I recently upgraded a ~20-year-old wired Accenta G3 alarm system to a Texecom Premier 24 system. The initiation of the project was a kitchen refurb which required the old G3 control panel to be removed. The system comprised: two panic buttons, a set of contacts on several upstairs bedroom windows and two zones of PIRs with 3 PIRS in each and a bell box on the outside of the house.
My objectives in the upgrade were (i) a modern keypad which supported fobs, and (ii) control of the alarm system via my phone – both of which have been achieved.
Before the project I googled “upgrade of Accenta G3” without much success and therefore these notes are created to assist others in a similar position. By placing them on this forum they should appear in the google searches as the forum was always near the top of my searches – and there are some very helpful people on it!
I took the decision to run with Texecom as (i) it supported a wired system which could be expanded with wireless components in the future; (ii) because of the SmartCom link which provides remote control; and (iii) it’s proximity keypads support fobs. I also took the decision to replace all the 20-year-old components so purchased new PIRS, window contacts, Bellbox, etc - in addition to the new control panel and keypad. My plan was to use the existing 6-core wiring which was in perfectly good condition. All components purchased were Texecom - mainly as part of a standard package.
The first thing I should say is that the Texecom is a professional system with a lot of options, expandability, etc. and (i) they don’t encourage DIYers with access to a lot of information restricted to registered installers; and (ii) I have used the system in a very simple way and not really addressed any advanced features or expandability, etc.
What this means is that the manual is very techie, makes assumptions about your knowledge and wastes no words. This later point is that everything in the 132-page manual means something and is there for a reason. You may not understand it but others do. The manual is not provided with the kit and needs to be downloaded. Be sure to download the most current up-to-date manual. I wasted some time with an out of date manual I found.
The contacts and panic buttons were a very simple straight replacement.
Snag 1: in some places the existing wires were not long enough and couldn’t be pulled through – this applied to some PIRs and the bellbox. After some experimentation I decided to use jelly crimp connectors (50 for ~£2.50) which worked well. I had initially tried Heat Shrink Butt Connectors (which are crimped but require a heat gun to shrink the surrounding plastic) but they are larger than you think and less flexible than the jelly connectors. Note: when commissioning almost all my issues were down to crimping faults so take very good care when crimping.
Wiring approach: The old G3 had been wired as a double pole system (see wiring diagram below) which has separate alarm and tamper circuits.
Note: Wires are typically daisy chained from the panel so at each PIR the alarm return wires (blue above) must be crimped/joined to each other to form a single continuous circuit back to the panel from the final PIR. The same for the tamper return.
This is not the modern way and it took me some time to get my head around the modern End of Line (EOL) wiring approach. See this thread for my summary of it: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-pir-eol-confirmation.556430/ and some helpful input from others.
In the end, as I had a working system with the double pole wiring with a single global tamper (for the PIRS) I decided not to re-wire with the EOL approach (as my above referenced post suggested I may do) although, if I had got my head around the EOL wiring sooner I would have taken this approach as there is less wiring, in my case less crimping and it’s simpler. My recommendation is to understand EOL and use it. Hopefully the above referenced thread will help.
This meant I did not use any of the inbuilt PIR resistors and simply programmed the PIRs as normally closed.
The Premier Elite control panel supports a single global tamper circuit. Therefore, it was necessary for me to join together the Zone 1 tamper return and the Zone 2 tamper out in the control panel (using a jelly crimp) to make a single continuous tamper circuit across all tamper controlled devices (the PIRs). The initial out and final return is wired into the Aux/Tamper on the control panel to give a single tamper alarm. Alternatively, if you have spare zones (the Premier Elite 24 comes with 8 zones as standard and is extendable) you could wire each zone’s tamper circuit as a separate zone (programmed as normally closed).
Note: take care when wiring the control panel. Initially, I couldn’t get the single global tamper zone described above to work. I eventually traced it to the tamper out wire somehow shorting across to the tamper return at the control panel. When I remade the connections at the control panel it all worked!
My final issue was with the belllbox: After wiring it with the correct terminals I got a bell tamper message on the RKP and a single (left) led flashing indicating an issue with the tamper circuit. The bell and strobe test would not work, and they didn’t work in an alarm condition! Initially I assumed it was a crimping issue (as I had to extend the bellbox wires). However, eventually I downloaded and read the bell manual and realised I hadn’t adjusted the tamper screw which meant the that the tamper pressure switch wasn’t closed. Once the tamper screw had been adjusted in accordance with the manual it all worked perfectly!
Onto to programming. I programmed via the RKP (Remote Key Pad). The first thing to do is get your head around the jargon. Once you understand some of the acronyms it is a lot easier.
My first issue was actually getting into the engineer’s programming menu. The manual fails to mention that you need to enter the engineer’s code twice. The first time gives you the errors messages and the second time gives you the engineer’s programming menu. This was explained to me on this thread: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-elite-24-commissioning-issues.556183/. Once in the programming was surprisingly easy. The key is to understand two critical things: (i) select ‘No’ to edit a value, and (ii) frequently the only way out of a menu is to press the ‘Menu’ button which steps you back. The manual does mention this but it’s in tiny writing!
Finally, I had a challenge getting the Omit or Part Arm to work. You can read about that and the solution i adopted on this thread: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-programming-omit-issue.556427/
However, the outcome is that I now have an updated, expandable, working alarm system which has fob control and can be controlled from my mobile. Happy days!
