Rob D

Any engineers work for ADT I'm looking for an answer to a technical question?

MrShades

On house alarms? If so, it doesn't take an "Engineer" - and probably not an "ADT Engineer" just someone that knows something about house alarms and there's probably plenty on here.

ADT just rebadge other systems, so fire away with your question....

Rob D

OK, looking to re plaster my porch walls and I need to remove the cable from the alarm keypad so i can feed this through the new plasterboard.
Can this be done live without screwing things up?

I have another keypad on the system if that makes any difference

MrShades

You could do it live... as there's only going to be 12V going to the RKP anyway. It'll just cause a bit of annoyance...

There'll be a few wires, including an anti-tamper - so when you remove the keypad - as long as the alarm isn't set - the tamper circuit will cause the internal sounder to fire (not the main alarm), which you can probably kill (for a while, if not permantently) by hitting 'cancel' or entering your alarm code on the other keypad. If not, you'll need to reconnect the RKP to the wires (or at least sort out the anti-tamper bits) in order to stop the internal sounder.

Ideally, what you should do, is place the system into "Engineer Mode" before you start doing anything - that way, irrespective of what happens, the tamper circuit won't cause anything to happen that'll cause annoyance. However, I'm guessing that you don't know your Engineer Mode password?

Just removing the rkp for a short while shouldn't cause any problems at all - and if you do it live, just be careful of not accidentally shorting wires.

Obviously, if you follow the advice above and end up frying yourself on the 240V going through YOUR rkp, it ain't my fault!

Shades

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

You also need to pray that your system isn't programmed for engineer reset. If it is you will not be able to reset it even after reconnecting the RKP, and it will show tamper fault until and engineer reset is done, plus you will get charged a call out fee and they will want to know why you have a tamper fault in the first place

pwhittle

That'll be the same ADT who recently condemned an ELECTRIC fire for giving off carbon monoxide?!!

Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole after that!

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

ADT = B*******

We were paying for a monitored system from them for a few years then decided that we didn't need monitoring.We cancelled the monitoring and as we owned the alarm decided to just use it as a siren deterant. ADT cancelled out monitoring OK but disabled the alarm in the process and refuse point blank to enable it again. Toe rags

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Surely they can't do that! if I was you I would try and get an install guide for your control panel, then factory reset it and reprogramme it yourself, they are not that hard to programme, saying that it does depend on what panel it is.

Rob D

Well I'm not that impressed with ADT so understand the comments above.

I've removed the cover off the alarm unit and keypad and can reset the tamper alarm by my user code so at least I can do that.
I have also found an installation manual for the system which is handy as it explains where everything connects to, the only thing it doesn't say is what will happen if I pull out a keypad live!

I wonder if I remove the mains and battery backup would the alarm unit return to its normal working state, i.e with codes and zone setups if I turned the power back on?

MrShades

^^^ Yeah, I'd remove all requirement for ADT as Wurzel said... Try and get a manual for your alarm, flatten it and start again! It's what I did, and not at all difficult.

MrShades

You run the risk of flattening it, and it returning to default 'unprogrammed' state if you do this. It'll have NO zones, NO nothing on it...

Whilst it'll solve some of your problems, without an Engineering Manual (that at least tells you the default Engineering password) that tells you how to reprogramme it you'll have effectively killed your alarm!

Don't do it without an Installation/Engineering manual that tells you how to reprogramme it!

Good luck...

LongTimeLurker

Disconnecting a battery + mains should not lose anything that's programmed into the panel. It does depend on the panel i guess but all those i've come across have been perfectly fine. The battery is there to maintain a live system in the event mains fails for whatever reason so it can still trigger afaik.

But sound advice if you don't have the eng manual for the system i would be very careful.

Johnny E

ADT use a lot of Galaxy control panels if so undo the keypad and unplug the terminal block when you have finished just plug it back on. Job done.

i8gtmf

Don't work for ADT but been in the security industry almost 20 years. Moving the keypad is very dependant on what system you have in. Most modern systems don't run tamper circuits to a keypad it's all done via data lines. A slip of a wire carrying 12v to a data line can fry a panel in some cases, leaving you unable to turn it off. You system will go into tamper when you chop through the cables which you'll need to do one by one, since your keypad is now in your hand you can't turn off the alarm untill you refix your keypad.
Powering the whole lot down will leave you with a wailing bell box for 20 minutes, all should return to normal once you power it all back up. Most modern systems are fitted with an nvm chip to retain, codes, programming etc

Rob D

The alarm is a Accord XPC system with Icon Remote Keypads.

I have an installation/engineering manual so know the ins and outs but don't have a engineering code, however a hour or so on the keypad I could find this out.

Would be nice and easy if I could remove the power but the installation manual doesn't give the necessary information on the main unit if this will store codes/zones.

Johnny E

Just down power it mate there will be an nvm chip which stores all the information, then power back up and just reset it with your user code.

Huxley

The best thing to do with anything belonging to that shower of crap