Need help, OP2 has gone haywire

[lakemirror]

Hi all.  Got issues with my panel that I'm going to try to troubleshoot myself but I have little faith in my abilities.  Might need to get a tech in the central Florida area who's familiar with the OP2 to help, might need to replace the panel.
 
Had a strange sequence of events over a couple of days.  First, ethernet connection started dropping constantly.  Then the system date kept resetting and I couldn't get it corrected via keypad or PCAccess (when the network connection was up).  Keypads started beeping and losing comm.  Last straw was, with the system disarmed in the middle of the day, it went into burglary alarm including external siren and no keypads could reset it.  I ended up shutting down power, AC and battery.
 
I have current firmware, a relay panel in the cabinet and another external, 2 zone expanders and one 4-branch ALC expander.  I have PCAccess dealer.  
 
Any help/advice appreciated.
 
Tom

 

[lakemirror]

Update
 
Inspected the board for shorts, loose connections, etc.  Found the ethernet port badly bent.  Pulled the network cable the powered the system back up.  Seems to be running now.
 
Pressed the ethernet port back in as best I could and reconnected the network.  Got good signal, system responds via the network now.  
 
This port needs to be fixed.  Anyone know if the port is integrated into the op2 board?  Will I have to replace the board or can the port be repaired/replaced somehow?
 
Here's a photo.  Suggestions?
 

 

[pete_c]

Yeah my NIC port is loosey goosey here.  I do not utilize a hooded network cable anymore because of that.
 
If this happened on it's own without touching the network port or cable then it is relating to the Omni Pro 2 promiscuous NIC issue which will cause issues with the OP2 serial bus and network port.
 
That said the wires are on the bottom of the network port and are soldered to the board there such that the top is always loose.
 
I have never seen the issues you are having.  But I have seen something similar with the only fix un plugging the NIC.
 
As a temporary fix you could hot melt glue the bottom of the network port and use a short network cable extension to a coupler.
 
Personally here there was another issue which would cause the time, network and serial devices to go bonkers. 
 
HAI originally mentioned it related to a promiscuous network port and traffic on my network and that they couldn't fix it.  Another user here on the forum made HAI change the network chip or something and it fixed their issue.
 
I have installed a micro router between the network port and the rest of the network and have not had the issue since then.

 

[dementeddigital]

Strange issue.  I don't know how that would be the root cause of disarming itself or tripping the alarm, but I suppose it's possible.  Maybe it's a comm issue, or maybe something on the board is being stressed by the bent connector.
 
It looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to repair, as long as there is no damage to internal traces or the plated through-holes on the board.
 
If you don't mind, please let us know how much they quote to repair it.
 
If they want to sell you a new main board, I could take a shot at replacing the connector for you.  I'm near Sarasota.

 

[mikefamig]

If you get someone who is good with a soldering iron they might be able to repair the connections between the connector and the panel by reheating all of the connections. I've done this with other devices in the past with some success. You just put a little flux on that area of the board and carefully re-flow each solder point by applying heat to it. Then clean that area good with alcohol and go. Then get a softer patch cable to connect to the panel so that it doesn't happen again.
 
Mike.

 

[heffneil]

I think this is a weak point on these boards.  I Have seen several fall off.  It is a shame.  You could try supergluing it back on if you have it aligned and working otherwise send it to Leviton for a repair.  I wonder if they have an advanced RMA program?

 

[pete_c]

Yup; its a piss poor design on HAI's part relating to the NIC port.
 
I switched over to a non hooded NIC cable a few years back. 
 
Then installed a micro router right next to the port such that the NIC of the HAI OP2 is the openwrt microrouter NIC which is an inch or so away and the original cable is never touched anymore.  That and the micro router (powered by the panel) has an RTC / battery clock, 2 NICs, wireless and can be used for serial connectivity to the OP2 panel.  IE: do the mail, sync the clock and send out some commands to the panel via the NIC or Serial port making it a miniature email board about 2" square.  It's still a bit slow.  Ideally a miniature Pine64/2Gb board with two NICs would do better.
 
