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Thread: New house, need to reconfigure zone

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    Default New house, need to reconfigure zone

    Hi I have a DAS nx-4 and I need help figuring what zone is what.
    there are
    1 key fob receiver - connected to 2x roller doors
    4 PIRs
    3 keypads
    2 smoke alarms

    so far I worked out
    zone 1 2 and 6 is pir, 1x pir not detected?
    zone 3 and 5 apparently is D/T what's DT? (written behind keypad)
    zone 5 and 8 rapidly flashes
    when I configured them to be key switches (group 30) 5 stopped flashing but 8 continues
    there is a 3.74k and a 6.97k ohm resister in zone 3
    no labels on any wire.

    there is 1 wireless pir but I don't think it's part of the system as I haven't found any wireless receiver.
    Also I don't think nx-4 has wireless expansion.
    the board looks like this
    thanks in advance.



Look Here ->
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    Try doing *7 and that may reset the rapid flashing zones.
    D/T probably means Dual Tech PIR.
    Zone 3 with resistors is also zone 7 so they are spare zones or have wireless sensors.

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    Thank secure,
    you are right, I did some search turns out zone 5 is a rokonet dt pet friendly pir.
    Do they need special settings?
    I did do *7 but it didn't help

    I found 1 wireless PIR but it looks like
    didn't see any wireless expansion though, unless it connects to the S1890A?

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    DT don't need any special settings in alarm programming. They do have adjustment settings in the sensor.

    Hills wireless pir's will look different to you image. Maybe it was left from an old system.
    Wireless sensors don't connect to the S1890A. Only remotes.

    Maybe Zone 8 is the siren box tamper.

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    I did further tracing and found zone 4 and 8 were smoke alarm.
    still not sure why 3 and 7 are reserved.
    Perhaps the DT PIR is faulty
    I'm going to purchase a pair of key fobs for the s1890a, as it's linked to front and back garage door.
    I haven't found any config/module# for them. They don't need config do they?

    zone 1 PIR hall
    zone 2 PIR
    zone 3
    zone 4 FIRE lounge
    zone 5 DT Boat Shed
    zone 6 PIR Lounge
    zone 7
    zone 8 FIRE front

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    The fact that zones 3&7 are terminated suggests (but not necessarily the case) that they are configured in the programming, just waiting for extra detectors to be added. Consider them as spares for future additions. It was the practice by some installers to wire burglary zones starting at zone 1, and to set up smoke zones starting from the other end. That would have left 7 & 8 as your smoke zones, but it looks like your installer started along that track, then decided to keep the smoke detectors together based on which screw terminal they connected to... I can't see the logic of that particular zone assignment but it doesn't really matter.

    Remember that with any panel that uses "zone doubling" two logical zones connect to one physical zone input. In the case of an NX4 that means zones 1&5, 2&6, 3&7 and 4&8 share the same input terminal, and alarms from each zone in the pair are distinguished by the different end of line resistors in each detector.

    As an aside, and from memory (now fading) the true NX4 (early versions) did not support zone doubling without requiring "extra stuff".
    Quoting from the NX4 manual:

    Zone Doubling (Requires additional devices)

    Zone doubling can only be enabled when at least one other device is added to the basic system (consisting
    of the main control panel and one keypad). Additional devices can include wireless receivers, extra keypads,
    etc. If enabled, this feature allows you to use the four zones on the panel as eight normally closed zones.
    When this feature is used, European double E.O.L. configuration cannot be used. THIS FEATURE DOES
    NOT INCREASE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF AVAILABLE ZONES BEYOND 8. If one of the eight zones must
    be a fire zone, it must be one of Zones 1 - 4. The corresponding upper zone will become unavailable. For
    example, if Zone 4 is a fire zone, then Zone 8 will not be available.


    There was no keyswitch zone option either. A custom (Chubbified) version, badged as the Secure 6000 by Chubb, did support zone doubling. At some stage DAS released the NX8 to all installers, which was an NX4 with zone doubling, and that allowed keyswitch zones, expanding the zone types from 20 to 30. There may have been some transitional releases that were effectively NX8 but still labelled NX4.

