Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - DSC PC1832 does not detect PC5108 expansion module

I am trying program a DSC PC1832 ver 4.22NA control panel using DLS software.
I have two PK5501Z keypads, one LCD5511 keypad and a PC5108 expansion module, all successfully enrolled.
When I connect the DLS programming software and try an AUTO DETECT the only modules detected are the control panel and the PK keypad. PC5108 doesn’t show up, as well as the LCD5501 keypad. Am I doing something wrong, do I miss something?
The DLS software is updated to the latest drivers available on the web.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Check your wiring. That's a lot of keypad bus devices, and it would be pretty easy have a wire that _looks_ connected, but isn't. Otherwise, I am assuming that you have already verified that you have the addressing dip switches set correctly.

MrRonFL, thanks for your reply.
The wiring is OK, so no problems there. As I have mentioned, when you enter section [903], Module Supervision, everything shows up as it should be, all modules are enrolled correctly. Is just that on the DLS software I don’t see the zone expander among the other modules detected by the program. Maybe the PC5108 zone expander is not supposed to show up, being such a simple and common thing.
Anyway, I was able to access and program all zones, including the ones assigned to the expander module so everything is up and running now. I guess, just out of curiosity, I’ll do some more digging into the functionality and the auto detectable modules list of this DLS2002 software and post my findings on this thread. Maybe it wil help somebody else one day.

Thanks again

Oh, I see what your actual question was. I think that the software simply sees the hardwire expander as an extension of the system core.

Other than the dip switches that set the beginning zone, there's not much to the 5108.

I am experiencing the same problem. The zones show up when selecting Section 903 (this should be an indication that it is wired correctly). I am trying to use HomeSeer; however, for testing, I am just hooking the PC5401 (serial adapter) to a PC and watching the data. The logs show status for zones 1-8, but none of the zones 9-40 give any status. All zones have been configured for EOL tamper wiring and all zones have been assigned to Partition #1. Any idea on how to get the status of zones 9-40? My alarm controller is the Power864.

Thanks,
<>< Lance.


MrRonFL, thanks for your reply.
The wiring is OK, so no problems there. As I have mentioned, when you enter section [903], Module Supervision, everything shows up as it should be, all modules are enrolled correctly. Is just that on the DLS software I don’t see the zone expander among the other modules detected by the program. Maybe the PC5108 zone expander is not supposed to show up, being such a simple and common thing.
Anyway, I was able to access and program all zones, including the ones assigned to the expander module so everything is up and running now. I guess, just out of curiosity, I’ll do some more digging into the functionality and the auto detectable modules list of this DLS2002 software and post my findings on this thread. Maybe it wil help somebody else one day.

Thanks again

Did you activate the zones for partition 1 in programming location 203? They default to off.

Thanks Ron,

I double checked and Sections 202,203,204,205,206 have all zones set (12345678). And, Partition 2 and 3.. do not have any zones set. All the zones IO are set to be Input, Normally closed with the resister in-line. As stated before, the expansion zones appear to be registered, so the switches and connectors are likely correct.

Any more ideas on how to get the PC5401 to see zones 9+ ? I should be able to see instantaneous zone status changes for all zones (1..40) without polling for zone status, right ?

Thanks for your help. Hopefully I can get to the next response sooner than I did with the last one.

<>< Lance

Ok, lets back up to the basics: Do these zones show opening and closed when you open and close the openings they are connected to? Yes? or No?

On the PC5401, I see open and close commands for zones 1 through 8 when the zones are physically changed. The messages threw me a bit until I realized the last digits where checksum digits.

Here is a bit of history: I did a major remodel of a house and hard wired reed/magnet switches between all the doors and windows to the DSC system. I didn't label the cables, but assumed I could easily figure them out by seeing activity on the PC5401. But, only eight sensors registered any activity. They are on zones 1-8. Nothing is shown for the extended zones (9-40). I can't imagine all my other sensors being wired wrong.

What is the next basics we should look at?

Thanks, <>< Lance.

there are jumpers on the board that need to be set for what zones the 5108 are associated with- are these set correctly?

you also need to assign the new zones ( 9 - 16 ) to a partition

I believe the 5108 expansion cards are configured correctly. When I select 903, it shows that there are Enrolled Modules for Zones 9-16, 17-24, 25-32, and 33-40.

I have also verified that all 40 zones are assigned to Partition 1. If I look as Sections 202-206, they all show 12345678.

What else could be missing?

Thanks for the help guys.
<>< Lance

Ok, lets try this again:

If you open one of the zones from 9-40, does those zone show as open _on_the_system_keypad_?

If you take the wire off of the zone input, does the zone show open on the _keypad_?

If the answer to the first question is no, but the second question is yes, then you have a field wiring problem; if the answer to the second question is also no, then you have a programming problem with the expansion zone setup.

