Re: Quality Ademco Engineering

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

>> As to coping an attitude, well when you
>> see erroneous information posted about
>> your company (Nomen's post that we do
>> not notify folks about compatibility) well
>> it just flipped a switch.
>
> What I said was accurate.
>
> Go to MyWebTech and type 4140XMPT2
> into the search box.  Then click on Keypads
> to get a list of compatible keypads.  You
> will find the 6160 listed as compatible.  It
> isn't.  It doesn't work with address 00 or 01.
> The 6160 instructions don't mention the
> problem either.

The information is there.  Each of the
compatible devices is a clickable link.
Here's what you get when you click on
6160.

"Newer models of this keypad, as of 2004,
may not be compatible. They will give the
correct status display, but will not send
commands to the panel. If replacing or
adding a new keypad, use a different model
keypad that is compatible, or it may be an
option to upgrade the control. 2-line alpha
keypad that must be assigned to an address
in *93 device programming."

I think you owe the gentleman an apology.

> I think it's pretty stupid to build a keypad
> to replace the 6139, and not make it
> emulate a 6139.

Apparently either it was decided not to
continue supporting the 4140XMPT2 or
upon discovering the issue they decided
not to fix it.  It's not as though the
4140XMPT2 is a big seller.

> I don't expect perfection, but I at least expect
> some sort of attempt to inform customers of
> compatibility issues.  Otherwise those of us
> in the field waste time and money screwing
> around with problems that are not our fault...

I found the compatibility issue explained with
a single mouse click.

> And as Jim said earlier, Ademco manuals
> are poor quality...

That's an industry-wide issue.  Honeywell
has no corner on poor tech writing.  While
writing a help system for Edwards' FireShield
control panels, I wanted to incorporate the
installation manuals in the help system.  I
found the manuals so poorly written that I
offered to rewrite them (for a fee).  The
manuals had already been submitted to UL
so changing them at that point was not an
option.

> After all these years, you guys still haven't
> figured out how to make an index.  All you do
> is have a computer compile a list of keywords...

That's standard procedure when writing tech
manuals in programs like Word.  After each
chapter is written the author goes through the
text and marks words that need to be indexed.
When the doc is finished, Word creates the
index file automatically.  It's done that way for
good reason.  During the creation of a tech
manual images may get inserted after the text,
causing changes in pagination.  Text can also
be added, edited or deleted at any time with
the same result.  Without automation the
entire index would have to be rewritten every
time a manual is revised.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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