Omni II Pro quirks

I'm installing an Omni II and I've noticed a few quirks. Wondering if anyone can share similar experiences and what you did, if anything, to correct them:
 

1. I have the perimeter zones set to chime when opened. I have three keypads. They do not all chime concurrently. They will often chime consecutively about a half second or more in between each pad. Further, the time in between never seems to be the same. Consequently, every time the front door is opened I get three beeps (one from each keypad at different time intervals.) The multiple chiming is not passing the "WAF" and I'm getting grief about it every day. :-( The previously installed Caddx system beeped all the keypads at exactly the same time. Thus sounding like a single loud beep.
    
2. Sending beeps to the keypads via the automation interface (either individually or ALL) produces a similar effect. They don't chime concurrently. Also, beeping the pads via Automation sometimes takes 5 seconds or more before the pad actually beeps.
    
3. I have the voice interface board installed. When I use the console keypad to record a message (key 8, then 2 for record) the paging trigger (connected to a Russound system) on the board activates. Why does recording a message enable the paging trigger?? I don't want the message I'm recording broadcast all over the house!
    
4. When I turn ON a UPB switch (Pulseworx or HAI) via Automation commands the light "snaps" to ON rather than ramping up. However, if I use the "Light level to 100%" then the switch ramps up according to the ramp rate set in the switch. Conversely, OFF snaps the light off rather than ramping it down. I guess this is normal?
    
5. I haven't searched yet but is there a way to use an answering machine AND the voice command menu at the same time with this panel? If so any tips would be welcomed.

Any help/comments would be appreciated.
Thanks!

There's a lot more going on in the brains of an Omni than a Caddx panel.

Number 1,
you have to make the wire runs to each keypad the exact same length.
The delay is simply the travel time of the signal since everything is connected to the AB serial bus in parallel.
You could disable the chime on one or more key pads and just have one be the master announcer.

Number 2,
the beep command may be delayed if there are already other commands in the queue.
Commands get executed in the order in which they are sent and received, if there are multiple sent one after another, they get executed in turn, not simultaneously.
5 seconds sounds like an awfully long delay. What kind of programs do you have running? There is often a delay when executing lighting commands with other commands, or lighting commands in multiple rooms because of the delay from status updating.
There are ways to rearrange the order of events to place the lighting commands last, and so the status updates occur at the end so they do not interfere with the perceived effect. You can also do some tricks in UPstart to make multiple rooms react to a single link simultaneously.

Number 3
When you press 8, 2 the voice prompts you to "Record Message", that audio out is activating the trigger.
You can run the trigger through a relay and add programming to disable it for a period when you want.

Number 4
is normal behavior, but, you can change the behavior of each individual switch in the way they react to the room links by using UPStart. The ON command will always be a snap command. To ramp up individual units, use the level command.

Number 5
Set the answering machine for fewer rings than the Omni but at least two, so it will always answer the phone and take messages.
To access the Omni, call the house, allow it to ring once then hang up, then call back within one minute.
The Omni will answer immediately with just a beep.
Enter your access code and the voice menu will answer and be available.
You can also use Haiku on an iPhone or iPad, iTouch to access the Omni via IP.

Thanks for your reply. I have a hard time understanding wire length having an effect on the consoles reaction time. Electrons travel at the speed of light. I can't imagine a 15-20ft difference causing a delay between console response. Also, the delay is not consistent. Sometimes the chimes are extremely close, other times there is much more of a delay. I can't disable any of the consoles because the wife wants to hear the beep when she's in a room with a console and has the door closed. I told her if she didn't want to hear the multiple beeps then just close the door to the room every time she went in to it. You can imagine how well that went over. :nutz:
 
As a test, I tried this button a few times (not consecutively fast, just more than one time) and saw what happens:
    WHEN Btn Welcome Home
            THEN All Consoles BEEP 3
 
I timed up to a 5 second delay before the first console responded and up to a 10 second delay in between the consoles responding. I don't have any complicated programming going on as I'm just setting up the system. The one caveat is that I have a number of zones set as Auxiliary which are not currently ready and are showing trouble on the consoles. Perhaps that's what's slowing down the message/beep rate to the consoles.
 
Thanks for the tip on the answering machine. Further reading of the documentation had lead me to believe that Omni could respond to commands after the answering machine finished it's outgoing message.
 
I'm looking for a good web interface to operate the Omni from either a PC or an IPad. The HAI Snaplink program is very immature,  dated and buggy. I hate it. I've researched Haiku before and I really liked what I saw. Unfortunately, unless something's changed or I missed something, Haiku Helper requires an Apple PC, which I don't have, to be running 24/7 and connected to the Omni. I'd also want to access it from my PC laptop :-(
 
I appreciate your help and tips. I'll post more as I progress.

Electrons in a wire don't travel at the speed of light.
It depends on many electrical properties of the wire and the signal.
Electrons bump into one another pushing each one along like a line of billiard balls.

http://physicspages.com/2013/03/06/electron-speed-in-a-copper-wire/

The large delay is the buffer in each keypad.
They are not synchronized,they are independent of one another.
So they may be at different cycles.
Think of several cars on a highway with their turn signals on.
There is a point they sync up for a short time then drift out of sync then back in sync because each oscillator in each car is running at a slightly different frequency.

You could disable the console beeps and play the beep over the audio system.

WAF - the bane of DIY automatons everywhere!

Do you have any wireless zones?

You can run Haiku without Haiku helper.
Haiku helper adds a great deal of customizing and scripting. But isn't required for Haiku.
I'm not currently running Haiku helper.
When I add it I will get a Mac mini to run it, which can be had for around $500-600.

I run a Mac Mini for Haiku Helper; no display attached, minimal power used, silent operation, around 6"x6"x3"H. You can buy them inexpensively on eBay. Once set up (yes, a new OS to learn) you can use RDP or similar software to manage it from your PC. The web access works from most web browsers regardless of the OS.

On the beep delays- I will suggest it has nothing to do with wire length based on my experience: I was having some keypad problems (that turned out to be caused by a faulty OPII panel) and changed my inter keypad wiring from a bus configuration to home run star so I could isolate them one by one for testing. That seriously changed the wire lengths but made no discernible change in the beep delays. They still beep independently- typically with a fraction of a second delay between them, but sometimes as much as a second.

Remember that the beep is not being generated as sound sent out from the OPII panel- there is just a request to sound a beep sent out over the RS485 AB bus as serial data. Each keypad has a unique address (yours are each configured uniquely, yes?) and they get the request, queue it up and do what was requested as soon as they can.

The HAI voice board on the other hand DOES send out the audio directly- if there is some way to just replace the keyboard beeps with notifications from the voice board you won't have any audio delay problems.

Another thought- I believe the serial bus runs at a relatively slow (but robust) 100 bps. If there are many messages being processed and displayed concerning faulted zones I could see that delaying other tasks depending on the timing. Perhaps try clearing all the faults (or disable them temporarily in the OPII configuration) and see if that changes the beep sequence. You can also temporarily move one keypad to the panel, disconnect all the other AB connections and see if it shows the same delays in sounding standalone. If it still does, swap in a second keypad. Still delays? The problem is then most likely related to the OPII panel hardware or programs running.

Do you know if your consoles are all home run back to the panel, or are they daisy chained?