Pyronix Sterling 10 not working

[Sparkyrbh]

Hello.

I have a Pyronix Sterling 10 installed which was working fine until I switched the mains power off to reposition the fused spur feeding it. The power has been off several times for various DIY needs as the house is in need of general upgrade and I've never had a problem before. The beeper sounded indicating that power had been lost and it seemed quite happy to run on battery for a few hours, until the battery drained down. Fine I thought, it will be o.k when power is back on, but the whole thing appears utterly dead. I have changed all the fuses assuming there had been a surge on power restoration, starting at the 3 Amp Fused spur and all fuses on board, including the one that supplies the transformer in the mains connection block. Still Dead. I then presumed that I had blown the circuit somewhere, so have now gone to the expense of buying a new board. Have changed that out fully and still nothing. I am pretty sure that mains power is getting onto the board as I can see the meter flicker when I test, but I only have a rudimentary voltage tester for checking mains voltages.
On another forum thread I note that someone seemed to suggest that the battery needs to be connected first, but in their case it made no difference to the problem they were experiencing. I am wondering if like a car, if the battery is dead (the original installation must be about 10 years old) and not recharging, it is taking the whole system down. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas what to do next?

 

[scott1980]

Put a new battery in it, or disconnect the old one until you get one.

Sound's like you've discharged the one that's in it a bit too much, which a panel like this will struggle to recharge. That'll be straining the control unit explaining why it does'nt appear the be working.

 

[Sparkyrbh]

Thanks for response. I had a feeling it may be the battery. although initially I had disconnected the battery and with the mains on, the problem still persisted...dead!

Anyway for everyones reference, I changed the battery and the system has immediately come to life, settings appear to have been maintained and the only outstanding problem is to see if I can send the replacement panel back and get some wedge back of the suppliers.

By the way, the cheapest place I found a battery was Screwfix and they are open on Sundays!....

Cheers all

 

[Dan12]

Hi there

Quick question, I have the same system. Is it supposed to recharge the battery when there is mains power to it? It's just that when we get powercuts (when there are powercuts they tend to happen several times in a week!) the alarm will initially beep for a while to indicate that its running on battery. But after a while the whole system freezes up and the siren starts going off outside. Putting the code in does nothing and there is no way to shut it up except to go up to the attic and unplug the battery. The control panel is still lit up and displays the normal text onscreen but it will not respond to anything. I'm assuming its the battery dying or something but why would it set off the siren outside...?

 

[Sparkyrbh]

I am obviously not an expert, but I would guess that it is a problem with the battery in your control Box and I would change it for the relatively low cost and particularly if it has been installed for over 5 years, its easy done.

I would summise that the reason the outside alarm goes off is that usually there is a smaller separate battery in your Bell Box. This will enable the bell box alarm to go off if someone has tried to cut the wires to it and has cut the mains supply to it (i.e Tamper protection). If in your case, the mains is off, and the main back-up battery has faded, then the Bell Box circuit will probably see that as a tamper scenario and the bell box battery will kick in and set off the outdoor alarm.

As I said ...just my supposition