How Disable System Trouble Keypad Beeps

Photon

Active Member
Our power went out last night, and the Elk keypads displayed AC Failure, Ethernet Trouble, and eventually Low Battery. I think it is interesting that the log records "1138=AC Failure Trouble" 14 minutes after the power failed and the "1383=Ethernet Trouble" message was recorded.

During the outage the keypads chirped every 30 seconds, and they continue to do so as the battery is recharging. Now that we have power again, I logged onto the M1 with ElkRP and selected Globals. On the "G06-G10 (Zones)" tab I deselected the "Audible system troubles" checkbox, and then I clicked on "Send to Control." However, the keypads are still beeping every 30 seconds.

At what voltage does the system decide there is low battery voltage? When I first noticed the message on the keypad I measured the voltage as 12.76 at the battery terminals.

Is there any way to shut the keypad 30-second beeps off other than to shut off the Elk contoller? Ideally the keypads would beep to report a system problem, and then I could silence the beep somehow at the keypad.
 
just a guess but did you enter your code during this trouble event? I think you have to enter it twice to clear an alarm event
 
just a guess but did you enter your code during this trouble event? I think you have to enter it twice to clear an alarm event
I entered my user code to disarm the system. I just entered it one time, but this isn't really an alarm event; just system trouble.


I just found the answer in the M1 User Guide:
Troubles are annunciated by an intermittent beeping from the keypad and a
display of the Trouble condition(s). The beeping may be silenced by pressing
the asterisk * key but the trouble must be acknowledged before any other
keypad operation may continue.​

Now I have to print this and attach it to the back of the keypad on my nightstand so I know what to do if we ever have another power failure. It remains to be seen if I remember to look under the keypad next time!

Thanks for the reply,
John
 
I think the low battery cutoff is between 9 and 10V, not sure when it reports low though. How old is the battery? How much current runs through your system? You may benefit from a second battery running in parallel. I would be concerned with battery running low just overnight since I like to try to get near 24 hours.
 
I think the low battery cutoff is between 9 and 10V, not sure when it reports low though. How old is the battery? How much current runs through your system? You may benefit from a second battery running in parallel. I would be concerned with battery running low just overnight since I like to try to get near 24 hours.

The battery is two years old, and this is the first power failure longer than a minute or two. Not much chance that it was ever deeply discharged.

The self test on menu item 8-4-1 indicates 12.9V and 0.310A now that it has had some time to recharge after power came back. I'll eventually be doing some tests with an actual ammeter when I get some time. I'm beginning to finish out about 900 sq ft of our basement, so the Elk testing will have to wait a few months.

I have an extra, new 12V 31AH AGM battery wasting away unused. I think I'll try using it, along with my four-stage charger/maintainer, to power everything but the basic M1 panel. If that works out without unexpected complications, I would then include the M1 as well. An identical battery lasted 10 years in my Miata, so this would add longevity to the Elk system as well as add capacity.

Thanks Steve,
John
 
. . . I think it is interesting that the log records "1138=AC Failure Trouble" 14 minutes after the power failed and the "1383=Ethernet Trouble" message was recorded. . .
That seems to be the normal behavior. The 1138 code occurs after a 15 minute delay, meaning that AC failures briefer than that are not recognized or reported via 1138.

FWIW, the M1 rule "WHENEVER AC FAILURE TROUBLE IS DETECTED" (Miscellaneous / Troubles / AC Power Failure) is triggered after a short delay, 10-15 seconds.
 
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