Visonic powermax complete problems

[Christopher Berry]

I had a visonic Powermax complete wireless alarm system fitted to my house 8 months ago by a recommended and supposedly 'professional' installer. The system worked fine for 6 months then the external alarm box stopped working. The blue strobe still flashes but the box will now not 'squawk' when the system is armed or disarmed. The external siren will also not sound if the alarm goes off. There are no faults shown on the control panel. I am having huge problems getting a response from my 'professional' installer.
Any ideas on what the problem may be please?

 

[secureiam]

If they are not responding, then you need to look them up and find out what bodies they belong to nsi, ssaib etc

The strobe still flashes (in test mode? or all the time).
If your alarm is reset correctly after an alarm activation the strobe should not flash unless activated by an alarm or tested manually.

The batteries should last longer than six months, and if they were getting low the panel should have reported such a fault.

Do you have access to the event log?

 

[Christopher Berry]

Thank you for your reply - My fault I know but I took this installer on face value because he was recommended by a friend who said that the installer concerned worked installing systems at corporate level etc. After the alarm system had been installed I asked for a receipt - the installer said he would send me one, however, despite my frequent calls & texts did not do so - so I am not even sure of the company he works for. I only have his name and mobile number and although the installation seems to have been carried out to a high standard and at a good price the back up service is abysmal. I am still trying to track the name of his company. He did respond last month when I told him there was a fault and I carried out the tests he suggested - he said he was currently very busy but would visit one evening. This was a month ago and despite me leaving several texts he has not responded. So much for trust & recommendations eh? Looks like I will have to sort out the problem myself!
When I say the blue strobe is flashing I mean the small one at the bottom of the unit which I assume is a warning to possible burglars that the house has an alarm system installed - not the main blue strobe when the alarm is activated. I do have access to the log but it is not showing any faults. Do you think there is a fault in the external box or in the control panel itself? when the alarm is armed then tested the control panel alarm does actually sound. (as an aside I am doing all I can to track this man down so I can complain to trading standards, his company, professional bodies etc)

 

[secureiam]

If there is a fault it should be in the log.
However it depends on the fault and how it reports those faults.
He was recommended by a friend they may be able to help?

what some people don't take account of is if the price is cheap, then the question is how can they afford to support you if it does go wrong.
sounds like you could be unlucky, I don't know what tests he asked for or the results of those tests.

I don't install this panel but have a few I maintain and the pretty much tick over with no issues and replace the batteries every few years and no faults present themselves and when serviced all devise are tested and verified as fully functioning.

If you have the engineer or the sub engineers code it should be possible to go through and check a few things.

 

[Belle427]

First thing to do would be to see if the siren is still enrolled and then use the diagnostic feature in the installers menu to see what it reports.
Don't delete it if it is enrolled or it will probably mean a trip up the ladder!

 

[secureiam]

I am suspecting its not enrolled as it doesnt trigger, but cant see how it would without going into the engineers menus

 

[sparkymarka]

May be the piezo sounder is up the shoot , had loads of Texecom ones faulty over last 12 months

 

[markovitch]

It,s more than likely a flat battery in the bell box.It wont be that its not enrolled ,because you said it was working previously and to un-enroll it you would need the engineers code.
What you have to realize is that the unit may have been on the retailers shelf a while before it was sold and that all batteries dissipate energy over time, plus the fact you have the squawk facility on thus draining the battery even further.
How long has the engineer set the bell timer for and how many previous false activation,s have you had in the 6 months prior to it going pear shaped,because this will reduce battery life significantly.
You can tell whether its the siren at fault if you activate the panic button on the fob ,if the strobe is flashing then youve probably got a faulty siren ,if not its probably a flat battery.

 

[Christopher Berry]

Many thanks to all of you for your help with this problem. For a start, the alarm system & installation was not particularly cheap - only really a bit cheaper than quotes I had from other installers. I went with the one I used because of a strong recommendation - The installer concerned was apparently in the same hobby club as the friend who recommended him and it wasn't until after I paid and he left that I found out that this installer was not particularly well known by my friend and the club concerned also only has sketchy details about him, however, he appears frequently on the internet with his hobby so I have not yet given up hope on eventually sorting the issues out via him. So much for friends eh?
I understand what is being said about the external box being enrolled - it worked OK for a while so it must have been enrolled OK - unless it has somehow dis-enrolled itself? I will test the panic function tomorrow - I don't want to test it tonight - just in case the external alarm should somehow go off - don't think the neighbours would be too impressed.
The alarm itself has only gone off once since being fitted - the PIR apparently picked up curtain movement on a windy day in a room with the window slightly open - it was switched off after only a couple of minutes and since then the system has only been armed when we were away on a 2 week holiday during October - hardly high usage. I have checked the alarm log as far as I can from a layman's point of view and no faults are being shown. Wouldn't a low battery show up as a fault?
Anyway - I will carry on fault finding tomorrow - many thanks again for your replies and suggestions

 

[secureiam]

seriously you having issues with Texecom piezos that should be long since dead and buried.

I would get the guy to try and sort it out for you, it certainly doesn't sound like a lot of use, so somethings a miss with the unit/ units battery.

if theres nothing in the log, you need to look at the bells enrollment and programming, if the battery was low I would have expected a low battery report at some point.

 

[markovitch]

Its a visonic piece of equipment not texacom and it will have nothing to do with programming or enrollment because its worked for 6 months prior to it going pear shaped.And as for reports ,the engineer can programme what reports to send or allow .Its sounds like to me the battery in the bellbox .I used to fit 10-15 of these units a week so im pretty familiar with them , so the first port of call is to replace the battery imo.

 

[secureiam]

The reference Mark made was about the piezo's being faulty and making the comparison, if everything else was working ie the strobe, and no faults being reported then the piezo is responsible for the sound so that not a bad place to look if its only not making a sound.

Having looked into the manuals in more depth, the user (Master User)has the ability to change the squawk on arm/ disarm so its possible its been disabled?

If the bell unit is seen by the panel and has good or adequate signal, then I would seriously suggest that you look in:-
7.User Settings

at Using Squawk option.

I don't install this panel every day not a big fan, but I support several on maintenance and do a full system check every service. I don't know all its features I wouldn't profess to know them all. From an engineering or user view point.

However all alarm systems work in similar ways, with there own slants on various functions and who can control them, the terminologies vary, but end of the day certain panels made for certain countries at certain points in time are designed to work in similar ways if they are to comply with any standards at the time whether they are used or not.

I find it hard to believe the panel wouldn't have shown a low battery in the log, I can believe it may not have been reported to the central station(should be though) or to the end user via voicemail or text as it can cost a lot of money having all notifications turned on.

If it wasn't enrolled / learned to the panel then it wouldn't do Jack but may well be illuminated. I know of many customers who try it themselves get in a mess and then call someone out to straighten it up.

The fact it was working and now isn't, would suggest that somethings changed (agreed), I would expect certain things to provide warnings (jamming, low battery, no signal for some time(supervision fault)), other things not to provide warnings (piezo fault, turning an option off, deleting a device) are just some examples of some these.

 

[markovitch]

He already said in a previous post the strobe didnt work and the user cant delete devices as it can only be done via engineer mode.

 

[sparkymarka]

No he didn't

 

[markovitch]

Read the quote he sent on friday 6.40 he meant the led is flashing not the strobe ...as far as im aware at no point does he say the actual strobe is working , thus indicating the battery has expired in my opinion.