I was very careful to always have the black/green and red/yellow always on the same +/-. The three photos above are the only way connections were made. I know I had black/green on + and red/yellow on contrary to convention - which I’ve since corrected, but it was always consistent.
The only thing I did when the transformer was plugged in was test for voltage with the touchless voltage meter and attach the panel to the mount…
To simplify things, I removed the green/yellow from the transformer, the splice in the room with the ADT panel and the splice at the keypad, so it’s just black in - and red in + throughout.
Meter shows 7.47vDC at the transformer.
At keypad end it is also 7.47vDC
There is also something a little odd that I didn’t mention, which is that I noticed the screws on the transformer did not seem to be new screws. They were a little stripped. I noted it and thought it to be strange to get screws like that on a new transformer but everything was working when it was all running off the barrel connector, so maybe that’s irrelevant. But I thought I would mention it. You can see it in the first of the three pictures above.
Meter shows 7.47vDC at the transformer.
At keypad end it is also 7.47vDC
Great, thank you for confirming that!
So can you use the included cable to plug in the panel, avoiding the existing wires for now, and power up the panel that way?
Does it boot normally after being off for a while?
There is also something a little odd that I didn’t mention, which is that I noticed the screws on the transformer did not seem to be new screws. They were a little stripped. I noted it and thought it to be strange to get screws like that on a new transformer but everything was working when it was all running off the barrel connector, so maybe that’s irrelevant. But I thought I would mention it.
It may be possible the screws were overtightened during assembly, that’s not really indicative of anything, the transformer tested fine when you measured voltage.
The only thing I did when the transformer was plugged in was test for voltage with the touchless voltage meter and attach the panel to the mount…
I think the suggestion the other poster made regarding the wires is likely accurate here. Either the two wires twisted together weren’t making good contact with the terminal metal on the plate, or those B-wire connectors likely kept the panel from closing properly and getting a good connection to the terminals.
The back plate if flexible and will bow inward in that circumstance.
I would focus now on making sure the panel boots without the existing wiring.
I assume so but just to confirm, you are holding the power button to turn it on right? It won’t boot automatically from the transformer being plugged in.
Let the panel remain plugged in for a while to charge the battery, then try power up again.
I assume it’s been off since the battery died. I’ve gotten messages that the panel has not responded since Saturday night, so I’m assuming that’s when that happened.
So what would be the next step? Thanks for all the help.
Is there any LED activity at all when you plug it in and try to power it up now?
Can you confirm the polarity of the wires being used at the transformer now?
Unfortunately the prognosis is not good in this case as it sounds like the panel is damaged. If exposed power wiring when plugged into the back plate terminals touched conductive parts on the panel board it may have shorted out part of the board.
Did you feel resistance when closing the panel? The B-wire connectors may have pressed against the board and caused damage potentially. It is a bit of a guessing game.
I’ll try this as soon as I can get the panel to stop going crazy with the red and blue lights.
I am checking with Qolsys on this just in case, I am not seeing the blue LED status referenced anywhere in documentation other than just normal blue flash during power up. Was it alternating red and blue at the same time?
You can see in the third photo in message #9 above that the exposed wire was inserted into the back plate terminals right up to the insulation, so wondering how it could have touched anything conductive. Everything around that area is plastic. Plus I was extremely careful not to touch the wires together and to keep the transformer unplugged until everything was connected.
Not sure about resistance from the B connectors. I worked them into that gap space there in the mount to avoid that, so I’m pretty sure they were fine but can’t be 100% sure since they were not visible once I was attaching the panel. Definitely no significant resistance and when I looked the panel appeared flush with the mount.
If I remember correctly, the red lights came on first and flashed and then the blue and red lights flashed in a pattern that seemed random to me, but I don’t know. Like the blue lights would flash twice repeatedly a few times, then red would flash, then the blue – not saying that’s exactly what happened but it was something like that.
Can I assume this panel is going to have to be replaced one way or another whether under warranty or not? Because I need to get this up and running ASAP and I’d like to do that if that’s what has to happen.
This is embarrassing. I forgot that I unplugged the transformer a few days ago, so when I tried to start it up today that’s why there were no LED lights.
The panel started up and appears to be working normally now.
I think I’m still going to try to connect to the old wiring since that voltage seems okay and maybe the issues I ran into the last time I tried were because I had doubled up the wiring.
This is embarrassing. I forgot that I unplugged the transformer a few days ago, so when I tried to start it up today that’s why there were no LED lights.
That’d do it. Thank you for confirming, glad it wasn’t a damaged system.
Thanks, yes me too, and I was able to connect to the existing wiring and it’s working great.
There is one more issue unrelated to that. I tested the system and the Z-Wave failed.
I don’t currently have any Z Wave devices but may in the future so I’d like to have that working. I saw that there was a topic on this in December, but didn’t see how that was resolved.
I tried rebooting and the Z Wave test still fails.
Should I start another topic for this? It’s nothing urgent but eventually I’d like to have it working. Thank you.
Actually, no, I did Settings > Advanced Settings > Panel Test > Z Wave and that failed, but after I saw your first response I ran Settings > Advanced Settings > Daughter Cards > Z Wave and that also failed.
Just did the Power Down procedure and reran the daughter card test and unfortunately it failed again…
Unfortuantely it is likely hardware failure. I have reached out to Qolsys to determine if there are any addiitonal steps that can be taken to resolve, or if the panel needs to be replaced. I will follow up as soon as I have that information.
Qolsys recommends replacement of the panel in order to resolve the Z-Wave card failure.
To get the warranty replacement process started, the panel needs to be unregistered from the Alarm.com account. This means the panel will no longer communicate with service.
Once unregistered we can get the RMA information from distribution to get the defective panel sent in.
Then once the panel has been received by distribution, a replacement panel can be sent out.
Just let us know when you would like to begin and we can get that started.
Thank you for confirming, glad it wasn’t a damaged system.