I have a wired alarm system (Ademco Vista-15P) that we inherited from the previous homeowner. We have been using it in standalone mode (i.e., no monitoring) for 2 years without issue. Last night, we were woken in the middle of the night by the alarm sounding the siren. I was a bit panicked, and in a rush to figure out if the house had actually been broken into or if this was a false alarm so I didn't actually notice what zone was being reported on the keypad. I wasn't able to disarm the system because the keypads would freeze after 4 key presses (i.e., i would put in my 4-digit code and would hear a beep on each key press, but then no sound was made when I pressed the OFF button...and then no further key presses made any beeping sound). The siren continued to sound so I disconnected the AC power and the battery.
Since then I powered up the system (AC only) and tried disarming it from different keypads. The same behaviour happened -- unable to disarm and keypads would freeze. I tried different user codes and my master code -- always the same result.
On each power up the keypad displays the "dl" code for a minute or so and then shows "ALARM 107" and then cycles thru "CHECK xx" where xx is each of my zone numbers one at a time. After the initial minute or so passes the system goes back into an alarm state and sounds the alarm siren again. I disconnected the sounder from power to troubleshoot without having it blaring at me.
I tried using the star(*) and hash(#) button method immediately (within 50 seconds) after powering up to enter programming mode but it does not enter programming mode. I also tried having my wife hold down the * and # buttons while I restored the AC power but that didn't work either.
The keypads do respond to the 1+3 buttons to set the keypad address so it looks like the keypads are fine.
I think the "ALARM 107" code is reference to the extender module (4219) so I unplugged it from the main panel but that didn't change any behaviour.
None of our other electronics in the house appeared to have been reset last night so I don't think there was a power outage... maybe a brief power bump -- not sure.
I am not sure where to go from here. I am not sure if the main panel is dead or if the extender module is dead or both. Given that I can't use the backdoor method to get into programming mode I wonder if I should even attempt to use the factory reset command.
Anyone see anything like this before? I've seen one similar thread but that person seemed to be able to use the backdoor method to enter programming mode.
Since then I powered up the system (AC only) and tried disarming it from different keypads. The same behaviour happened -- unable to disarm and keypads would freeze. I tried different user codes and my master code -- always the same result.
On each power up the keypad displays the "dl" code for a minute or so and then shows "ALARM 107" and then cycles thru "CHECK xx" where xx is each of my zone numbers one at a time. After the initial minute or so passes the system goes back into an alarm state and sounds the alarm siren again. I disconnected the sounder from power to troubleshoot without having it blaring at me.
I tried using the star(*) and hash(#) button method immediately (within 50 seconds) after powering up to enter programming mode but it does not enter programming mode. I also tried having my wife hold down the * and # buttons while I restored the AC power but that didn't work either.
The keypads do respond to the 1+3 buttons to set the keypad address so it looks like the keypads are fine.
I think the "ALARM 107" code is reference to the extender module (4219) so I unplugged it from the main panel but that didn't change any behaviour.
None of our other electronics in the house appeared to have been reset last night so I don't think there was a power outage... maybe a brief power bump -- not sure.
I am not sure where to go from here. I am not sure if the main panel is dead or if the extender module is dead or both. Given that I can't use the backdoor method to get into programming mode I wonder if I should even attempt to use the factory reset command.
Anyone see anything like this before? I've seen one similar thread but that person seemed to be able to use the backdoor method to enter programming mode.