Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - ADT Safewatch 2000 - bad circuit board?

We moved into a house that has an ADT safewatch 2000 system about a year ago.

We have been using it as a local alarm (no monitoring) for the past several months. Two days ago, one of the zones (#4) started acting up. The panel would display "Check zone 04" and beep loudly/rapidly until we silenced it.This repeats at random times and, as you might imagine, very annoying.

All zone 4 sensors are hardwired (ther are no wireles sensors used in the system), and they do not appear to be open. To prove this, I swapped zone 4 ad 5 (problem followed 5) and swapped 4 and 7 (problem followed 7).

So, what do I do next? Is the problem with the circuit board? I removed it and inspected for open/cracked solder joints near where the wire block connected to the main circuit board - there was nothing obvious (at least to me).

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
David

If the problem moves to the new zone, then the problem is not in the control, it's in the zone wiring/device.

What type of zone is this set to be?

There are some devices and zone configurations that will produce this effect. Normally the "check" with the warning beeps only comes up for wireless zones, and zones set up as "tamper" zones, and fire zones.

This is assuming V-20se/SW-2000.

I re-read my post. It's obvious I should not be posting late at night. What I meant to say was that after swapping zones the error STAYED with the original zone #. To be crystal clear:

Before:
Zone 4 ---> Error
Zone 5 --> OK

After swapping wires between zones 4 & 5
Zone 4 --> error
Zone 5 --> OK

I believe this is a Safewatch 2000 system, as the wiring diagram on the inside of the panel door states this.

Ok, here's a pretty definitive test:

You need a 2000 ohm (2K) resistor. There may be a couple of extras in your control cabinet. If there is one on the end of your zone 4 wiring, you can always cut it loose and re-attach it later.

Remove the zone 4 pair from the terminal strip.
Put the resistor alone between the zone terminal and the common it shares with zone 3 (13 & 14).

At the keypad enter the disarm command (you may need to do it twice).

If the zone doesn't clear and remain clear, then something has damaged that zone input, and the board is indeed shot (nearby lightning strikes have been known to do this).

Good tip! The zone indeed cleared (and has remained clear so far for the the past 30 mins).
I will leave it on overnight to see if it stays clear.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. This latest experiement points the finger squarely at a problem in the zone 4 loop. However, I can't reconcile this with the fact that I moved the zone 5 wiring loop (and 7 for that matter) onto the zone 4 wire block and the alarm still reported zone 4 being open...

Is it possible zone 4 needed to be "reset" with this method?

It's possible. The zone is acting more like a wireless zone or a "trouble by day, alarm by night" zone than a standard hardwired one. I take it that this is just a normal door/window zone?

If you put the zone wiring back together, and it does it again then there is definitely something odd going on here.

I reconnected the resistor to zone 4 and the "check 04" complaint returned. So there's a problem with the connectivity to the terminal block on the alarm panel.

Zone 4 is hardwired, and is set up with 3 sensors in series (2 window and 1 door). The sensors are the magnetic trip type ~1" long x 1/4" square w/ 2 wires coming out of them.

The problem is either in the wire/cable somewhere (it's a long run through the attic to the sensors), or the sensors themselves

Is there a way of isolating each sensor short of cutting them off and twisting the wires together? What should I try next? Replacing the sensor switches at the windows and door? Where can I get replacement ones?

If the problem is in the wire run from control box to sensors, I'd be inclined to use a wireless sensor, though I would need some help and/or a pointer on (i) where to get wireless sensors for this unit and (ii) how to re-program the sw2000 to make zone 4 wireless.

If there is a fair amount of wire visible at the sensors, you can simply skin both of the wires at the contact and jumper them together (I have small alligator clip jumpers that I use for this). If they are the kind of contacts with screw terminals, you can simply loosen the screw and twist the wires together.

It also depends on how the wiring was done. If the individual openings were "homerun" to the panel location, you can separate them there and check them with an ohmmeter or test light.

All too often, this is caused by things like a door or window being repaired or replaced, and the person doing the work just twists the wires back together and tapes them instead of using a crimp connecter. Eventually, such a connection _will_ fail.

Found the bad sensor - thanks for the help.