Re: DSC 3060 ..... garbage!

[Frank Kurz <tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/6/2012 4:14 AM, NickMark wrote:
> On Monday, November 5, 2012 11:11:11 PM UTC-5, Jim wrote:
>> I don't use DSC equipment. Only if it's a takeover and most times, even then, I'll replace it. I only have a few of them out there.  The reasons I don't use them are important to me but something just happened with one of their radios that really pissed me off.
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>> About 2 years ago, I did a job for a client who only wanted cellular connection to central ... no land line. So I asked around about a good product. The DSC 3060 was recommended by a couple of people so, even though I don't like DSC, I got one and installed it. It went in pretty easy, just sending CID. It's worked reliably for the past two years.
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>> HOWEVER!!!! after the recent storm here on the east coast, I get a call from the customer that the panel is showing fail to communicate. The customer had lost power long enough so that both the panel battery and the 3060's battery had died. The 3060 idiot light is blinking twice which indicates ( get this ) either a non existant battery or an unregistered SIM card. (Uhhh WHAT!) Well, anyway, The power has been back up for a couple of days. So I read close to 13vdc at the disconnected battery leads and 12.5vdc at the diconnected battery terminals even with a brief 10 ohm load on it. So I call DSC technical support. He asks me what version the 3060 is I tell him (G24 ?) Anyway he says
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>> " OH yeah that's the one that that had that problem."
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>> " What problem?" I ask.
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>> "When it loses all power and comes back up, the unit fails ..... but we fixed that in the latest revision."
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>> "So now I have to buy a new one?
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>> "Yep"
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>> "So your telling me that you have a product out in the field that has this known flaw in it and you're just leting them sit out there until their warrantee is up and when dealers call in with the problem they've got to buy a new unit?"
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>> "Well I think we put out a notice about it."
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>> The rest of the conversation took just a few minutes, all of which I hope they really do have a recording of. Obviously he hung up before I ran out of breath.
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>> All in all, it simply confirms my convictions about why I don't use DSC equipment.
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>> I might also say that when they first came out with the earlier 3055, I installed one as a favor to someone who wanted an evaluation to see if it had any problems so he could decide if he wanted to distribute them. This was my first attempt at using the "new" type of radio. What I mean by that is, up until then, I always used backup radios, sending both landline and radio simultaniously. When I discovered that the 3055 only trasmitted an alarm if the land line failed, I questioned DSC tech support about how to send both signals at the same time. They said that it couldn't be done. I asked about not having some way to make sure the unit could transmit an alarm signal and they said that the supervisory signal was the test. I said that a supervisory signal is not an alarm signal. Anyway, without their help, I found out that I could set it up to send simultanious signals .... just not full data.
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>> The hook to this story is .... that sometime after I installed this unit, I received notice (by word of mouth from another dealer) that the 3055's had a  problem and where "on hold" and were not going to be available for awhile. As it turns out it was because it was discovered that even though they could send supervisory signals ... the units were not sending alarm signal when the land line failed.    Soupprise! Soupprise!
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>> I don't know what you all think about it but I'd like my "backup" communicators to send a signal every time a land line signal is sent. Not have it sit there for years, if the phone line never goes down, just sending supervisory signals and never once sending in an alarm signal.
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> I stopped using DSC back in 80;s when they started the shit with keypads which where not interchangeable when i had a pc 3000 die and went to replace it with a newer one I was not going to replace 4 keypads also.
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Many manufacturers had non-interchangeable keypads back when the PC-3000
was made.  While not a huge fan of DSC, (following the version 6 chip
disaster with the same panel), they've got a really strong current
product line.  The easy programming is appealing as well, although they
should break out the automation timing from installer programming.