Electricians?

[FlashLackey]

Anyone here an electrician? Genesis?

We had an installer out here to activate a home security system. After tinkering around with it for a while, he told me that the board was broken and had to be replaced. His initial explanation was that opening one door made the board think that a different door was opening. According to him, this indicated a "short" in the board. Later, he said that neither door was being recognized by the board at all.

I'm not an electrician. But, based on my understanding, re-routing signals from different outputs is a very unlikely result of a short on a circuit board. Am I wrong?

[Genesis F5]

A short is an odd explanation for the initial problem. My best guess would have been since they're individual sensors, they reversed the wires (door 1 in the door 2's port, etc) or had the software mapped to the wrong input channel. Not seeing either door now sounds like a problem with the board, but it could be anything. A short? Maybe... it could even be an open, who knows.

[FlashLackey]

Thank you. That was my general hunch.

I don't think I was getting the entire story from the guy. They're now going to replace the board for free anyway.

[silverx2]

maybe both doors were open.

[treefish]

I'm no security expert but I believe those systems use something similar to a programmable logic controller to detect open / closed doors. If this is the case, it sounds to me like a software issue and the chips on the board need to be re-programmed. I could be wrong, but if there is a 'shorted circuit' in electronics nowadays, it's usually more economical to replace the board rather troubleshoot / re-solder components. Again, many different types of electronics out there and I'm no expert on security systems... this is my best guess.

[FlashLackey]

Thank you. That was my impression. Either a programming issue or the wires from the input sensors weren't attached correctly.

They came back and said that they replaced the board. But, that there was also a bunch of other things "wrong" with it. The explanation wasn't entirely clear. At first they thought there was some place in the house that all of the wires must have been smashed together, based on readings they were getting on the wires. But, later, they said that the wires were configured in a confusing way and that they were able to get it working without finding the theoretical smashed together wires.

I think that the first guy messed it up and then put the wires back wrong. So, the next guy had to re-sort it all out. Not sure if the original board was even broken.

Anyway, works now.

[whispers]

a 'short' can also mean a bridged 'trace'..

and 'mashing' wires on anything electrical is a huge no-no..

solder and heat shrink all connections..