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Doorpad key stuck
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 Posted: Thursday Jan 4th, 2007 09:33 am
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lms
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Comfort G2 Week/5.054, 1 x KP03, 1 x KP04, 1 x DP03, Comfigurator 2.1.2(beta), various UCMs/RIOs/X10/etc.

Did some minor changes in Comfigurator and downloaded. After the reset, the KPs beeped and "communication failure keypad 1" was reported on the KP04 display. Could find no problems, reset Comfort numerous times, downloaded the previous CCL and others, recycled power completely, and so on, to no avail. Then I noticed that announcements were being made on the doorpad so anyone could hear when the system is armed/disarmed/zones bypassed/etc., despite the option being turned off in Comfigurator. Downloaded a new CCL with 2 KP's & no DP's setup -  DP still broadcasted everything - had visions of burglars waiting for "Security off" to make their entrance! (I also have hourly time announcements to help me keep track of time so was wondering if passers-by thought that this was a new neighbourhood service!:D

Was about to disconnect voice to the DP when I noticed that the key on the DP was depressed slightly on one side - touched it and all the problems went away. And yes, if one depresses it off centre this can be repeated. But a spare DP doesn't exhibit this stuck key problem, so probably not a Comfort problem, although the spare one hasn't been exposed to the elements. Will have to open the installed one to see what I can find out.

But strangely, the comms problem only occurred on downloading a new CCL, not after the key was pressed by the last visitor (as far as I know, at least 6 or 7 hours earlier). And why would it report comms failure on "keypad 1"? I think there's no "key stuck" :cool: in the vocab, but is communication failure the correct/logical problem to report? If so, then at least it should say doorpad 1 and not keypad 1??

Not a serious problem, now that I'm aware of it, but it would be interesting to hear an explanation for this behaviour. And perhaps a new version of Comfort could detect non-release of the key and turn off voice/mic till the key is released/pressed again?

This is the second time that this has happened. I don't remember the finer details of the previous occurrence, but it was immediately after I installed Comfigurator 2.1.2(beta). I was about to re-install 2.1.0 when the problem suddenly disappeared. Perhaps some vibration caused the key to release but I can't be absolutely sure that this was the same cause.



 Posted: Thursday Jan 4th, 2007 12:24 pm
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Ian Clarke
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Hello,  if Comfort II is like Comfort I then this can be explained as follows.

It the doorphone button is held down when the system is rebooted  ( as in a full download and reboot cycle )  the door station thinks that it is a keypad.  Thus you end up with two keypads at address 1 and a comms failure.  Plus you will get kepad announcements happening on the door station,  all very confusing.  How did we discover this.  On an install we installed the door station behind an existing intercom grill at the front gate and wired in an external normally open ( we thought ) bell press and connected it to the door station across the normal bell press button contacts.

Unfortunatley the bell press was a latching contact.  Press one to close,  press again to open. So the problem we got happened each alternate door bell press and reboot sequence.  And you thought your problems were hard to diagnose? 

Regards Ian Clarke

  

 



 Posted: Thursday Jan 4th, 2007 01:17 pm
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slychiu
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Ian's analysis is correct
The doorbell button depressed at reset causes it to behave as a keypad



 Posted: Thursday Jan 4th, 2007 05:55 pm
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lms
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Thanks Ian & Chiu for your replies.

Now that you mention this, I seem to recall having read this somewhere - must be getting old!!

Must have been a real headache to diagnose initially if you didn't know about the keypress! And I thought the only thing you Aussies could do is play cricket!:cool:

Is there a specific reason for this behaviour? (That is, Comfort's behaviour, not my loss of memory behaviour, for which I know the reason!)

Regards,
Leon



 Posted: Friday Jan 5th, 2007 02:59 pm
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slychiu
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The technical reason is that the keypad and door station firmware is the same. It knows whether it is a keypad or doorstation by the position of the doorbell button at reset. A keypad should  have the doorbell "button" activated at reset, and a door station the opposite




 Posted: Saturday Jan 6th, 2007 07:58 am
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lms
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Thanks for the explanation, Chiu. Makes sense now, but still wonder whether a future mod to this behaviour may make the system more "fool-proof"!

Leon



 Posted: Saturday Jan 6th, 2007 08:02 am
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slychiu
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Anything is possible in the future :)

But this is not something that has been much of a problem so there are othr priorities



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