Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - DSC832 Keypad keeps buzzing though power restored

My DSC 832 is used to call a monitoring station if our fire alarm goes off or we loose power. In either case the DSC is never actually "armed", but all the contacts were programmed to trip though the system is not armed ie: sump pump, fire alarm or trouble will send a signal. However, I noticed that when we completed a fire test and also when we lost power fin the building for a minute the fire panel reset properly all back to normal in both cases but...the DSC keypad did not and kept buzzing until the the four digit code was entered and recently the power failed in middle of night and I got a call from the alarm company saying we had a trouble.. So I asked them to ignore it till I got there later..I had to put in the four digit code to get it to reset and stop ringing.. How do I change that ?
Also is it possible that for the line or circuit that sends a "trouble" alarm to be delayed by ten minutes before calling the alarm company ? so if power comes back before that, no alarm is sent ? am fed up with 3 am calls...Am very new at this and still trying by the way to figure out if I can get software so I can change these features from my computer ..
thank you for your patience..

It's not a "bug" it's a feature. Your sump pump and fire alarm trouble monitor are supervisory alarms that have to be reset by code. That really your only choice with this system.
There is no way to delay the dialer without delaying _all_ signals.

You _can_, however, control the actions of the monitoring service. You can instruct them to not call you for troubles and supervisory signals between 10pm and 7am (for example). With most services, this will have to be in writing.

Thank you for your comments, however, could you explain the following text taken from the power 832 manual:
5.18 Transmission Delay
If Transmission Delay is selected for a zone the panel will delay reporting the alarm for the number of seconds programmed for Transmission Delay Time. If the panel is disarmed before the delay time expires the panel will not report the alarm to central station. If the panel is not disarmed in time the panel will communicate normally.
This is a global feature - the transmission delay time will be the same on both partitions.

I ask you because my monitoring station suggested that I reprogram the panel so that the trouble zone is on a 5 minute delay.. The Alarm Co. seem to loose the paper I send to them every six months and then they start calling again..
Also, I do not understand why this modern DSC panel would not reset itself once the trouble ( which is a power failure) has been put back to normal.. My own PARADOX home alarm will beep intermittently during a power failure, but when power is restored IT DOES reset itself so I dont have to run around putting in my password.. It does show a memory light that an incident occured,. and that is fine..
this DSC when a Fire alarm or sump pump flood is detected should ring till someone puts in the access code yes.. but not a "trouble zone" for a power failure.. It should reset like my PARADOX.. or at least the trouble zone must be able to be put on a delay as the above text seems to mention.

I might be mistaking zones with another word, but all I mean is that the circuit that trips this DSC and only trips for power failures should be auto resetable or at the least, time delayed without every other sensor, probe or fire detector being affected by delay.. What say you ???
ps I found the DSC software but it's not as user friendly as the Paradox one which has a nice interface, shows what zones are armed and which are disarmed,, allows me to easily place certain zones to be armed during a stay arming etc.. any tutorials available for how to get the data from the DSC alarm panel downloaded by phone line to my computer so I can change this delay thing and also see all the events in memory ? Basically can I call from an outside line the number that the DSC panel is connected to and have the panel answer ?

You are correct. However, that delay delays _all_ zones with the delay activated. There is no discrete time setting per individual zone. So yes you can set just those specific zones for a delay, by turning the feature on in zone attributes, and entering a transmission delay time in programming location 370.

As far as the input zone reset; assuming that it is zone type 10:
"24 Hour Supervisory Buzzer Zone
Whether armed or disarmed, when this zone type is violated the panel will immediately latch the keypad buzzer until a valid user code is entered and will communicate immediately to the central station."

That's how DSC set up their supervisory zones. Ademco hardware works in a similar way. The feature that you probably had on the Paradox was a non-latching supervisory, or possibly an auto-reset supervisory. The Paradox is generally considered a higher end system.

The DSC software wasn't really designed with end users in mind. It was designed for installers who configure multiple, similar systems. Really, for the changes you wish to make, if you have the installer code, just use the keypad interface.

