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Problems with Honeywell AG6 bell boxes.


Tommygunn

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Things came to a head this morning when we lost power three or four times and each time one of my two bell boxes, at least I think it was just one, was activated. However, several problems, historical and new, are occurring with the boxes.  

 

1) For a while now when I set the alarm one of the bell boxes makes a random alarm type tweet(or not) once it sets. Sometimes it might not make a sound, sometimes a full blip and other times a blip of random, truncated length, as if when you set the alarm your catching the circuitry doing some sort of count.

 

 

2) So, this morning, for every time that we had a power cut one of the bell boxes would activate but the LCD keypad showed no alarm condition. I could not deactivate the bell box from the LCD keypad during the outage even though everything was powered up by the main panel battery.

When mains power was restored the piezo/bell box would stop, by itself. 

 

I've have done several things so far:

 

a) LED's on main panel, LCD keypad and both bell boxes are all functioning. 

 

b) Battery for main panel at 13.30V, bell box that activated 6.93V and other bell box at 7.23V.

 

c) I've done a complete test (with piezo buzzers disconnected, I fitted each piezo with a jumper connector for maintenance/testing/neighbours reasons) and the main panel worked perfectly, activated the telephone dialler and my phone rang - so no problem there. 

 

 

3) The strobes on each bell box are not working. I observed each strobe during the full test and during a manual, strobe only test and they weren't functioning. What I did notice was that when I did a manual, strobe only test the LCD keypad lighting actually dimmed. This does not happen during any other function of the LCD keypad.

 

 

I fitted the system back in September 2012 and the batteries are unchanged. Even though they are holding a Voltage could it be that the capacity is knackered?

Anyone have a clearer idea on what is causing these problems?

 

Cheers,

Tom. 

 

Edited by Tommygunn
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I have the two boxes wired up as per the instructions, see below.

For ages they were working just fine, then in the past six months, or so, the momentary beep noise started on setting the alarm and then the other day the second problem occurred on the loss of mains power. Prior to this we've had plenty of power cuts and nothing happened.

 

Tom.

 

BurglarAlarm_zps4e3b01b5.jpg

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Al-yeti,

I'll get some photos of the circuit boards and terminals as soon as. I know there has been water ingress on the bell box that I don't think activated as I've drilled some drain holes in the outer casing. However, it never reached the pcb only the status LED and corroded the legs, but it still functions.

 

James,

Yes, I want to do a full replication/full test as soon as, only one problem - the piezos.

Is there a way to muffle them? I've tried stuffing cotton wool into the cones and taping over holes but it has little effect on the sound level. 

Is it feasible to attach LEDs in their place to act as activation indicators?

 

Tom. 

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34 minutes ago, Tommygunn said:

Al-yeti,

I'll get some photos of the circuit boards and terminals as soon as. I know there has been water ingress on the bell box that I don't think activated as I've drilled some drain holes in the outer casing. However, it never reached the pcb only the status LED and corroded the legs, but it still functions.

 

James,

Yes, I want to do a full replication/full test as soon as, only one problem - the piezos.

Is there a way to muffle them? I've tried stuffing cotton wool into the cones and taping over holes but it has little effect on the sound level. 

Is it feasible to attach LEDs in their place to act as activation indicators?

 

Tom. 

How do you know it didn't dry off on the PCB , was enough to short it , I have seen it on these bells before because of how cable is taken in and where rain has hit got behind it 

 

Maybe yours survived but symptoms were similar and you confirm now water got in

 

 

PS if it's quiet you could disconnect them, make terminal on them, and you will here oscillation when activated 

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I've had a about three Honeywell bells randomly chirp then go off for no apparent reason in the past (usually when just out of warranty) - everything checked out ok with the rest of the alarm when tested

(No sign of any water ingress either)

Swapped them out for texecom bells & not had any issues since from those systems..

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1 hour ago, aissecur said:

I've had a about three Honeywell bells randomly chirp then go off for no apparent reason in the past (usually when just out of warranty) - everything checked out ok with the rest of the alarm when tested

(No sign of any water ingress either)

Swapped them out for texecom bells & not had any issues since from those systems..

Water ingress dodgy fitting or other

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Ok, I've taken some photos and done some tests and below is what I've observed.

 

First, I conducted a manual test of the bell boxes, via the LCD keypad option, and both piezos sounded at the same time with the correct high/low siren.

 

I then did a full alarm activation and everything worked as it should except that the 'rear' bell box just gave out regular high pitched beeps while the 'front' bell box gave out the correct high/low siren signature. Also, of course, no strobes for either bell box.

 

I also replicated AC power loss but to no avail, none of the bell boxes sounded.

 

 

Front bell box:

Fully functioning piezo, non functioning strobe and no water damage.

 

P1150910%2040%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

P1150914%2035%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

 

 

Rear bell box:

Partially functioning piezo, not during full alarm, non functioning strobe and water damage.

 

P1150905%2035%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

P1150906%2060%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

P1150909%2040%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

P1150908%2040%20cut%20jpeg.jpg

 

 

Tom.

 

 

Edited by Tommygunn
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Bottom two pictures definately have issues with water damage. Bin.

 

Personally I would buy quality sirens like Texecom. Elmdene etc... where the electronics are enclosed.

Edited by datadiffusion

So, I've decided to take my work back underground.... to stop it falling into the wrong hands

 

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Ag6 don't like being out in the open with cable installed in certain ways , seen it plenty 

 

As above buy another make , even the delta is cabled entry to side of electronics  so better and as said enclosed better

 

 

Although those who don't want to pay much get an ag6 

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What I'll do for now is disconnect the damaged bell box and rewire it for a single bell use, easy enough.

Does anyone have any recommendations for an compatible, alternative model that is comparable, in terms of price and features, to the AG6?

 

Cheers,

Tom.

Edited by Tommygunn
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