Ademco 6160 keys no longer "beep"

[trasko]

The problem in short:
 
My 6160 keypad keys worked properly for 20+ minutes and then stopped working.  Previously they "beeped" at every touch and now no beeps when pressing the buttons.  The unit acts as if no buttons are being pressed.
 
Some background:
 
Based on advice from here I purchased a Vista 20p kit to setup an alarm at my house.  Many months went by where I didn't do anything with it but I finally got around to wiring it all up about 2 weeks ago.  Everything worked great with short wires on my living room floor with the one keypad (6160) and one motion sensor.

I installed everything in the crawlspace and ran a bunch of wires.  I have hooked up (but done no configuration for) an RF receiver (Ademco 5881ENM) as well as an EVL-3 (which works over the network but doesn't seem to be talking to the alarm).  I also wired in a spare 12V motorcycle battery as the backup battery.  I hope that isn't bad -- it seems to be working fine but is much larger than what you'd normally use I think.

So... after finally getting everything installed the asterisk key didn't work ("*").  All buttons worked except for that one.  Somehow I managed to scratch the circuit board at some point during the install (see picture).  A buddy of mine who is proficient at this sort of thing soldered a wire across the board to fix the asterisk key.  
 
We hooked it back up and it worked fine.  I keyed around for about 90 seconds showing him the interface and then I sat down to look at my list of things I needed to program.  I came back after about 20 minutes and then none of the keys worked.
 
So...  Any ideas what happened?  Does anyone have an idea of what I might be able to try to fix this?
 
What I have tried: 
- disconnecting the battery backup
- disconnecting the RF receiver and EVL-3
- power cycling the alarm.
- looked very closely at hte circuit boards of the keypad for anything that looks fried.  no smells, either.
 
Thanks so much for the help.  I'm not looking forward to buying another 6160 but I will if I have to.
 

 

[RAL]

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the scratches in the board might have damaged several of the circuit board traces (wires), not just one.  I would use a multimeter on the Ohms setting to check for continuity on all the traces that the scratches cross over.
 
Beyond that, it's possible that you were unlucky enough to have an early-life failure of the keyboard.

 

[trasko]

AFAIK it only crossed one other trace.  I checked that one and it has continuity.  It didn't looked like the scratch went all the way through so that made sense.
 
Is the keyboard module somethign that can be replaced separately?
 
It would be a big coincidence for it to fail immediately after tinkering with it, I think.  I'm afraid something I did caused this...

 

[RAL]

You can buy an entire 6160 as an individual item, but I doubt you can buy just the circuit board that is inside as a replacement part.
 
Does the display light up at all when you power on the system?  Does it display any messages?  If not, have you checked to see that it is still getting 12V from the panel?  Also, check to make sure you have continuity in the data in and data out wires all the way back to the panel.
 
In the photo, it looks like there are two major scratches, with two thin lines pointing downward and to the right.  Are those scratches that could have damaged the traces that are under them?  The upper thin line looks like it crosses two other traces.
 
You might also try removing the keyboard from the wall and taking it back to where you have the panel mounted and connecting back up with a short cable as a way to eliminate the new wiring as the source of the problem.
 
Sometimes electronics do fail early on, without any apparent cause.  Since it worked for a while, it doesn't seem like the failure is something that was caused by the repair to the keyboard.

 

[trasko]

Yes, the display lights and everything appears like it is working fine.  However, when I press any button there is no "beep" nor any indication that the presses are getting registered.

As for the scratches: I believe that to be fine.
 
I will try wiring up the keypad to the panel w/ a short wire to remove the wiring from the picture.  I don't think that is the issue but it's worth a shot.

 

[Del91574]

Does the keypad do anything? Can you enter/exit programming? Does the panel just "lock up"?

 

[trasko]

No I cannot enter programming mode.  It acts as if I'm not pressing any buttons whatsoever.  There is that think where you can press 1 and 3 while it boots -- that doesn't do anything either.  I think it isn't receiving the button presses.
 
I'm going to finish up one chore hopefully soon and then try the keypad on a short wire.  If that doesn't work I'm at a loss.  I guess I'll just order another one.   :unsure:

 

[trasko]

Same behavior with a short cable only hooked to this 6160.  I've ordered a new one.  <shrug>

 

[Del91574]

Was the unit addressed appropriately? Sounds similar to an address conflict

 

[trasko]

Hmm would it not still beep when I press the keys?
 
How can I check this?  Everything on the display seems normal.

 

[Del91574]

Speakers on hte keypads are a common failure point....

 

[trasko]

Thanks everyone for the input.  The replacement (used) works fine.  The board is stamped "2000" while the new one I got was from "2010".
 
 

Speakers on hte keypads are a common failure point....

 
Would this cause the keypad to not register the key presses as well?  Or just cause a lack of beeping?

 

[Del91574]

Lack of beeping, however the scrape across the board would also be a huge concern, not to mention the damage already discussed in regards to the keypad portion.