Honeywell Galaxy Flex 20 flashing stars

[YQUSTA]

Hi,

I have installed a Flex CP and have tried to start it up to begin programming but came across a problem.

Originally I had a wire from the RS485 to the RF module then a wire from the RF to a KP
I used red for +, black for -, white for A and yellow for B on all connections.

I left the jumper on the panel for the 680ohm and added a 680ohm resistor to the KP across A & B.

I powered up the system and the external sounder was heard for a few seconds then stopped and the KP sounded until a button was pressed.

The display on the KP was all flashing stars, which reading other posts would suggest a bad comms link (A&B)

I removed the KP resistor reset the system and the same happened. removed the jumper on the CP still the same.

So thinking it was a bad wire I moved the KP into the loft on a short cable and removed the RF module connecting the KP direct to the CP.

I still get the same flashing stars when I power up the system no matter what I try with the 680ohm resistors.

I am now totally baffled so any help would be great.

 

[GalaxyGuy]

How long are you waiting for? The Flex takes a bit of time to boot.
What is the onboard LED doing during boot ?
What address do you have the keypad set to ?

 

[YQUSTA]

Hi galaxyguy, I have waited about 5 minutes whilst I was trying to get it to work.

The red led was flashing I believe but would need to double check that to be sure.

I have the keypad set to number 2 as its address.

 

[GalaxyGuy]

Just to confirm that you are connected to the right hand connector and not the IB bus?

 

[YQUSTA]

yes I can confirm that i am connecting to the RS485 on the right hand side of the board

 

[GalaxyGuy]

It sounds like either the panel or keypad is faulty. You need to determine if the keypad is good and if so, return the panel to the supplier.

 

[YQUSTA]

A small update, I now have a working KP, I cannot tell you how this was fixed because I did nothing to fix it but it seams leaving it over night and powering up the system has now fixed it.

what I did find out that I thought I would share is that you can test the voltage across A + B at the KP to see if every thing is working.

the voltage should be somewhere between 1 and 3 volts, it should also fuctuate and not be a stable voltage.

If the voltage is stable something is wrong.

when I powered up my system yesterday I tried the above and was getting a tad over 3 volts Stable, so as mentioned by Galaxyguy thought my KP was knackered.

as I have a second one I went to go get it, as i got half way out of the loft hatch I heard some beeps that I had not heard before so went back to check and hey presto the KP is displaying the correct messages.

Tested the voltage again and it did indeed fluctuate.

Thanks to Galaxyguy for all the help and I hope this post will help someone else in the future.

 

[GalaxyGuy]

Hmm, I know you probably don't want to, but it's probably a good idea to check the reliability of your setup by powering everything off and powering on to ensure the panel is coming online as it should. It may be that the panel flash chip is problematic and the firmware went into a reboot cycle previously and eventually managed a boot. With an alarm, you want to make sure that the setup is reliable 365x24x7.

When measuring the voltages, you are measuring the differential data pair. If there is no data traffic, this would certainly look like no voltage. Unlike the older Galaxy panels, the Flex boots a more generic real time operating system and the bring-up of the RS485 bus is much later in the boot process than the older panels.

The one thing installers need to be aware of is that the devices are enumerated onto the bus, they cannot just be added in and out. The enumeration process is by power on, exiting engineering mode and in the case of the Flex, by force scanning in diagnostic menu. Manual device address changes also do not change if they are powered when the change is made. Ie. If you change a keypad address, then you must power cycle the keypad, then re-enumerate the device on the bus using one of the methods mentioned.

 

[YQUSTA]

Thats great info and I will do a full power down test once it is all setup and working to make sure it is all still working and keeping its memory.

I did do a power down when I moved the keypad back down from the loft to its original location.

Thanks again for all the help Galaxyguy