Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - (yet another) DSC 832 Power "Trouble" Light

Hi. My system's trouble light came on recently, accompanied by the incessant beeping, and the panel indicated "Low Batt." Well, I replaced the battery, but the trouble light remains on (though the system doesn't beep constantly anymore), and the panel still shows a low batt failure. In addition, the alarm went off at 1 am last night (this may be unrelated to the battery??)!

- Do I need to reset/reprogram something after changing the battery? BTW, the replacement battery is brand new (from Radio Shack), but it is a 5 Ah battery, whereas the original battery was 4.5 Ah. I don't think that makes a difference, but I could be wrong.

- Is there some other battery that I'm not aware of??

Thanks!

take a meter and measure the battery, both with terminals on and then take one wire off the battery and get anther reading. the ah won't have any effect on this issue.

take a meter and measure the battery, both with terminals on and then take one wire off the battery and get anther reading. the ah won't have any effect on this issue.

Am I testing to see if the battery is good (it is brand new)? Does it matter which wire I disconnect for the second reading?
Thanks!

doesn't matter which wire. the battery unplugged should be a shade over 13 volts. make sure the connection to the battery is good. *3 your keypad after an alarm. it will tell you what zone went into alarm.

doesn't matter which wire. the battery unplugged should be a shade over 13 volts. make sure the connection to the battery is good. *3 your keypad after an alarm. it will tell you what zone went into alarm.

Thanks, tc! I'll give it a try when I get home and post tomorrow.

doesn't matter which wire. the battery unplugged should be a shade over 13 volts. make sure the connection to the battery is good. *3 your keypad after an alarm. it will tell you what zone went into alarm.

TC - sorry for the delay.

Well, the backup battery checks good with about 13V, both connected and not connected. Also, the "trouble" light on this system is now steady and there is no accompanying beep. Every time I do *2 to check the fault, however, it still indicates 'low battery.' I'm totally stuck!

-Should I completely de-power the system?
-Any other ideas?

Thanks!!!
M

If you have wireless devices, the low battery may be from a transmitter. If you look in your user manual, it shows you how to step through the trouble indicators to get the specific device/zone.

Well, I don't think I have any wireless devices installed...but I could be wrong. I have magnetic sensors on the doors and windows and a couple of motion sensors - pretty standard set up, I think. I'll investigate the error codes further, however.
thanks!
G8M

this doesn't make sense. hit *2, number 1 should appear. then press 1 again. what number lights up?

First, thanks again guys!

OK, this system has an LCD, so there are no numbers that light up, as far as I know.

Upon further inspection, here are the EXACT messages that are displayed:

The main fault is:
Service Required
Low Battery <>

Additionally, the system reports the following:
There are No <>
Zone Low Bats *

There are No <>
Keypad Low Bats *

There are No <>
Key Low Bats *

There are No <>
Zone Faults *

There are No <>
Zone Tampers *


Thanks,
G8M

If you have a known good battery, and it's still reporting a low battery condition after 24 hours, then the only thing I can suggest is to power down, wait a few minutes, then power up (re-connect the battery _before_ you restore AC power). You will have to reset the clock.

If it doesn't clear after that, then something in the battery charger test circuitry may have gone south (this sometimes happens if the system is allowed to operate with a failing battery), and there really is not a fix for that beyond a motherboard replacement.

OK, I'll power down the entire grid and see what happens.

Is there any way to test the recharge circuit (perhaps by taking a voltage reading across the battery wires)?

Is there any harm in continuing to operate the system is this condition (other than the pesky trouble light it seem to operate normally)? Replacing the motherboard sounds like a costly and complex solution!

Thanks MrRon!

Update:

- I tested the voltage across the backup battery wires and it reads normally.

- I completely powered down, but the trouble light (with low battery indication) is still present.

So here's the real problem - it seems as though whenever the AC power fails (like it did last night at 1230 am) the alarm goes off!! I guess it doesn't see any DC backup and sets itself off...not cool.

Any remaining ideas before I suck it up and call the system installer (which means I'll have to pay for monitoring, I'm sure)??

THANKS!
G8M

It sounds like you have a bad board, and the only real fix is replacement. You can replace the motherboard as a DIY, but realize that DSC programming and configuration can be a bit of a headache. If you just have hardwired zones, that's probably the simple way to go.

Looks like a new board is the way to go. All my zones are hardwired, so I'm hoping for a relatively easy fix.

2 things:
- Is there a "special" manual that gives programming instructions? I've downloaded the basic system manual, but it is practically useless with regards to system programming.

- Can you recommend a place to get the board? Ebay, for example?

Thanks, again!

Yes, you have to search for PC5010 Programming form/manual, as well as for Installer manual. Without both books, the instructions make even less sense.

If you get a new motherboard, they usually come with the manuals.