Similar Problems on Ademco Vista 15/20 Zone Expanders

[Eyeball Kid <jimbo1@xxxxxxx>]

The Honeywel (nee Ademco) Vista 15 & 20s have a smilar problem .  We use
a CO detector (the C0Star 12SIR) that has 2 Form C relays for Alarm and
Trouble.
You can hook it to the panel and wire it so that the Trouble Relay is
N.C. and the Alarm Relay is N.O. on a single zone with that zone
programmed as CO and it works fine.

BUT.... do the same thing on a zone expander and if the Trouble Relay
opens and THEN the Alarm Relay closes the zone goes into trouble and
never goes into alarm.  In order to get the zone to go into alarm at
this point you have to restore the EOL (even for just a second).  When
you push the test button on this detector it does precisely that - goes
into trouble for 5 seconds and then into alarm - then the customer calls
and asks if the Monitoring Center got the alarm and the answer is "No".

This little flaw is completely undocumented in the Installation manual
and when we discovered it and called Tech Support about 4 years ago they
had never heard of it.   Since then Honeywell has done nothing to
correct the firmware or put a warning in the manual that this
configuration should not be used on a zone expander.  This despite my
continual hounding of their reps every chance I get "oh-oh, here comes
old whatshisnuts again" is probably what they say when I come around the
corner at a trade show.

One of these days, someone is going to get severely injured or possibly
die when the CO detector goes into alarm after going into trouble.  I
wonder if that lawsuit will spur Honeywell to fix this little oversight.

soup wrote:
> use 2 zones?
>
> <chasbo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:khi2r25u4nb9rqfinq56osilv5irbhpubl@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>>I've spoken with tech support people several times in the past 7 years
>>in an attempt to get their software engineers to provide one or more
>>circuit configurations in the NX8, and more recently the NX8E, similar
>>to the fire alarm loop configuration -- for use with devices that
>>initiate an alarm by shorting the circuit and initiating a trouble
>>signal when either side of the loop is open.
>>
>>CO Detectors are available with an internal "trouble" relay, which can
>>be made part of the protective circuit so that when the relay opens
>>its closed contacts (as when the power fails or when the unit fails,
>>etc), a trouble signal at the control panel is the result.
>>
>>I have had no luck in this endeavor.
>>
>>The configuration currently available in the NX8E for the combination
>>"short on alarm" and "trouble on open" causes the FIRE light to flash
>>indicating fire.  Consequently I do not wish to place my CO detectors
>>in that configuration.
>>
>>I'm looking for the same type of circuit, but I do not want the panel
>>to indicate FIRE.
>>
>>Do any of you NX8E techies know if this configuration is possible now?
>>Am I not seeing the forest for the trees?  This type of circuit is
>>extremely useful -- as anyone installing heat detectors and smoke
>>detectors can attest to.
>>
>>Thanks.  Charles
>>
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