    In your photo each of the used zones has two wires on it. That implies each has two wired detectors connected, and that too is consistnt with your described sector list. It also implies there are no radio zones in use (either that or the receiver is located elsewhere and the radio zones are mapped onto the hardwired zones - very bad practice and almost certainly not the case). Any radio device you found likely belongs to the dearly departed FAI system shown in one of your pix, and is not part of the NX4.

    How many codepads do you have? There are 4 data wires suggesting 4 codepads. Certainly possible but a bit unusual for a small system.

    I don't see any wiring for a siren tamper switch. I imagine there is an outside siren in a cover somewhere, and so sporting a siren tamper switch, but maybe the installer opted for a concealed outside siren, not in a box, which might explain the lack of a tamper switch. Just make sure any outside siren tamper is NOT wired in series with the internal case tamper. The socket on the board for the case tamper does not have EM filtering to cope with the electrical noise that can be picked up by the usually much longer runs of cable that go to the zone inputs. Besides, the case tamper circuit is not protected by an end of line resistor.

    It is also likely that the two smoke detectors are configured as burglary zones, or as 24 hour zones, ie as normally closed zones and not as fire zones. That is a good thing, as smoke zones are preconfigured as normally open, and go short in alarm - the opposite of burg zones. If they were designated that way you could not tell if it were zone 4 or zone 8 that had alarmed, as the short from one detector cannot be distinguished from a short from the other.

    Your alarm is connected to a phone line, ie probably monitored. Consider setting your smoke detectors as day warning zones. That way they will sound the codepads (as well as the inbuilt piezo alam in the detector itself) but NOT trigger a control room alarm when the alarm is disarmed, ie you are at home. They will however report when it is armed. The last thing you want when burning the toast is to have to race between dealing with the cooking, shutting down the main sirens AND calling off the control room! The inbuilt and codepad sounders should be warning enough for a real fire when you are home.

    I know key fobs are convenient, but I always told clients relying on them was a bit like buying a car without a nasty confusing instrument panel. Who needs a speedo and fuel gauge and oil pressure indicator anyway? To me, driving an alarm without the benefit of all the information that the codepad gives you seems like that. If you use the siren chirps to indicate on or off status then you need an outside siren and we're back to "where is it?" and you are also telling all your neighbours when you are in and when you are out. At 02:00am that's not so friendly. If you don't use siren chirps then you are keeping yourself clueless as to whether the alarm has received the arm or disarm signal, and you are trusting to luck. It's definitely personal preference, but radio remote arming does have downsides as well as advantages.

    Why do you think the DT is faulty? You can easily test it by having someone stand by a codepad and another walk check the DT. With the number of codepads you seem to have there, it is likely there is one in the boat shed, near the dualtech, and it may just be a one person test.

    Remember that if it's a DAS dualtech then it has 3 colours of indicator. Green, yellow and red. It is only when it goes red that an alarm is sent. The other colours represent an alarm on the microwave and an alarm on the PIR sections. Only when both simultaneously are in alarm does the alarm relay open (and the indicator go red).

    You mention a radio key fob receiver - connected to 2 roller doors..... Sure it is not a transmitter - and for opening/closing the rollers? In that case it is not part of the alarm.

    A zone type 30 (keyswitch zone) is for converting that zone to be an arm/disarm control. If you leave them like that every time you walk in front of the associated detector the system will arm or disarm!! Not good. The fast flashing zone 8 likely means that smoke detector in alarm. Smokes do not self reset - they need to have power removed for a moment, hence *7 which does that. If it doesn't reset then somehow there is still a short on that line.

    If you do go down the fob path you will need the fob receiver as well, which wires into the keypad terminals.

    NX was a good system, as was its predecessor the DL series. Sorry for the size of this post - your questions brought back memories.
    Last edited by PAFMelb; 16-07-20 at 04:33 AM. Reason: noticed additiona info in OP

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