False Alarms and Strange behaviour

[jbarne41]

[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Hi[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Having spent the Money up grading to Comfort Ultra II in 2011 have had trouble free operation until a couple of weeks ago when I have started to get several false alarms and strange behaviour from Comfort.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]It started with multiple false alarms from my Lounge PIR, when dialling in to reset the alarm the menu was very slow to react anf was saying unexpected things. Once home I connected to to Comfort to re-load the config file and it stated File system 0 would download until I did a reset. [/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]This seemed to cure the problem for about a week and then got another false alarm from Lounge PIR, I then disabled the PIR from causing an alarm in Configurator and set it to PUSH a notification if it was triggered so i could monitor it.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]I then got False alarm from conservatory PIR, again when dialing in so silence it I had so strange/slow reactions. [/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]I have also had alarm trigger on exit, which cannot explain and have heard the odd beep from the keypad for no reason.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]It has been suggested that this might be a voltage problem caused by the voltage regulator being at fault. So far I have measured the Voltage from the Transformer which is 15.8 volts and the Feed to the PIRs which is 13.75 Volts.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]I would appreciate any advice on diagnosing this issue and comments on Voltage and where best to measure to find a problem. What other problems can cause these symptoms?[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Also if it is a regulator problem (Not happy as it is only 4 years since spending £700 upgrading) do you know the values of the capacitors that need changing so I can order them in advance to reduce downtime.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Having built my HA System around Comfort it becomes very difficult when you have issues.[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Thanks in Advance[/font]

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[font=\"Times New Roman\"]Joules[/font]

[slychiu]

What unexpected things did you hear when you dialed in?

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Once home I connected to to Comfort to re-load the config file and it stated File system 0 would download until I did a reset.

I am not sure what you mean by the above sentence. Where did you see file system 0?



It should not be a voltage regulator fault as you have measured he voltage on the 12V output. If the voltage regulator were faulty you should have a low battery warning after some time



Can you Read the event log and send it to support@cytech.biz
also send your cclx file  as well

[mrchrisbarnes]

What I experienced is the 12v voltage regulator goes high voltage which then puts too higher voltage to battery which in turn kills it & you get the low battery warning. I changed my regulator & this fixed the high output voltage I had nearly 15v. If I am correct you should get 13.8v at battery charge leads? The LM regulator on mine was a variable voltage type & the voltage is controlled by resistors to the regulator.
Your voltage is okay so I don\'t believe the regulator is at fault but potentially the smoothing capacitors could be? Small value capacitors have a tendency to go out of spec or fail especially in areas where power outages & surges occur regularly. Does anyone agree that the capacitors could be at fault? 9 out of 10 items I have break are always down to piddly value capacitor faults. I can\'t remember but I also assume there is a 5volt regulator on the board. Cytech, what do you believe the  cause potentially could be?

[slychiu]

Our capacitors in the power supply are not that small. However it is possible for any electronic component to be faulty, but we have had very few failures in the power supply area over the years except for lightning strikes
Do you have anothr power supply you can use to power the external PIRs etc for testing?

[jbarne41]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply

What happened is that after False Alarms I tried to re-download Config file, but got the Message something like File system 0 not valid, and would not download. Did a reset then it Downloaded ok and then it was ok for a couple of days.

Will PM you My config and Log Files and try to find another Power supply to test.

 

Many Thanks

 

Joules

[slychiu]

There seems to be nothing wrong with  the cclx file
The event log shows mstly alarms caused by the Lounge PIR
There could be a problem with the PIR eg perhaps insects taking refuge inside or it could be positioned so that there is a heat source which generates the alarms
PIR problems are more likely than power supply issues in my experience

You say that when you call in to check the menu is slow. This could be due to the fact that when Comfort detects any sound at a certain frequecny which may be due to busy tones and other call progress tones etc then it pauses to listen closely to determine if the caler has hung up. Try putting the handset on mute when you are doing it

[jbarne41]

Hi Chui,
 
I will change the Sensor tonight in case it is faulty. There are no heat sources that could cause false alarms and being in the lounge no insects. 
This PIR has been in place for nearly Six years without any problems.
After the false alarms I disabled the Lounge PIR  so in away mode it does not  trigger an alarm condition but sends me a Push Notification if 
Triggered. Which it hasn\'t done but the false alarms then started to be triggered by The conservatory PIR.instead.
 
I have also had strange things happen i.e . Occasional beep from Keypad,?  dialing in to answser doorbell  voice menu asked me to press  0 for door Station 95?
sometimes alarm is triggered on exit for no apparent reason.
Chris Barnes had random problems which were solved by changing capacitors, hence my thinking this could be a similiar issue.
 
Regards
 
Joules

[slychiu]

If you can do a good job with a soldering iron it may be worthwhile to try it