Re: Quality Ademco Engineering

["Robert L Bass" <no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms>]

> Make that three complaints.  The fine
> engineering staff at Ademco still hasn't
> figured out a way to copy a program
> from an older panel type to a newer
> panel type...

It's the same with most manufacturers.
One reason is the newer panels may
have a totally different EEPROM map.
It's far easier to ensure that all fields
are correct if they require you to write
the replacement panel's program from
scratch.

I've been involved in software development
for alarm control panels.  With each model
there's a different EEPROM map.  In
laymen's terms, the programmer develops
a schema to fit data items where they belong
in the EEMPROM map, limit the values that
can be entered for each data point, compare
each value with related values, etc.

It's a fairly complicated task error checking
all data entered for one specific model.  To
make the data portable to newer version
releases is slightly more complex but doable.
Once you decide to go beyond that to making
an account file portable to entirely different
models things get much more complicated.
This is especially so if the newer model has
data points and options which didn't exist on
the previous model or (far worse) if it has
more stringent limits on certain data.  It can
be done but the software becomes significantly
more expensive to develop.  Given the
competitive nature of the marketplace, most
manufacturers are not inclined to increase
their costs when they can simply lay the
extra burden on installers.

> How to waste an entire day on what was
> supposed to be replacing a bad keypad.

Honeywell's (nee: Ademco's) Myweb Tech
website has documentation listing compatibility
of each keypad, panel and accessory.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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