model; so I'd be very cautious plugging in anything larger. especially if you actually expect it to be frequently drained, tbh.

 

As you've already spotted, the space is only just sufficient only for a 7ah anyway.

 

Your firmware is way out of date but, as you can guess, updating won't help your woes. If it was me, I'd upgrade, but mainly for signalling and functionality

updates - for a DIY panel I'd perhaps say if it works, don't touch it!

 

All I can suggest maybe is an upgrade to an Ion160 with twin 21AH batts but this would be very expensive and, frankly overkill unless you really can't

sort out the source of the power cuts. A UPS is a sort of poor mans option but you'll not get power loss notification via the panel, so not for me chef.

Thanks everybody - I thinks that's given me all the answers I need.

If you want a bigger battery you will need a split charge system as the internals wont be able to recharge a battery of that size