Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[erlwebmail]

Newly-installed SC1200 with four of the usual door/window monitoring and one motion sensor. Works great, but won't dial out when tripped.

Did I forget to set something during setup? I've set:
---new PIN
---chime/siren on, house-code/light-code set
---exit/entry/dial/answer delays set (default 30/60/5/30 sec. numbers)
---no timers set
---one phone number set (it's a cell phone)
      (two pauses, 1, area code, 7 digits, total 13, which is less than the 16 limit)
---message recorded

I have a standard house "land line" phone line plus DSL. There's a DSL filter on the SC1200 cord. There are several phones (all with DSL filters) and an answering machine (also filtered, followed by a telephone).

Dialing the same cell phone number from the phone line works. Tripping the alarm gives a siren tone, but the SC1200 doesn't dial. (Picked up the phone when it should be dialing,  got a dial tone.)

What have I forgotten?  ...or done wrong?

[Brian H]

Mostly curious.
Why did you need the two pauses?
Your cell phone is not local so you need to add the 1?

[erlwebmail]

...turns out that if you: ---enter a second phone number    and/or:
---work your way through all six phone number entries, not necessarily entering a number, just entering
it seems to work fine. I entered the same cell number, 1 xxx xxx xxxx, a second time, this time without the two pauses. I worked my way through the rest of the numbers, hitting "OK" without entering anything.

I tripped the alarm and let the cell phone ring. It showed two missed calls. I reset the alarm, then tripped it again, and this time, I picked up. It was in the middle of the 2nd (of 3) reading of the message. I pressed a phone button a couple of times, and the siren quit. I walked toward the alarm unit and made some noise, and could hear it, so it worked.
Speculation: We live in a cellphone reception fringe area, and it often takes a bit for the call to go through. (Many people don't have the patience to wait for six or 8 rings. The X-10 may be this way.) It seems to take the system a while to locate your phone, so maybe you have to call it twice (or more) in succession before the provider's systems can locate your phone.
Conclusions: (1) Program your emergency numbers twice if there's a significant phone system delay where you live or are likely to be. (2) I wonder if a couple of pauses AFTER the number would help.  ...think I'll try that next.

[erlwebmail]

Mostly curious.
Why did you need the two pauses?
Your cell phone is not local so you need to add the 1?

I used the two pauses because, with an earlier (DS7000) model, it started dialing before there was a dial tone and there was no way to pause. I have yet to resolve that issue.  ...but that's another thread. Good thought, though. I'll try it without.  ...but see my second post. Hopefully your insight will help.

Yes, my cell phone is not local, so I need the full 1+area code+7-digits.

[erlwebmail]

Your comment questioning the pauses was right on! (...or, at least, triggered the right neurons.)
I re-programmed the X-10 for one phone number only, 1 xxx xxx xxxx (pause)(pause)(pause), and it worked. I answered the cell phone in the middle of the 1st of 3 readings of the message.

Hopefully this will take care of my problem with the REAL problem, slow phone service provider connection problems. Looks like X-10's new security system works great, after all.

[Brian H]

Glad you found a solution.