Is the PC5400 supposed to print every system event, like every time a door is opened and closed?

I have a PC1864 (this the fourth DSC system I have installed in my homes), but the first PC5400. The PC5400 is enrolled and printing is enabled. I know the unit is basically working because if I enable DTR handshake and unplug the printer, the trouble light comes on each keypad. Also, before I jumpered the tamper pins, the unit was producing a general system tamper. So the unit is functional and is new out of the box.

I'm not getting a thing to print, but I'm not sure if I'm expecting too much or if there is more setup to do. I tried different baud rates, I have connected the unit to my laptop serial port, nothing.

By the way, my communicator is turned off (no phone line), I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Compatible Products
The Printer Module is probably the only board I haven't installed, You say you enabled printer in Location 01, section 1.
I do notice the compatible panels to be:

• PC580
• PC1555
• PC1575
• PC5010
• PC5015
• PC5020

Have you used one on an 1864? Should work even though its not on the list, I would think. You haven't exceeded 200' for the 6 pin cord? Are ends correctly orientated? DB 25 Pins in correct position? The jumper in the tamper will ensure no trouble light for that module.

The PC5400 is listed on DCS's website and in the PC1864 manual as compatible. It is recognized as an enrolled module and I can get into its programming function (to enable it, set the baud rate, etc).

Yes the tamper connections (T1/T2) are jumpered, if they are not jumpered the system does show a general system tamper message.

At the moment I'm working right at the panel so there is only a few feet of cable. I have tried swapping pins 2/3 (rx/tx) just in case they were backwards. I certainly thought I had the RS-232 connector correct, at least I know DTR is correct given what I documented previously. Actually I did order a RS-232 breakout box in order to better diagnose the pin-out, but it's a few days away. I have pinned out many RS-232 connectors over the years. I understand RS-232 well. When the PC5400 is configured without DTR handshake, in theory, it should work with only two pins connected, signal ground and transmit data (from the PC5400's perspective). Even if the baud rate was miss-matched I would see something.

I suppose I should verify each pin on the RJ12 cable that was provided just in case it's bad.

I'm just wondering if the module works the way I thought it did, printing every event by default. Or, other than "enabling" the module, is the something else that needs to be done in order to tell the system what events to print.

It seems so simple, so I'm just trying to confirm that I'm not completely missing something.

Thanks!

Okay, with some further testing today I have confirmed that the RS-232 is correct. If I unplug/plug the printer, now I see a message saying printer offline, printer online. So the device produces output.

Sounds like you probably have the manual or access to their secure area of their site. I have access myself, and if you don't have the pinouts of the DB25 to 6 conductor, I don't see a problem providing it.
Wonder if there is a location in the Control Panels Programming to enable Printer Output?

The PC5400 ships with the install guide so I have the RJ12 pinout. The RS-232 connection is working because it prints "PC5400 printer on-line". I have read and re-read the PC1864 install manual, there must be something I'm missing. Thanks

As far as No phone, you just need to disable communications and disable Telephone line monitor. On the 1832 it is locations 015, and 380 I believe. This will eleminate a trouble from a Lack of Communication.
When you say you enrolled it, you mean you did a 902 to enable supervision, and then 903 to verify the Panel sees the PC 5400 Module? Light 20 should be lit.
Also try selecting the other printer option(40 or 80 Column Printer)

I don't have a phone error, I disabled the communicator as you have documented, just in case that could be a factor re PC5400. Yes I did a 902,903 and I have changed the column size. I have LCD keypads, so I don't get a "light 20". Thanks!

When you do 903, your keypads and anything on the Buss should show up after doing 902.
I like an Alpha Display keypad on all systems I install to ensure Accurate Programming, The Led and Icon can get misinterpreted unless you work with them.
I do like the LED keypad in the bedroom so I can SEE which zone is violated. And Even the Icon Keypad even though it doesn't allow custom names, etc, it does have 4 different programmable chime sounds.
On mine, front door is 1 chime, Garage door is another sound, the Shed in back is a 3rd, ant the 4th alarm chime is my van. I have a door/window transmitter in my van and wirelessly chimes my inside Keypads, I can tell when my vehicle is opened. Someone at the Van will not.

Telephone line monitor will show a trouble if voltage is not present at telco input.
Failure to communicate will show a trouble when an alarm occurs and can not get a hold of a Receiver.
Did your keypads show up in 903?

