The DSC Power Series hardwire systems, like all systems have limits to their output used for sirens and strobes. You are limited to no more than 2 amps short-term draw with a good backup battery. Short term means during a reasonable alarm period. I’d recommend keeping your bell cutoff time to under 5 minutes to stay within the “short term” guidelines.
Note: The manual states the limit is 700ma, however this is without a backup battery and a continuous rating and as such is usually not pertinent to most users. You’ll find current draw ratings on the sounders and strobes we sell, but as a general rule we tell people you can put one indoor siren and one outdoor siren on the system and stay under this 2 amp limit. Of course you could swap the indoor siren for a strobe and stay under too since strobes typically draw less. If you need more than this however it’s time to look at an additional power supply to power additional sirens or strobes. For adding extra power to your DSC Power Series panel we suggest using the DSC PC5204. This 5204 will get you an additional 1 amp continuous or 2 amps short-term additional juice. So if using exclusively for output power you could again add an indoor and an outdoor siren to the 5204 and be within its limits. Here is a list of equipment that you will need to accomplish this task:
1 – DSC PC5204 Power Supply Module
1 - DSC PC5003c large expansion cabinet
1 - Power Transformer (16.5vac, 40va)
1 – Backup Battery And, of course, your siren or strobes…
Now, as you see in the diagram in this article, it’s pretty simple to hook up. You can actually download the diagram to make it easier on you by visiting this link: You will just hook up the wiring as you see in the diagram provided. You will also need to do a few simple programming steps in the panel to make this all work. So get your installer code ready and let’s go through it. First step you’ll need to perform is entering *8 and your installer code. If you’ve never changed the default factory installer code (it would be a good idea to do so at some point) then you’d enter *8 5555.
You will now be in programming mode and, if you have an alpha-numeric keypad like the PK5500, you will see that it is now asking you for a section. You will then enter section 011 and input 01. This makes the PGM1 output on the PC5204 Power a ‘Burglary and Fire Bell Output’. This definition tells the output on the 5204 to follow the siren output on the main system. So what ever the main panel output is doing this one will follow suite and trigger accordingly. After you do this then you can exit programming by pressing the ‘#’ key 3 times. This is all you should need to do to get your extra sirens working with your DSC Power Series.
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