Incompatible Communicator Error Message

Support
1

Hello,

I have an old ADT Smartwatch 3000 keypad and vista panel that I converted to use Alarm.com and Surety by upgrading the prom to a 20p chip that uses the 10.24 revision as well as an ADC-SEM-300-VT-AT ATT wired correctly.

I activated my account and successfully synced the SEM and panel to the Alarm.com portal as I am able to see all of the sensors and zones. However shortly after powering up the keypad no longer accepts input commands and displays INCOMPATIBLE COMMUNICATOR. And my Alarm.com portal no longer updates its status.

Is there a command I need to input while starting up the system to ensure everything properly communicates? Let me know if that makes sense or needs additional detail.

Thanks!

2

It looks like it wants to communicate with the panel but fails. It is able to check for user codes but nothing else. Can you double check the pins between the chip and the board and make sure everything looks correct.

Sometimes when installed a little off, the panel can have weird behavior.

I do not see an incompatible trouble on my end. Where do you see that?

3

Hi Vidail,

I may have identified the problem, but I am unsure if this is the issue or just contributing to it. The ADT system I had before (ADT Pulse) uses a Honeywell 6160VPADT Which is the Voice enable 6160 that has a proximity tag feature. I don’t care for the proximity tag feature but could that keypad be the issue?

4

The SEM is compatible with 6160 voice keypads as long as the SEM is on firmware 1.60 or later. Your SEM firmware is currently on 1.74 which makes it compatible. Below are devices not compatible with the SEM

  • AVS devices
    • This device is used for Two-Way Voice, which is not available on the SEM. The AVS also allows zone descriptors to be announced.
  • 4232CBM (Connected Building Module)
  • Telephone (POTS) line
    • The SEM should be the only communication path for alarm signaling to the monitoring station.
  • 2GIG-STZ-1 thermostat
  • Alarm.com Smart Thermostat (ADC-T25)

Sensor Activity Monitoring (SAM) is not compatible with the following device. Turn off SAM for this sensor, if installed.

  • 5822T Tilt Sensor
5

Also, the Incompatible communicator error message is displaying on the keypad. And I am unable to input any commands into the keypad.

6

I did check the pins on the chip/board and everything is contacting/seated correctly and fully.

7

Can you try powering down the panel and then powering back up?

Can you confirm that the panel performs a sync with the communicator? It will run through programming as well as chime a few times.

8

I ended up swapping the PROM from the 10.26 version one I purchased from Alarmgrid.com back to the ADT branded WA3000 version 9.12, and cleared the old account number and then restarted the system.

Do you recommend I try and swap back to the updated PROM? Does the updated PROM offer any value such as quicker arm/disarm or additional features?

9

I contacted Honeywell/Resideo on this and they said there shouldn’t be any notable difference. They mentioned the PROM chip swap would be for older chips to get access to alarmnet and if using alarmnet, the WA3000 is not compatible and would need to be swapped. With alarm.com, you can use the WA3000 and it should work just fine.

I ran a test and it seems to have successfully performed a full system scan.

10

Thanks Vidail,

It would appear that everything is functioning correctly on my end! I appreciate your help and hopefully this thread will help someone in the future if they have this issue.