Pyronix Burglar alarm

A few months a go I started a query about Pyronix Burglar Alarms. Basically I was doing some work, disconnected the mains, but left the battery connected. It drained down ( quite quickly actually) and the beep indicating power supply loss went quiet. Forgetting that with such cheap crap, the charging circuits were probably not current limited I reconnected the mains to the circuit board and the drained battery but I couldn't get any life at the remote keypad. I assumed I had blown the board and proceeded to buy a new board which I duly connected to the dead Battery. Guess what.....yep exactly the same problem!

Advice from this site suggested a new battery was needed, which I duly bought and connected and everything was great for about 3 days, when again the keypad went dead.

AT this point it dawned on me that I had connected a potentially duff board (probably blown due to connecting to an old battery) to a new battery and that the battery had been supporting the system for two or three days. I checked as far as I could that I had a power supply, swapped the transformers, replaced fuses and tested. all O.K. except the battery which was completely drained and I could not recharge it no matter what I did.

So I bit the bullet, bought a new board and a new battery together. Put the new battery on charge to ensure it was fully topped up and then connected it all. I new mains power supply was good and so with life at the remote keypad I reprogrammed and presumed I had solved the problem.

Two days later, the keypad is dead again. The new battery is again completely U/S ...cannot recharge and I am scratching my head!

Any thoughts...the Pyronix helpline is useless...or do I have to admit defeat and get someone in?

Back to basics, remove all devices fron the PCB. Power up mains then battery and check all voltages.

Mains input
Mains PSB side
Input to tramsformer
Output from transformer

Get the drift, the answer is there somewhere.

Thanks Alarm.

Not sure if you wanted me to disconnect all the sensor circuits
Here's the score:-

Without the battery connected.

I have 240 v on primary side of TX, I have 19.4 v on the secondary. I have 19.4 V either side of the 2a AC Mains fuse on the board. All looks well.

however I have 0V (DC) on any of the outputs ( K+/K-, Aux+/Aux-,spk+/spk-) and there is 0v on the bat+/bat- terminals, suggesting that the Mains circuit is U/S again!??

With Battery Connected:-

I have managed to salvage the battery which on no load has about 12.6V across the terminals. Connected I have just over 12.6 V at the terminals on the board and 12.6V either side of the 2A Battery Fuse. So again this looks o.k

I have 11.7v on the K+/K- supply to the key pad, and at the Aux+/Aux- terminals, but 0 v on the spk+spk- terminals.

When I connect the battery, the speaker beeps with regular monotony indicating that there has been a power failure. (its not telling lies!).

It looks pretty conclusive that the mains circuit has gone again, but I could do with knowing why. Is there a special procedure for reconnecting? Do you have to connect the battery first or something or remove fuses somewhere, although I can't see why this should be. This is the third board that has gone in this way!

Does the attached shed any light?

I've always found them to be pretty bullet proof but the processor can get its knickers in a twist. Have you tried a full reboot to factory settings?

Have to agree, down power again, check and test all fuses and power up doing a full reboot.

O.K , Thanks both, I'll give it a go. Full power down and reset. Fingers crossed!

O.K guys, I disconnected mains and battery, shorted out the NVM reset, as per the instruction guide, reapplied mains and waited.

As there is no power to the keypad when the battery is disconnected, I cannot tell/know when the re-boot is complete.

With the NVM pins shorted, Mains connected and battery disconnected, and having checked all the fuses again, I am getting voltage at all fuses, except the 2A battery fuse and No voltage on any of the outputs ( keypad +/-, Aux +/- and spk+/-).

having left the unit for a couple of minutes in the above state, I removed the short on the NVM reset and re-connected the battery.

Voltages have appeared on the outputs again, when I disconnect the battery again though, all voltages disappear.

Surely, the battery should only be there for back up?, in that there should be voltage at each output and the keypad should be live, with the battery removed and the mains on?

How can I tell if the battery is charging?

It should run quite happily without the battery. Sounds like it's stuffed.

Not totally au fait with this puppy, some will not show a votlage at better leads unless the battery is actually connected. someone will know better i`m sure.
You should however get voltages elsewhere. Ignore the speaker thats only active in alarm / fault/ setting conditions.
There should be power to the keypad.
Have you metered all fuses, taken out of the panel. Also important to test out of the holders.

Otherwise bin it get something newer that does a hell of a lot more.
Sorry

Sparkyrbh said:

O.K guys, I disconnected mains and battery, shorted out the NVM reset, as per the instruction guide, reapplied mains and waited.

Click to expand...

You are supposed to short the pins, fully power up, mains / battery then REMOVE the short on the pins.

Do not wait a couple of minutes.

How are you checking the fuses, looking at them does not do it.


"How can I tell if the battery is charging?"

You do have a meter and know how to use it?

I have 19.4 V either side of the 2a AC Mains fuse on the board

Click to expand...

is this with your meter lead on each side of the fuse ? Ie red lead on one side and black on the other side if yes then the fuse is blown.
put your meter on to 20v dc then with the mains on only test across each fuse there should be no voltage if there is then that fuse is blown. if you have already done this test then sorr for wasting your time .

Grahame

O.k to be clear I have checked the fuses out of the holders and on the board.

the fuses test out O.K. they are not blown.

I checked for voltages on the board with them in also. i.e checked voltage either side back to -ve, NOT black on one and red on the other.

I followed the exact instructions for rebooting as in the manual. but no joy and i followed europlexes slightly different approach and that has not improved the situation.

Any last suggestions before I bin it? I am sure there is something blindingly obvious here. How wrong can I have gone?

Sparkyrbh said:

I followed the exact instructions for rebooting as in the manual. but no joy and i followed europlexes slightly different approach and that has not improved the situation.

Click to expand...

Well, it's not my 'slightly different approach', those instructions are from the manual.

O.k Thanks Europlex. Do you have any other helpful suggestions?

Those voltage readings you gave are all a bit low so I guess you'd have to be looking at the voltage regulator. What reading are coming out of it? Have you disconnected everything so it's like it was out of the box?