Hi,

hopefully someone can help with some wiring advice. We've just moved into a new house and I've replaced the old Optima XM panel with a Powermax+. All fine so far.

I'm now coming to wire in the existing bell. The Optima had 6 contacts for the bell:

Strobe +, Strobe -, Bell +, Bell - and 2 just labelled "SCB".

The Powermax+ has the following: -HOLD, EXT, INT, +12V and also Zone 30, which I believe comes into it somewhere (it's a hardwired zone)! The manual's fine as far as EXT is the -ve for the bell and INT is the -ve for the strobe (assume I can feed the +12v to both strobe and bell even though they were separate contacts on the Optima?).

I'm struggling a little with the ones that were marked "SCB". From reading the articles on the site, I'm guessing these are used to hold off the bell, in which case the -HOLD must be one end!? Would the other end just be +12v or is it likely to be some kind of tamper circuit that should trip the main panel, in which case that's probably where Zone 30 comes into it!? I know if using one of these Zones, I have to wire in 2 2k2 resistors.

Hope my rambling description makes sense. Any help gratefully received!

Thanks in advance,

Alleycat

Looking at the manual , the Powermax only has 145mA to supply a sounder, and only a 9v power supply!! zone 30 is intended for a door circuit, but could be programmed 24hr as a bell tamper.If you are going to use your existing bell box , it would be better to give it its own battery backed psu , and use relays to activate the bell / strobe.

Good luck

Edited October 5, 200421 yr by FASTCAR

That was a very technical way of saying "buy a new bell box"!!!

Oh - now i've read the post properly - that won't work will it!

Must read the full post before replying 100 times

That was a very technical way of saying "buy a new bell box"!!!

or buy a real alarm !!

BTW how does the powermax+ differ from the standard powermax?

Edited October 5, 200421 yr by FASTCAR

buy a real alarm!!

i have no idea what the difference is and to be honest i really can't even be bothered to find out!

Looking at the manual , the Powermax only has 145mA to supply a sounder, and only a 9v power supply!!

Hi,

thanks for the quick reply. I think the spec may have changed a little as it's saying it's ok supplying 12v and that the sounder shouldn't draw more than 550mA in full alarm. Not sure if that's much better but I looked at a few bellboxes and most seem to be below this.

Not averse to buying new box - less comfortable being up the ladder with the drill! Are most rectangular boxes similar size?

Alleycat

Looking at the manual , the Powermax only has 145mA to supply a sounder, and only a 9v power supply!!

Hi,

thanks for the quick reply. I think the spec may have changed a little as it's saying it's ok supplying 12v and that the sounder shouldn't draw more than 550mA in full alarm. Not sure if that's much better but I looked at a few bellboxes and most seem to be below this.

Not averse to buying new box - less comfortable being up the ladder with the drill! Are most rectangular boxes similar size?

Alleycat

26084[/snapback]

the most common bells around are texecom, if you want rectangular then go for odyssey 1 or 2, they come with instructions on how to connect to most panels. You can pick one up from an internet store for around £30 (this is not a trade price).

In fact, have a look at www.visonic.co.uk - it looks like they actually do a wireless siren!!!

Wow!!

Edited October 5, 200421 yr by ALSEC

OK,

thanks ALSEC, will look into one and get me ladders out!

By the way PM+ is Class 5 and the wireless bits run at 868MHz. Not sure if that answers the question!?