Yes, I have 3 keypads, 2 expansion modules and the PC5400 and they all show up when a view module supervision operation is performed, 903. Actually everything works great except the PC5400 never prints anything other than its "online banner".

I have discovered that if I press the keypad fire button, I get a message via the PC5400. So this means that there is definitely something to configure if I wish to record zone openings and closings.

Are you trying to arm/disarm, trigger the alarm to get it to print?
Do you have their tech support number?

Arm / disarm doesn't trigger a print event. I expect that if I armed the system and triggered an alarm it would.

I have not considered calling DSC as it is my understanding that they strictly work only with certified installers rather than end users. Have you had a different experience?

I am a DSC Dealer/Installer, I don't have a problem with Tech Support, I will give them a call and pick their brains, and see if I can get you to talk directly to them,
You also have the Manual for the 1864 and Installer code it sounds like?

Yes, I'm installing the system from scratch and I have all the installer manuals (they ship with the product) and I haven't even bothered to change the default installer code. Thanks!

I found an interesting document: http://www.walkerhomesecurity.com/home_alarm_manuals/dsc/pc5400_v2-2_is_en_na_dvacs_29003165_r000.pdf

Look at page 6, section 42, option 6 (Miscellaneous Transmission Options)

Given this I tried changing the PC1864 [367]-[374] Opening/Closing Communicator Call Directions, but that didn't work. Have a feeling the solution is somewhere between reporting codes sections 328 and 347.

For anyone else that comes across this thread, through a local DSC dealer I have been put in touch with DSC.

The PC5400 is not a print logger as I thought, it is designed to report alarm events. However, there is a work around and I am gathering information on this right now. It relates to configuring a second partition and have a PGM follow a standard door contact and trip a 24 hour supervisory zone in Partition 2.

Brent999, any chance you could ellaborate more on your answer... I am considering a PC5400 for my power832 system and was hoping it is a print logger (all events are sent to the printer)... is that not the case ?

No the PC5400 is not a print logger (although I think it should be). It basically logs arm/disarm,installer code in/out, alarm events and the like. See my next comment...

An explanation of how to accomplish this with a PC5400 is otherwise complicated. I'll add to my "answer" (at the end of the thread I think. Unfortunately this thread is getting long and "comments" don't allow for very many characters.

Well I'm glad I'm saving someone else time. I think my misconception is a common one. The IT-100 or IT-120 boards, I believe, will allow you to accomplish door contact opening/closings, but that requires two-way (smart) communication. Also note, the PC5400 does not print zone information in a “labeled� format, when a zone triggers an alarm, it's reported by number only. That is to say, reporting is not done with any keypad labeling you might have set up. The PC5400 does connect to the keypad bus, it could in theory do this, but it does not. I have come to the conclusion that the PC5400 is a rarely used module.

Anyway, I have two work arounds for the PC5400 open/close reporting issue, neither of which I implemented because I don't like them.

1) The DSC solution is as follows. Use a PGM output rather than a Zone terminal. Connect each PGM terminal to any door (contact) that you wish to log open/close events for. Set up that PGM output for “follow� and make it a “24 hour supervisory zone� on Partition 2.

I know this is not the best explanation, but with some research into the manual, hopefully it is enough for someone to figure it out. Because I have not personally done it, I don't have all the details, but the concept makes sense.

Anyway, here is the problem with this method. This door will not contribute to your standard Partition 1 alarm system. Also, you typically have limited PGM outputs (although you can increase these using a PC5204, power supply, board) so you cannot make “every� contact log. As a side effect, partition 2 will be in constant alarm mode, but it won't otherwise cause your siren or keypad to alarm.

2) My solution, which I never implemented, but after some thought, it is what I would do. Have the door contact trigger a double pole relay. Connect one pole to your Partition 1 zone and then the other to your PGM follower.

The problem with this method is that you have introduced a relay and that is another point of failure in the system. Also, this messes up EOL termination, but since most of us don't use proper EOL termination (where the terminator is at the contact rather than inside the alarm box!), I don't think that is too much of a problem. With some thought, there might be a work around for the termination issue. The matter of relay reliability, I believe is not extraordinary, small board mount relays are inexpensive and are very reliable. Also, with some thought, one could “group� contacts and connect one PGM to multiple relays, thereby report openings and closings grouped (e.g. all exterior doors). This would address the issue of limited PGM outputs verses zone connections.

