Battery Warning problem

[lms]

Help!!!

System config:
Comfort I Ultra
Action 4.227
Three SEM01\'s (2 with firmware 4.177 & one 4.178)
Four LEM01s
Four UCM\'s (IR 5.63, ETH 5.79, GSM 5.68, CWM 5.70)

Comfigurator 2.1.0

Battery Warning 35 is reported on sign-in and after system reset (Event log shows Low Battery #Slave 3).

CPU and each SEM has its own power supply/battery. Have replaced slave 3\'s battery, swopped it with slave 2\'s battery, checked the battery voltage - according to my meter it drops from approx 13.84 to 13.78V in about 3 minutes with the AC power disconnected.

Slave addresses are correct. Comfigurator is set for 3 slaves.

Have also tried to set Battery Test Interval and Battery Test Duration to 0.

KA/KB is wired from CPU to slave 1 (approx 15 metres), from CPU to slave 2 (approx 20 metres), and from slave 1 to slave 3 (approx 30 metres). COM is commoned between the CPU and the 3 slaves. All cabling is STP.

Have been running slaves 1 & 2 for some time and have recently added slave 3.

Interestingly, and I don\'t know if this has anything to do with the problem - when slave 3 is added, the \"Security off\" announcement after system reset gets shortened to \"curity off\". Remove slave 3 and we have \"Security off\" again!

Slave #3 has formware 4.178 and the others have 4.177.

Access to the slaves is a little difficult, so, before I swap around two slaves to see where the problem goes, does anyone have some advice on what else to try?

Thanks,
Leon
--
Leon Schutte (leons@opentech.co.za), Cell +27 82 780-8872
OpenTech, Tel +27 31 467-2983, Fax +27 31 467-1116

[ident]

If the low battery report only happens at system reset and sign in, I suspect that you have a short connected to one of the outputs or the siren.
Try disconnecting all the outputs and siren, strobe etc and reset the sysem

Is the battery warning followed by a Restore or does it remain as Battery warning?

If you do a Battery test F3,1, does the slave report Bbattery warning?

[lms]

Thanks for your reply and apologies for not including this info in my first post...

The low battery report indeed only happens at system reset and sign in but is NOT followed by a restore - the Off/AC LEDs on the keypads flash continuously and the 24 beeps sound after a reset. F3,1 does NOT report a battery warning.

Outputs (including siren/strobe/speaker) have not yet been connected and all inputs  and the LEM01 have been temporarily disconnected leaving only KA/KB.

Interestingly, once out of many many resets, after reset with F7,4,2, the battery warning did not occur. But my excitement was short-lived as the problem re-occurred at the next reset (and absolutely nothing was changed between these two resets).

Have now swapped slaves 2 and 3 and the problem has gone with the physical board. Not sure whether U3 has anything to do with the outputs, but have swapped this as well - still no difference. Have measured voltages on the outputs with nothing connected to them - they range from 0.9V to 2.4V - seems a somewhat large variance to me, but this is similar to another slave which is not exhibiting problems.

It would be interesting to find out why/how you arrived at the suspicion of an output short - just experience or some logical process?

[ident]

There is probably a fault in the slave in the circuit which determines the threshold of low battery warning.
I suspected outputs or siren short because that would short the battery and cause a problem
You cannot measure outputs without anyting conected. They are open collector outputs which means they are flowting when off. Connect a resistor to the centre 12V pin in you want to measure them