Hi. I was getting intermittent radio comm failure alerts from my panel the last few days. I tried to restart the panel by unplugging the battery and power supply. Now the screen won’t start up. The panic button is lit up white and the home button is lit up orange. Please let me know what I can do. Thank you
I’m sorry to hear of that!
This first thing you will want to try is powering it down again, transformer first, then the internal battery.
While the panel is fully powered down, remove the cell sled and re-install.
Afterwards, leave the panel powered down for a few minutes then power it back up, battery first, then the transformer. Any change?
Hi. I tried what you suggested twice and still no luck. I used a voltage tester to make sure there is power coming to the panel and there is. Not sure what to do. Thanks
The next thing would be to rule out a couple individual components.
First, power it down fully again, transformer then battery. Wait about ten minutes then plug it back in but this time without plugging the battery back in. Any Change?
If not, power down fully, remove the cell sled, wait 30 seconds then power up again. Any change?
If not try two full power cycles back to back. Wait at least a minute during each power cycle. Any Change?
Other things to check would be the wiring, make sure it is properly connected at the terminal block inside the panel and that it is following correct polarity at the panel and transformer.
You will also want to check the ribbon cable inside that connects next to the battery. Its a white flat cable with yellow wrap. Check to make sure it is not loose or damaged as well.
Hi. I tried all of these steps. Still the same result. White and orange buttons but no screen. Any other things to try or is my panel just fried? Thanks
Unfortunately, it does sound like a hardware malfunction. The last thing you could try in this case would be to attempt a factory reset. If this works, this will full reset the panel and remove sensor settings.
To do so, power down the panel completely and leave it powered down for at least 30 seconds. Then boot it back up, battery first then transformer and hold both face buttons down while powering up. The lights on the buttons should begin to flash faster than normal. Holding the buttons down for at least 20-30 seconds will factory reset the panel and the screen should come back on. If it doesn’t I would recommend replacement.
Thanks. If I buy a replacement panel, do I have to redo all the sensors 1 by 1 or is there some backup and restore feature like a phone or computer has?
It is possible to do a backup/restore through Alarm.com should you replace the GC3, with another one. It looks like the last time a backup was run was on 1/26/2020 (these are periodically run by ADC automatically).
That backup could be applied to a new GC3. This would pass panel settings, user codes and sensor settings. Any Z-wave or image sensors would need to be removed and added manually after the backup.
To proceed once you have the new panel, just submit a Private Message to us to get started. The swap process can begin during normal business hours. "
When you are ready to begin, make sure that both panels are powered down completely. Additionally, do not learn any sensors into the new panel prior to the restore/swap process being complete.
I’m pretty sure the panel is fried. I tried a reset using the buttons and it didn’t respond. I also now have a very faint buzzing sound coming from somewhere in the panel. Not sure if that is normal but i never noticed it before. Question for you. If I buy a new panel, in this case a GC3e instead of the GC3 I currently have, can I use my existing cell sled (assuming it still works)? Thanks
The buzzing could be the speaker or it could be worse but if the panel did not respond to the factory reset, it is time to replace.
The 3G cell sled being used in your GC3 can still be used with the GC3e series panel. Do note that the cellular sunset for 3G is approaching and replacement will be required at that point.