There might be a modification to this where by you could take half of your zones and assigned them to Partition 2 and accomplish with Zones rather than PGMs.


With this said, I'm still happy with my setup. I connected the PC5400 to a Digi SP One (powered by the alarm system) which fires the PC5400 output through my home network to a Linux server. With a very small shell script I grab every line of PC5400 output and text it to my phone. It works great. Every time the system is armed, disarmed, goes in/out of installer mode, goes into alarm or has any zone crossed during the entry/exit, this process gives me a text.

With motivation a little Perl script could likely accomplish event reporting with a IT-100/120, then contact opening/closings could be reported in a portable (Windows/Linux) way. This would do what I think lots of people would like. I've expended as much time as I can on my little project, but may with my experience documented perhaps someone else will take this a step further.

I thought about using a doublepole relay to allow zone control and logging as well, and don't like adding a potential problem. This is if a second contact can't be installed.
I was actually thinking of using a DSC Panel in My truck, and have the contact(relay from dome light) go to a zone input, and program as a keyswitch. So when I open my door it effectively arms/disarms(logs a time), and can be viewed through the Event log on the Keypad.
Sometimes I get to an Emergency Job and forget to take note of the exact time, this would allow seeing when I got there.
I just got off the phone with DSC, and they say it prints the same info as the Event Log on an Alpha Keypad.
I don't have a Manual in fron of me now, and don't have much call or experience with Partitions to see a zone could be Global and have second partition silent, May be something in Zone attributes that could be changed as well. I will look into this later.
Good deal you are sticking it out. Take care

FYI. My info came from the head of technical training (I don't recall his name). He said that it was good that I reached him as most of people in tech support would not know the work around he provided to me.

Thanks a lot for that explanation, much appreciated. I guess to sum up, for simple logging the PC5400 should do. For more complete logging (door/window open/close etc.. not just arming) maybe the PC5401/IT-100 is a better choice ?

I don't have an answer to your question iammrsam regards the PC5401/IT-100, I can speculate that the IT-100 with more complex programming (two-way communication) will create a logger. Having said this, I did prove the work around that I described in this thread and I am now adding to my answer with the details. It turns out it's not too bad...

The basic solution is to create a “24 Hour Supervision (Hardwired)� type 09 zone in partition 2. Let say we use Z50. When this zone is triggered it generates an instant alarm and log event on partition 2 which is otherwise invisible for our purposes. Add a 5.6K resistor between Z50 and its common (even if you don't use EOL termination!). I tried without the resistor and got a zone fault even though my system is configured for no EOL termination.

This zone, Z50, is wired to a PGM, say PGM1. PGM1 “follows� zones in partition 1 (the only partition most people use). I programmed PGM1 as a zone follower type 29 (Zone Follower (Zones 1 – 8) with attribute 3 (switches to ground when activated, but otherwise is an “open collector� or open circuit).

So here is how it works. The PGM activates on ranges of zone depending on which follower zone range you select. For example, I wired all my exterior zones Z1 through Z8 and then “followed� them with PGM1. Whenever one of these zones opens, the PGM activates. Since the PGM is wired to a 24 hour supervision zone, this generates an immediate alarm and logs an event to the PC5400. This means every time an exterior door is opened, I get a log event. However, because the 24 supervision zone is on partition 2, it doesn't cause an audible alarm.

This methodology can be extended. For example, since I have more than 8 exterior zones the reality is that I need to follow Z1 through Z16. So I have to create two zone follower PGMs, but I should be able to wire them both to the same zone follower (I haven't proven this yet, but I'm pretty sure it will work).

So here are the itemized details:
- Assign a PGM to partition 1
- Program PGM as a zone follower attribute 3 (default). Select the zone follower type based on the range of zones you wish to follow.
- Enable partition 2
- Create a “24 Hour Supervision (Hardwired)� type 09 zone
- Assign the 24 hour supervision zone to partition 2
- Put a 5.6k resistor between this partition 2 supervision zone and common
- Run a wire from the PGM to the partition 2 supervision zone

A correction to my list above. With regard to PGM partition assignment. PGM zone followers don't assign to a partition, they assign to zones. So in the "partition assignement" you want to select all zones you want to follow. So in my first bullet "Assign a PGM to partition 1", that is wrong, it should say "Assign PGM to partition (zones) 1-8 according which zones you wish to follow".