Am still not convinced about the delay on one or many zones .. I sday this because when I called DSC today, a tech advised that each zone could be programmed with a delay.. but if my trouble was installed on a "program" set of screws, then I could not.. and since I have not opened up the panel yet, I dont know.. I guess the only way to know is to have a tech come back, the first installer nver filled in the installer manual with which zones he connected or what features he put in.. I suspect he might have put a delay on the actual alarm panel AC power warning since when power goes off, the panel never sends an AC OFF signal ... it's the fire panel's "trouble" that gets sent out.. And you are right about the DSC DLS 2002 software, I got it off the web and cannot connect since I do not have a DSC modem, maybe if I got some of those cables to computer directly but.. is it really going to be worth the hassle..the software is not as user friendly as the Paradox one i've used for two years.. I went with DSC gear orginilly because the alarm company would not touch the paradox gear .. what a mistake I made.. I should have had a paradox system put in and chosen another alarm company .. it would have made it easier for an amateur like me..

As I said, you can set _any_ zone with the transmission delay, but there is only one delay time used by all zones thus set.

From the PC5010 manual:

"5.18 Transmission Delay
If Transmission Delay is selected for a zone the panel will delay reporting the alarm for the number of seconds
programmed for Transmission Delay Time. If the panel is disarmed before the delay time expires the panel will not
report the alarm to central station. If the panel is not disarmed in time the panel will communicate normally.

The factory default time for AC power failure delay is 30 minutes. It is a different timer than the zones use.

AC power failure has it's own special delay timer. It's factory default setting is 30 minutes.

AC power failure report delay defaults to 30 min. That is a seperate setting from the zone inputs.
This is a global feature - the transmission delay time will be the same on both partitions.

Transmission Delay Enable ................................... Sections [101] to [132], Option [7]

Transmission Delay Time ...................................... Section [370]"

Not trying to be obdurate, just trying to keep you from chasing your tail. This is a middle grade residential/light commercial alarm system. There are simply a lot of features it doesn't have. DSC designs tend to err on the side of user input required.

ahhh, now I understand why the panel never sent an AC power off warning.. yet the trouble on zone two was going thru..
.. so now if I might ask you to bear with me with the obvious question: how to actually give a delay to what I have identified as the "trouble" zone.. my ZOne 1 is fire, zone two is trouble, so could you walk me thru exactly what I have to type in on the keyboard once I want to start this project and give to zone two a 10 minute delay ? the Access code is the default of course, so what do I type in after the access code next knowing it's Zone two I want to have a delay on?
remember how many times it took for you to explain to me so I understood about the delay and zones etc..(sigh)..PS the rep from the alarm company advised me that even if I had wanted to have them monitor a Paradox panel that watches my fire alarm system, they would have refused, they say that Paradox is not ULC approved for connection to a fire panel.!!! Go figure..
Anyway, thank you for your tremendous patience ..I await your instructions with fingers poised to change the panel and give me a full night's sleep..

Your monitoring people are correct. The Paradox panels are not UL approved for commercial fire applications. The rules for proper fire alarm monitoring are pretty specific. Really, using the PC5010 panel for the job is pushing things a bit.

To turn on the delay feature for zone 2:
Go to program
go to section 102 and turn on option 7.
Press #
go to section 370
enter 003 003 003 010 030 003 030 030 007 03
(the 4th number is what you are actually changing, and there _is_ a way to jump to the specific entry you want to change, but this is the simple and safe way).
Press # until you are out of programming.

