X10 Community Forum

🛡Home Security => Problems and Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Billaban on July 06, 2008, 08:48:29 AM

Title: Keychain remote arming
Post by: Billaban on July 06, 2008, 08:48:29 AM
Greetings,

I regularly have some difficulty arming my system when leaving home.  I press the ARM button and don't hear the confirmation tone.  Some time ago I discovered that if I press the DISARM button (and hear the confirmation tones) and then press ARM it usual will successfully arm the system.  A few weeks ago I put new batteries in my keychain remote and still got the same results.  I have several keychain remotes and have always gotten the same results.  Anybody else seen this behavior?

Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: zach1234 on July 06, 2008, 10:52:35 AM
All I could say is that your range of the alarm is low. Have you stayed in the house and had someone arm the alarm from outside to get results. I end up doing that bi-weekly. you might want to invest in a RF Repeater http://tinyurl.com/x10repeater.
Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: PajamaGuy on July 06, 2008, 11:36:06 AM
Billaban - Is distance the issue?  What if you're next to the DS7000?
Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: Billaban on July 06, 2008, 08:29:21 PM
Greetings,

If the RF range was the issue then wouldn't it make sense to have the same problem with DISARM? i.e., that doesn't appear to be the case......

I'll do some experimenting with closer range RF control and see what kind of results I get but based on the aforementioned I don't know what to deduce from this.

thanks.
Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: tom j on July 27, 2008, 11:12:03 PM
Greetings,

I regularly have some difficulty arming my system when leaving home.  I press the ARM button and don't hear the confirmation tone.  Some time ago I discovered that if I press the DISARM button (and hear the confirmation tones) and then press ARM it usual will successfully arm the system.  A few weeks ago I put new batteries in my keychain remote and still got the same results.  I have several keychain remotes and have always gotten the same results.  Anybody else seen this behavior?



hmmm..  Well actually this is suppose to be for reviews not trouble shooting, but anyway how many feet from the base are we talking about here?

Tom j.
Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: HA Dave on July 28, 2008, 12:03:37 PM

.............. I press the ARM button and don't hear the confirmation tone.  ......... if I press the DISARM button (and hear the confirmation tones) and then press ARM it usual will successfully arm the system. 

Anybody else seen this behavior?


I have........ but I contributed the experience to my own ability to detect rhythm... in addition to the tone [chime]. Much like being able to determind a song that is hummed or whistled. Rhythm is as important as tone. So having the two tones at a precisely timed interval doesn't just double my [anyones] chance to hear the faint chime... I think it doubles it times two. That would (does?) effectively increase the range of the disarm sound... but not the RF range of the remote.

Title: Re: Keychain remote arming
Post by: Billaban on July 28, 2008, 12:15:10 PM
Interesting. 

Apparently this isn't a common problem so it is not worth pursuing further.  I moved the console to a more central location and certainly improved the RF situation relative to my basement/garage exit door.  Since then I haven't noticed the problem.  I'm fairly certain that I would have heard the single tone for ARM just as easily as I have heard the double tone for DISARM, i.e., unless several doors (that are typically open) are closed the audio amplitude was pretty good.  In any case this doesn't appear to be a widespread problem so we can drop it.  >*<

thanks.

Billaban