Not able to phone in when alarm has been triggered

[gmcorrea]

Hi, there! Can anyone help me understand why I cannot log into Comfort over the phone when an alarm is triggered?

* When Comfort calls my cellphone to announce an intruder alarm & the zone, if I try to log in with *code# it says \"wrong code\"...
* When I phone Comfort while in the alarm state and try to login using code# it also says \"wrong code\"...
* When I phone Comfort while in a normal state (Security On or Off) I can login using code# without any problem.

Any idea?!
Thanks a lot!

[slychiu]

Do you have a 12V 7 AH standby battery connected to Comfort? I suspect that during an alarm, the siren may be taking too much current and you may have no battery or a weak battery which is unable to supply enough current for normmal operation of the DTMF detection.

Also is yours a Comfort I or II and what is the firmware version?

[gmcorrea]

Hi, Slychiu, thanks for your reply.
Yes, I do have a 12V 7AH battery connected to Comfort II, with PCB PC01-050B and firmware ULT 5.164.
I thought that the problem could be with the siren too, although when Comfort calls me to announce an intruder alarm, I can still press 1 to repeat the message, but cannot log in using *code#

[slychiu]

Certain keys like 1 may be detected. I suspect one of the keys on your code is missed when the alarm goes off.  Perhaps your battery is now weak. How long  have you been having this problem, were you able to sign in during an alarm in the begining when the system was first installed?

You can also update the current set  Tuning Parameters as 5.164 may have come with an older set which was not so optimised

Use Comfigurator 3.2.4 for this You can download this from https://www.cytech.biz/comfigurator.html

Do File > Import. Select the default template def34.cctx in the config folder in Comfigurator. Look for Files of Type Comfort II template .cctx

Next a window will open for you to select the items to Import. Check the box for Tuning Parameters, as sown below

The correct set of tuning parameters may give the DTMF more sensitivity. If there is still a problem we can show you how to adjust the DTMF senstivity in Tuning Parameters

[gmcorrea]

Thanks, Chiu; I am quite sure it was working before: the installation is 18 months old and only last December I noticed this problem. Will try to upload the tuning parameters.
I have been using Comfigurator 2.2.2 until now; is it enough to just install 3.2.4 over it and use the same old config files? Or are there other things I need to be aware of?
Thanks again!

[slychiu]

You can install and run Comfigurator 3 alongside Comfigurator 2. You should always use Comfigurator 3 not Comfigurator 2 with Comfort II
You can open your old ccl file in Comfigurator 3. There is a topic on this subject at  http://www.comfortforums.com/forum92/2122.html

[gmcorrea]

Ok, downloaded & installed the latest Comfigurator version, saved my old .ccl file as a .cclx file, updated the tuning parameters (I checked and the parameters did change) and downloaded into Comfort. But the problem is still there: cannot login when Comfort has an intruder alarm triggered, only when security is off. I\'ve disconnected the siren and managed to login while in an alarm state, so the problem is definitely when the siren is active. How can I check if my battery is too weak? Comfort doesn\'t seem to be charging it (no charging lights on in the PCB) so I guess it should be fully charged?!

[slychiu]

This may be due to a marginal DTMF sensitivity issue which manifests when the siren is sounding
Go to Configuration > Tuning Parameters. Look for index 45 (DTMF Sensitivity) default value is 18. This number is the sensitivity of DTMF detection and lower numbers are more senstive
Try changing the number lower say by 2 steps write selective to Comfort and try again

Telephone lines have different attenuation for DTMF signals so this adjustment sometimes is necessary

[gmcorrea]

Ok, I\'ve gone down until 1, and still no luck: same problem...
With the siren unplugged all is fine. Is the battery the suspect now?!

[slychiu]

When the alarm goes off and the system is dialing to your mobile phone, are you also in the house? The siren sounds if too loud may be affecting the DTMF tones as DTMF is also a sound