I recently moved into a house that has an older DSC PC5010 alarm system, likely installed around 1996. A few weeks ago, we had a thunderstorm, and I think a nearby lightning strike may have damaged the board. The thunder was intense enough to rattle the house, and it caused the siren on the PC5010 to activate. I ended up disconnecting the wires from the terminal to stop the noise, but I’ve now noticed that the control panels are blank and unpowered (we rarely use the system since we’re not often away for long periods).
I have a couple of questions:
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Is there a way to check if the board is actually blown? I’m hoping to troubleshoot this myself to avoid the cost of calling in professionals.
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If the board is blown, can I replace it and re-use the existing hardwired devices? Should I look for another PC5010 board, or is there a newer or better model available? Alternatively, would it be worth considering a different manufacturer?
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POTS Connection: The system has a POTS (plain old telephone service) connection, but we haven’t activated it, and I’m not even sure if it’s functional. Would it be better to try and re-use the POTS for a central station connection, or should I consider finding a new board with Wi-Fi integration? We want to connect our smoke detectors/fire alarm to a central station, so I’m debating whether to use POTS for that and then get a Wi-Fi board for phone alerts.
I’m really out of my element here and would appreciate any advice or recommendations on where to start researching. Any guidance would be incredibly helpful!
Thanks in advance for your help!