texecom odyssey external sounder refuses to sound

[tseeley]

Today I replaced a Texecom Veritas R8 control panel (and RKP) with a new Texecom Veritas Excel system.

The old system had a dead battery and as a result we had never actually set it, so I don't know if it has ever worked.

At the start of the operation I climbed a ladder, opened the bell box and unplugged its battery. The external sounder did its thing (very loudly) when I opened the bell box (triggering the tamper switch) until I figured out how to disconnect its battery.

So we know the external sounder /can/ make a sound.

Having labelled all the existing connections on the panel and keypad, disconnected and wired in the new system I connected the battery in the panel, and both it and the external sounder made a bunch of noise. The noise made by the external sounder stopped after a short period (some seconds).

I put the cover back on the panel and re-connected the battery on the external sounder and re-attached the lid (closing its tamper). I then reconnected the mains.

The external sounder (a Texecom odyssey of some type) /looks/ happy. It is busy flashing its 2 LED's (slowly) which apparently indicates its not in any "hold-off" state, and if it were in Tamper (and not hold-off) surely the alarm would be sounding?

Unfortunately if I ask the Keypad to test the external sounder nothing happens, ditto if I ask it to test the strobe. Equally if I set the alarm and then trigger it, only the internal sounder makes a fuss.

Can anyone provide any possible explanations? The only thing I can think of is that the Bell and Strobe signal wires a broken, but given they're part of the same 6 core cable as the +12v and 0v which seem to be working fine, that seems unlikely does it not?

One slightly niggle is that the old system still had a short between the Tamper connection and 0v on the control panel's connection to the external sounder. I replicated this connection when I replaced the R8 with the veritas. It seems to me that it should not be necessary; but if I remove it the Panel indicates a Tamper state. To my mind this implies a tamper state on the external sounder, but then I know from personal (and very loud) experience that the sounder alarms on tamper and it isn't doing so at the moment.

Can anyone shed some light? perhaps some things to try?

Thanks,

T.

 

[scott1980]

It does sound like a cable issue, especially as the bell tamper was disconnected on the old panel. It's not unheard of to have several cores of a cable go down with some remaining intact; a mis-fired staple during installation can cause unseen damage.

If I were you, I would remove the sounder, install on a short length of 6 core directly to the panel and check you have full functionality including the tamper circuit. If so, it's new cable time.

 

[sparkymarka]

First thing to try , remove bell trip wire in panel and touch it onto 0volts in the panel eg aux , battery , bell 0v ....does it ring ? If so it may be a programming issue

 

[Lectrician]

Disconnect the cable both ends, short all cores together, use a multimeter the other end to test for continuity between cores.