Low Battery on PIR1-345

Support
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1

I continue to get low batt warnings in spite of replacement battery and panel reset. Panel is GC2 and PIR is 2gig-pir1-345. PIR had failed before for the same reason and I just replaced it, now the replacement is doing the same thing.

I have checked new battery, 3.2 volts with a 100 mA load. I have rebooted system by going into installer and pressing and exiting configuration. I also tried the System Management reboot. I have put in a rechargeable battery with high surface charge, 3.6V and still get low batt. It is OK for about 1/2 hour, then recurs. What is the polling interval? I guess I am down to replacing the PIR again, but don’t have a good feeling for longevity.

2

Per the manual the PIR1-345 requires One (1) Panasonic CR123A, or equivalent Lithium battery. Is that the type of battery you are utilizing?

To confirm, the motion detector reporting low battery is the Zone 7 Motion. Is that the one you have replaced?

It is OK for about 1/2 hour, then recurs. What is the polling interval?

This makes sense after a reboot, this is the supervisory signal being sent by the motion itself.

3

Yes, replacement I typically use is Panasonic CR123A. I just tried a rechargeable 123 since I could have it at a slightly higher voltage than non-rechargeable. The fresh non rechargeable measured about 3.2V under load, and the rechargeable measure about 3.6V. Both failed the low voltage supervision of the PIR.

I have a total of three PIR’s. I believe it was the one in this zone that failed before, but it could have been in a different zone, I just do not recall.

4

To confirm, the batteries were most recently replaced in the Zone 7 Motion correct?

I am also seeing five motions in equipment, is that not correct?

5

You are correct, there are a total of five PIR’s in the total house. The zone is #7, which is configured as motion. I just now replaced the new Panasonic battery with a new RayOVac 123A I purchased this AM. Measured voltage before installing was 3.2V, with a 33 Ohm/5W resistor used as load across it while measuring.

The original battery when removed measured 2.8V before it went into low battery mode.

The local panel is currently NOT showing a low battery for zone 7, after replacing with the Ray O Vac battery described above.

6

Update on Battery Alert:

The panel remains clear, after the second battery replacement yesterday. The ACTIVITY log shows BATTERY OK, as of 4:18 PM May 9. The Alarm.com Home Screen still shows zone 7 as a low battery issue.

7

Commands have been sent to update the status and it appears that the low battery notification has cleared from ADC. Can you confirm?

8

Yes, all is now clear. Thank you!

9

I’m having a similar problem with the PIR1. Replaced the battery and the low voltage never cleared. I just replaced it again and it did not clear again. I tested the battery removed (no load), it was 3V.

I used Energizer 3V Lithium batteries marked to replace the CR123A, from this link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036QL1JY

Is the sensor that sensitive that these batteries would not be an adequate replacement to the 123A’s? I’m not sure what I’m missing here.

10

Well, I went into the toolbox, installer toolbox, system configuration, end then told it to save settings (reboot). The message appears to have disappeared (for now anyway). I did not get the usual “end of low battery condition” message from Alarm.com.

Is it a known glitch that the low battery condition message can get stuck in the GC2 panel, should I expect this reboot will be a permanent fix (it wont come back soon)?

11

If the actual low battery state exists on the detector, it will come back.

Rebooting the panel puts it in a state where no trouble conditions exist, but with the supervision interval of the sensor the condition would be reported again later.

If the issue comes back, remove the batteries for a full 60 seconds, then power the sensor back up and tamper it to send a signal to the panel. Does this resolve the low battery?

12

Rebooting did not work, it came back after a few minutes.

Removing the battery for over 60 seconds did work, the low battery alert is cleared, thank you!

13

Thanks for confirming! Often sensors like motion detectors, smoke detectors, and glass breaks will have components which must fully dissipate residual power before the sensor can accurately detect and resolve the low battery condition. When in doubt, leave it powered down for about a minute and that should do the trick!