If the answer to both questions is yes, the your problem is probably a programming setting pertaining to the setup of the PC5401 module.

The trick to troubleshooting this stuff is to seperate _mechanical_ problems from _software_ problems.

a PC-1832 is a MAX of 32 zones


where is the 33-40 coming from ?

I have a PC-1864.

But, I just noticed my understanding on assigning partitions to zones was wrong. I somehow thought that Sections 202-206 represented the zones within partition one. But they represent the partitions of zones 1-5.
So, now I have specified 1------- to zones 1-40 (Sections 202-241). The system is acting differently. It says it is ready to arm and gives me the option to bypass some zones -- even zones I didn't think where configured (41,49,57).
I don't have time to test other things out at this time, but I think this may have been the major problem.

And, the request to look at the controller to see if it responds to open and close events. I'm not quite sure how to do this except to see which zones are open (preventing an arming.) But now the system says it is ready to arm and I know not all the zones are closed. Before changing the zone partition assignments I could see only open devices under 6 (maybe 7 and 8, but 6 was the highest show.) Remember, one of my problems is that I don't yet know where the zone cables actually go to.

I'll give an update when I can.
Thanks,
<>< Lance.

if you have no wires connected, short out the zones at the panel 1st

either with the resistor, or just a wire between any black wire connection & the zones connection.

see if that activates them for use.

Ok, no offense intended, but what I percieve is that you don't have a good grasp of the programming interface (this is where trying to _start_ using the DLS software doen't really help...you need to know how the programming actually works, regardless) and are trying to leap ahead and use advanced configurations and features before your core system configuration is in place.

Read your actual user manual and/or the section of the installer manual titled "keypad commands". All of the instructions are based on the use of the keypad. _Leave the software alone, for now_. Once you do a little of the programming via the keypad interface, you will find the software much more intuitive. The easiest way to test zones is to turn on the chime function on the keypad.

Now that you have activated the zones in partition 1 you _also_ have to give each zone a zone type in programming locations 001-004. Only the first 8 zones have a default zone type, all the rest are set as 00 (disabled) by default.

Ron,

You are correct, I was not very familiar with programming the DSC PC1864. I have found my errors and am more happily on my way. For the record (maybe to help the next sole out there), here are the more critical steps taken to get this to work …

1. My setting for the Partitions were once correct, then I changed them. For testing, I wanted all zones (1-40) to be on Partition 1 only. The following settings were set to do this…

Section [202] = “12345678’ (zones 1-8 on Partition 1)
Section [203] = “12345678’ (zones 9-16 on Partition 1)
Section [204] = “12345678’ (zones 17-24 on Partition 1)
Section [205] = “12345678’ (zones 25-32 on Partition 1)
Section [206] = “12345678’ (zones 33-40 on Partition 1)
Section [207] = “________’ (zones 41-48 NOT on Partition 1)
Section [208] = “________’ (zones 49-56 NOT on Partition 1)
Section [209] = “________’ (zones 57-64 NOT on Partition 1)
Section [210] = “________’ (zones 1-8 NOT on Partition 2)
…
Section [265] = “________’ (zones 57-64 NOT on Partition 8)

2. The Zone Definitions, Sections 001-004, was very poorly documented in the Installation guide. Only after seeing the Programming Worksheets is there any indication that there are 16 zones for each Section. So now, at least for testing, I have set each of the zones to a value of 01. That is…

Section [001] = 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
Section [002] = 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
Section [003] = 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Section [004] = 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

3. Ron I appreciate your hint on using the Chime to help test. This helps quite a bit to know if a zone was working or not. To do this test, I gave each of the 40 zones the following Zone Attributes…

Section [101] = “_23_____” (Zone 1, Delay 1, Chime)
Section [102] = “_23_____” (Zone 2, Delay 1, Chime)
…
Section [140] = “_23_____” (Zone 40, Delay 1, Chime)
Section [141] = “________” (Zone 41, none)
…
Section [164] = “________” (Zone 64, none)

4. The Door Chime needed to be enabled.
[4]

5. Nothing seemed to work yet on the extension units, so I performed a Module Supervision Reset. (Section [902])… and wait a minute. Maybe this wasn’t necessary, but I did it and things worked afterwards.

6. I was not trying to use the DSC DSL software. But, HomeSeer. I had a few problems. The major problem was that the cheap USB-Serial adapter I used was locking up and not supplying data after a couple hundred of bytes transferred. This was quite frustrating and was causing my system to reboot. So much for saving time.

I cannot say everything is working yet, but I believe my major obstacles are now behind me. Thank you for giving me courage to continue. As long as I knew it was supposed to work, then there must be good reasons for it not working like expected.

Thanks,
<>< Lance.