Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - Replacement battery overheats DSC PC2550

Hi. My PC2550 was showing a trouble indicator that the battery was low. So I replaced the battery with a 12 volt 7ah battery. 24 hours later I notice on the alarm panel that everything is off. The system cabinet is also quite warm. The battery itself is cold but the system board is clearly overheating. I unplug the battery and the system comes back on but obviously displays a battery fault condition again.

Do I have a faulty battery? What is going on here?

The odds are pretty good that you hooked up the battery in reverse polarity, because that's a classic symptom. You _could_ have a bad replacement battery, or a failing battery charging circuit, but those are less likely.

Thank you for your response. I am sure that I connected the battery correctly. The colour coding makes it pretty obvious. If the battery has been put together incorrectly ie it has it's polarity incorrectly assigned, then swapping the cables over would fix the problem. Is this a risk that is okay to take? Or should I just take the battery back?

Check the voltage output at the battery connectors without the battery. It should be about 13-14.5volts. The battery, if fully charged, should be similar. I'm thinking that you might have gotten your hands on a bad replacement.

If the battery checks as good, then the only thing left is a failing motherboard.