There is the documented by HAI promiscuous NIC issue which causes issues with the serial bus and network bus.
 
There have been attempted firmware updates to fix this but I do not think it did fix it.
 
I am thinking the real fix to this is relating to the NIC chip and maybe replacing it; not so much the physical network port unless it has come apart and disconnected from the OmniPro motherboard which could happen anyways with the piss poor design of it placement on the motherboard.
 
I am curious too if there is a new chip now on the OmniPro motherboards or even if they are still making them.
 
A poll would suffice to figure this out.

 

[heffneil]

What micro router are you using out of curiosity?

 

[pete_c]

Tinkering with three different Microrouters.
 
See here.
 
Tweaking a TP-Link TL-WR710N & GL.iNet 6416A & Nexx WT1320 MicroRouter
 
Easiest to mod has been the GL.iNet 6416A.
 
Currently testing the Nexx WT1320. 
 
It's been all hardware tinkering with now testing a smaller RTC clock for the Nexx WT1320.
 

 
Newest OpenWRT firmware supports RTC clocks now.  Original firmware modifications came from the EU.
 
Ideally just utilizing the Ethernet connection would be the best (although serial works but uses up a serial port).
 
Wireless works better if you install an external antenna.
 
CPU is a single core around 400Mhz and there isn't much space for too much stuff.
 
Best thing about it is the tiny footprint and it is velcro'd next to the ethernet port on the OmniPro 2.
 
OmniPro email board firmware will not support this but you can sync the time and do email notifications with it using LUA or C and a cross compiler.
 
Haven't played with it in a while and off on a tangent these days looking to modify my old Optex combo cams to IP HD.
 
It will be a new blog as I have disassembled one Optex camera for testing. 

 

[mikefamig]

If you are just trying to make it so that you don't have to touch the panel connector ever again you could also just use an rj45 female to female inline coupler with a short cat5e cable between the coupler and the panel.

 

[pete_c]

Let us know what you do or what happens eh?

 

[dementeddigital]

I think this is a weak point on these boards.  I Have seen several fall off.  It is a shame.  You could try supergluing it back on if you have it aligned and working otherwise send it to Leviton for a repair.  I wonder if they have an advanced RMA program?

 
I've been designing and manufacturing electronics for 20 years now, and, for large components like this connector, we would use an electronics-grade silicone RTV or a very high temp hot melt glue, depending on the application.  Super glue (any cyanoacrylate glue) has a tendency to vaporize and bond to any oils present on the board (like fingerprints).  This makes it cool for CSI stuff, but I'd stay away from it for use on any electronics.

 

[philgrocks]

I just found this posting.   I have also seen some very odd behaviors if the Omnipro II has some sort of network connection problems (like when power fails).
 
Control pads not working, alarm arming / disarming, strange messages on the console, relay switches (on the expansion board) opening and closing, etc. 
 
Very unnerving.  I have almost taken the system out twice or reverted it to only alarm system, but I do like the integration.
 
Oh, also these problems started after I updated post Leviton acquisition :-(
 
 
 

 

[pete_c]

I have also seen some very odd behaviors if the Omnipro II has some sort of network connection problems (like when power fails).
 
There are some documented issues relating to the network port and serial communications and time going out of sync. 
 
I fixed mine by installing a micro router between the NIC and the rest of the network.
 
Over the last few years Leviton stated it was related to a promiscuous network port. 
 
One CT Omni Pro user sent his OP2 panel back and told Leviton to replace the NIC with one that works and they did and his problems went away. 
 
That said these issues have not been related to a power failure.
 
Have a read on these threads:
 
1 - Omni Pro Network issues
 
2 - Omni Pro serial, network and time issues
 
Maybe calling Leviton / opening a ticket / return your OmniPro 2 board for repair may solve your issue?
 
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