That should do it.

not sure I understand your comment here:
" Really, using the PC5010 panel for the job is pushing things a bit"
Do you mean that you would not use a DSC 832 like we have to call the alarm company for a fire alarm & the other sensors like we have ie: sump pumps because you find it bad ? or is it that it's expensive for what we are using it for ?
I am hoping to eventually add door and motion detectors to it..
Second question on your programming recommendation:

To turn on the delay feature for zone 2:
Go to program
go to section 102 and turn on option 7.
Press #
go to section 370
enter 003 003 003 010 030 003 030 030 007 03
(the 4th number is what you are actually changing, and there _is_ a way to jump to the specific entry you want to change,

As mentioned I am "really new " at this, so once I've put it the * 8 , then I put in 5010 and then I punch in 102???
how do I turn on zone 7??

final question on this programming thing:
you say go to section 370 and the fourth number is the one that changes the timing.. but when I looked at the manual it would seem to say that the fourth section changes in seconds so would not putting in a 0 1 0 change the delay to only ten seconds ? should I not be going for the 299 which is the longest at near 5 minutes ?
Thanks for your patience again...
At least while I'm waiting, there havent been any power failures and 3 am alarm company calls..:)

The PC5010 is a _security_ alarm panel with _some_ fire protection abilities. It is _not_ a UL 864/NFPA 72 compliant fire alarm communicator (there are very specific requirements for fire alarm communications, like 2 or more communication channels, et. al.) The fire zones on the panel are meant for smoke/heat detectors, not as an input for an external fire alarm control panel. What you have is better than nothing, but it is not proper fire alarm configuration.

Once you are in that programming section, to turn on option 7, just press the 7 key, and the indicator will turn on.

No offense, but _please_ read the section in the installer manual titled "How to Program". Really, all of the programming syntax information is there.

And yes, you are right, the maximum delay for the dial out is 255 seconds (4min 15sec), I scanned the list in a hurry.

If you are capable of reading the specs in depth, following the programming instructions should not be such a challenge to you.

thanks for all the info, I'll be re-reading the manual again, it's just fiddling with it requires a bit more confidence as it's live and though I can put it in test with the monitoring co. I dont want to screw it up.. As for the DSC 832 hooked to our industrial fire alarm panel, even the insurance investigator who came by last week for a full inspection was impressed with using a DSC basically as a dialer..
I agree with you that likely a newer fire alarm panel that does have built it dialer etc etc with more than only two outputs would be great, but considering it's age at around 20 years old, that it's got more than 80 sensors thru two buildings, all techs here had said putting in the DSC was probably the best bet..
And apart from that Trouble signal, it works well..
And now I'll be able to fine tune it ..
I will keep reading here as it's one of the best for support and direct help, your assistance was invaluable.

I'm not ragging your install; you actually _have_ an operating and monitored alarm. I'm just pointing out the differences. In many locals, fire prevention equipment is stringently regulated.

Here in Florida, the state adopted NFPA 72 as state law (as well as most of the other NFPA and IBC codes). The configuration that you have is simply _not_ a legal installation here, and no fire marshal will permit it if they spot such a configuration. There really is no such thing as DIY fire alarm in Florida for any commercial building.

Sorry for delay in replying, was away on business..
As the moderator of this forum you can obviously bring up the fact that in your State legislation is worded one way, but since you know that questions can appear from everywhere around the globe where legislation is different the standards are going to be different. As long as the local legislation is respected, then all should be well..

Since I asked and did receive help from you on my question of how to modify the DSC to delay the outgoing call from trouble on the DSC, it is not a question of a DIY fire alarm panel.. The DSC in this part of Canada is accepted as a panel that a SIMPLEX industrial fire alarm panel can be hooked up to contact a monitoring station for a fire.

the big problem we had here was an ignorant technician who did not follow the instruction given to him when he was called to program the DSC panel.
In our case a qualified technician screwed up that signal and other zones from the DSC, but no fire marshall found that, I did.
Frankly if I had to redo it, I'd have a Paradox panel installed as it's software is very user friendly to install and to operate.
And yes I understand it's not ULC approved as a fire alarm panel, but then it would not be the Fire alarm panel would it?

Actually, in that application, it is considered a "fire alarm communicator". Especially in the case of older fire alarm controls, a separate communicator handles the communications, and there are specific standards for combination systems like you have.

Sorry, the life safety stuff is where I spend most of my workday. I know that Canada and parts abroad have different rules (as do many US states). The codes are converging as the International Building Code is becoming more and more the standard.

I word things the way I do so that someone in a more strictly regulated region doesn't find themselves in hot water with the local AHJ.