FAQ

The power went out and now my alarm system shows "Trouble". Why?

The answer is a bit different for fire alarm systems vs. intrusion alarm systems.

• For both Fire and Intrusion systems, if the electrical power is still out, this is normal operation. Once the power returns, the trouble will clear (return to normal) on most systems.
• For virtually all fire alarm systems, the trouble light and sounder will reset to normal once the trouble condition is cleared- the power comes back on, the batteries are replaced, a disabled smoke detector is re-enabled.  Please note that there are a few Fire Alarm systems (Pyrotronics and Siemens are 2 examples) that may require the "Acknowledge" button to be pressed and/or also the "Reset" button to be pressed before troubles will clear, EVEN after the trouble condition has cleared (power has returned).
• On some intrusion alarm systems, because most have an internal real-time clock, the system will stay in "Trouble" mode after a power outage until the clock is reset to the current time and date. This will generally only happen if the power has been out long enough to also drain the back-up battery. To reset the clock to the correct time on a Digital Security Controls system (DSC systems indicate trouble by a Yellow triangle symbol with an exclamation point in the center), follow these instructions:

Programming Time and Date for DSC:
Step 1 - Enter [*][6]+[Master Code]
Step 2 - Enter [1]
Step 3 - Enter Time in 24-hour/military format- for example, 1 PM is entered as 13:00 [HH:MM]
Step 4 - Enter Date [MM:DD:YY]
Step 5 - Enter [#]

Please note that for DSC, there is only ONE code that is designated as the Master Code-if this code is not used, the procedure will not work!