DSC Alarm System Troubles

Many people call and state that they have a trouble light (yellow triangle) lit up on their keypad. If yours is lit up, then your system is letting you know that something isn't right. Here is an easy way to tell what the trouble may be.

On your DSC Keypad, hit " * 2 ".

If you have an LCD keypad, it will read out the trouble for you. 

If you have a fixed-English keypad, you can use the following guide to find your trouble. 

Your zone lights will turn on, indicating the type of trouble you have. 

Zone Light 1 - Service Required - Press 1 again to show exact trouble

• Light 1 = Low Panel Battery
• Light 2 = Bell/Horn Trouble
• Light 3 = General System Trouble
• Light 4 = General System Tamper
• Light 5 = General System Supervisory
• Light 6 = Not Used
• Light 7 = 5204 Power Supply Module Low Battery
• Light 8 = 5204 Power Supply Module AC Fail

Zone Light 2 - AC Failure

Zone Light 3 - Telephone Line Trouble

Zone Light 4 - Failure to Communicate

Zone Light 5 - Zone Fault - Press 5 again to show which zone

Zone Light 6  - Zone Tamper - Press 6 again to show which zone

Zone Light 7 - Zone Low Battery - Press 7 again to show which zone

Zone Light 8 - Loss of System Clock - To fix, press # to exit the trouble menu then: (* 6 + Master Code + 1 + Time and Date)
Enter the 4-digit time first in 24 hour format, followed by the 2-digit Month, Day, and Year (1 pm 12/26 2000 would be 1300+12+26+00)

If no zone lights show, this indicates a possible Fire Trouble - To Reset Smoke Detectors, hit * 72 

This is exactly how techs check to see what is wrong with your system. From this point on, you can take the information you found and take it to the next step. If your system has been fine for several years and then all of a sudden you get a trouble light, the majority of the time it is a low battery.