I hope the above notes are useful to someone.
My objectives in the upgrade were (i) a modern keypad which supported fobs, and (ii) control of the alarm system via my phone – both of which have been achieved.
Before the project I googled “upgrade of Accenta G3” without much success and therefore these notes are created to assist others in a similar position. By placing them on this forum they should appear in the google searches as the forum was always near the top of my searches – and there are some very helpful people on it!
I took the decision to run with Texecom as (i) it supported a wired system which could be expanded with wireless components in the future; (ii) because of the SmartCom link which provides remote control; and (iii) it’s proximity keypads support fobs. I also took the decision to replace all the 20-year-old components so purchased new PIRS, window contacts, Bellbox, etc - in addition to the new control panel and keypad. My plan was to use the existing 6-core wiring which was in perfectly good condition. All components purchased were Texecom - mainly as part of a standard package.
The first thing I should say is that the Texecom is a professional system with a lot of options, expandability, etc. and (i) they don’t encourage DIYers with access to a lot of information restricted to registered installers; and (ii) I have used the system in a very simple way and not really addressed any advanced features or expandability, etc.
What this means is that the manual is very techie, makes assumptions about your knowledge and wastes no words. This later point is that everything in the 132-page manual means something and is there for a reason. You may not understand it but others do. The manual is not provided with the kit and needs to be downloaded. Be sure to download the most current up-to-date manual. I wasted some time with an out of date manual I found.
The contacts and panic buttons were a very simple straight replacement.
Snag 1: in some places the existing wires were not long enough and couldn’t be pulled through – this applied to some PIRs and the bellbox. After some experimentation I decided to use jelly crimp connectors (50 for ~£2.50) which worked well. I had initially tried Heat Shrink Butt Connectors (which are crimped but require a heat gun to shrink the surrounding plastic) but they are larger than you think and less flexible than the jelly connectors. Note: when commissioning almost all my issues were down to crimping faults so take very good care when crimping.
Wiring approach: The old G3 had been wired as a double pole system (see wiring diagram below) which has separate alarm and tamper circuits.
Note: Wires are typically daisy chained from the panel so at each PIR the alarm return wires (blue above) must be crimped/joined to each other to form a single continuous circuit back to the panel from the final PIR. The same for the tamper return.
This is not the modern way and it took me some time to get my head around the modern End of Line (EOL) wiring approach. See this thread for my summary of it: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-pir-eol-confirmation.556430/ and some helpful input from others.
In the end, as I had a working system with the double pole wiring with a single global tamper (for the PIRS) I decided not to re-wire with the EOL approach (as my above referenced post suggested I may do) although, if I had got my head around the EOL wiring sooner I would have taken this approach as there is less wiring, in my case less crimping and it’s simpler. My recommendation is to understand EOL and use it. Hopefully the above referenced thread will help.
This meant I did not use any of the inbuilt PIR resistors and simply programmed the PIRs as normally closed.
The Premier Elite control panel supports a single global tamper circuit. Therefore, it was necessary for me to join together the Zone 1 tamper return and the Zone 2 tamper out in the control panel (using a jelly crimp) to make a single continuous tamper circuit across all tamper controlled devices (the PIRs). The initial out and final return is wired into the Aux/Tamper on the control panel to give a single tamper alarm. Alternatively, if you have spare zones (the Premier Elite 24 comes with 8 zones as standard and is extendable) you could wire each zone’s tamper circuit as a separate zone (programmed as normally closed).
Note: take care when wiring the control panel. Initially, I couldn’t get the single global tamper zone described above to work. I eventually traced it to the tamper out wire somehow shorting across to the tamper return at the control panel. When I remade the connections at the control panel it all worked!
My final issue was with the belllbox: After wiring it with the correct terminals I got a bell tamper message on the RKP and a single (left) led flashing indicating an issue with the tamper circuit. The bell and strobe test would not work, and they didn’t work in an alarm condition! Initially I assumed it was a crimping issue (as I had to extend the bellbox wires). However, eventually I downloaded and read the bell manual and realised I hadn’t adjusted the tamper screw which meant the that the tamper pressure switch wasn’t closed. Once the tamper screw had been adjusted in accordance with the manual it all worked perfectly!
Onto to programming. I programmed via the RKP (Remote Key Pad). The first thing to do is get your head around the jargon. Once you understand some of the acronyms it is a lot easier.
My first issue was actually getting into the engineer’s programming menu. The manual fails to mention that you need to enter the engineer’s code twice. The first time gives you the errors messages and the second time gives you the engineer’s programming menu. This was explained to me on this thread: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-elite-24-commissioning-issues.556183/. Once in the programming was surprisingly easy. The key is to understand two critical things: (i) select ‘No’ to edit a value, and (ii) frequently the only way out of a menu is to press the ‘Menu’ button which steps you back. The manual does mention this but it’s in tiny writing!
Finally, I had a challenge getting the Omit or Part Arm to work. You can read about that and the solution i adopted on this thread: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/texecom-programming-omit-issue.556427/
However, the outcome is that I now have an updated, expandable, working alarm system which has fob control and can be controlled from my mobile. Happy days!
I hope the above notes are useful to someone.
