Hello everyone, I’d really appreciate any help from you folks here.
While I was replacing an alarm keypad on my system (Vista 20p), I accidentally shorted the red and black wires coming from the main alarm panel. Now, there’s no power, no lights on the new keypad or the other one in a different location, and nothing on the eyezon module by the panel.
It looks like the transformer is still giving power to the panel, but there’s no power going out from the panel itself.
Did I totally ruin the alarm panel? Is there anything I can do to fix this, or do I have to replace the whole 20p unit?
If you have a meter handy, try removing the black and red wires from the aux power terminals (4 and 5, I think) and check if there’s still power coming through.
I’m no Honeywell expert, but I’ve been in the alarm field for years. First thing, check your power supply (the plug at the wall that powers the panel). If you’ve got power there but nothing on the panel, it might be fried. Also, look for any fuses on the panel or inline. Not sure if Vista panels have them, but it’s worth a check.
I’m not familiar with the Vista 20p since it’s not used here in the UK, but I know other models like Galaxy panels have small glass fuses on the aux/data lines. Even if a fuse is blown, it doesn’t mean there’s no other damage to the keypad or other components.
Agree with what was mentioned, first unplug the transformer for the Vista 20p from the wall, then disconnect the battery, and take all wires off terminals 4 and 5. After that, plug the transformer back in, set your multimeter to DC, put black on terminal 4 and red on 5; you should see 12V DC.
If you’re getting 12V on the meter, the panel likely still has life. Add the black wires back to terminal 4, then slowly add each red wire to terminal 5 to start powering up each device one by one. If adding a wire causes the system to go down, isolate that device as it might be faulty.
This is how I’ve checked Vista panels that got hit by lightning in the field.