Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - Help with a DSC PC1550 System

We bought our home several months ago and it has a DSC PSC1550 system. We have decided not to go with the security company service but I do not want to unplug/disconnect the alarm system because fire and smoke alarms throughout the house are wired through the system. Last night the system alarmed for 30 secs and then it went out by itself. I do not know what triggered the alarm but I suspect it may have been a power surge. I noticed a "Trouble" light is on and the Trouble type shows a "Low battery" and a "Clock needs reseting". I checked the battery and its dead I (it is corroded and has a crack). My questions are:

1) For my specific use (fire/smoke alarm), do I need to replace the battery?

2) How do I reset the clock?

3) Is there a way to prevent the alarm from triggering on when power outages or power surges take place?

Absolutely replace the battery. Not replacing the battery will cause more problems. To reset the clock, *6, master code, time and date, ##. Not sure why you think that you had a power spike. The least of your issues that the alarm goes off. What zone was triggered to make the alarm go off? Might be a sensor problem.

A power failure/brownout with a failed or failing battery can produce some pretty odd effects with these older systems, especially if they have 4-wire smokes installed.

Instructions may help: http://www.baysecurity.com/manuals/0581r5.pdf

Well, I got a new battery and installed it, but now I get a Trouble "failure to communicate" every 10-12 hrs which makes the keypads beep and I have to manually reset it to stop this. This is a pain in the neck when it happens in the middle of the night. I wish to disable this feature and reading the manual it says I have to enter the Programing Mode The default Programing installer code (*[8] [1500]) does not work and I do not know what is the new code. The manual says I can do a software reset to factory default with a "[30]" command but I do not know how to do this. I tried *[8][1500][30] and a *[8] [30], but neither worked. Do I have to do a hardware reset to factory default?

First take a look around the inside of the system cabinet. Often installers will leave the installer code written (often in light pencil) somewhere inside.

In my copy of the pc1550 installer manual, the instructions for a hardware default are on page 13. Listen carefully, because a lot of DSC installers activate the installer lockout feature (the sticky titled "Alarm Forum FAQ (Please read before posting)" has the procedure for removing the lockout, but it doesn't work on every version of the PC1550.

MrRon,

Thanks again for your help. I could not find the Installer code anywhere and when I called the security company they could not help me (not surprising...). Anyway I followed your advise and the instruction but it appears that there is a lockout feature and I was not able to remove it. Thus, my only option to get rid of the annoying beeps was to disconnect both AC power and battery. I was hoping to continue to use the system for audible the smoke and fire alarms and thought that they would go off when I disconnected the power from the system. However, I have noticed that my smoke and fire alarms still have the green LEDs on and that the red LEDs flash every 10-15 secs.... Should I assume they are still functional? I did push the test button in one of them and it beeped (loud)... I wonder where are these alarms getting their electricity from if they do not have batteries and the main alarm system is now disconnected.

Your smokes are most likely just standard AC/DC hardwired smoke alarms and have nothing to do with the security system.

If you tried the installer lockout removal and it didn't work, then all you can do is replace the control and keypad(s) and start over.