HKC alarm nightmare

irishgrafter

Hey guys,

I was hoping someone could help me out. A couple of nights ago in the dead of night my alarm went off. When I went to the keypad it read "no rkp comms" and it wouldn't take any of the codes, in fact it wasnt responding at all. After 15-20 panicky minutes of the outside alarm blaring (not the inside one mind you) the alarm outside shut off itself. Since then the keypad will not take any commands and "no rkp comms" is constantly flashing on the screen. A couple of months ago another fault set it off and it read "panel batt low" could this have anything to do with it as i never replaced any battery because it still worked fine up until this mishap. Also, the power light on the keypad is not illuminated (but the keypad is on)and the fault light is illuminated constantly. The keypad stays on even after Removing the battery from the control box so i'm terrified it will go off again at some ungodly hour and wont shut off at all. please, SOMEONE HELP!!!!!! Thanks a million in advance.

kub

It did warn you......the battery in your panel is knackered, so much so it is actually sapping power from the panel, there is no longer enough power now on the panel to even keep the keypad in full functioning order.

At this hour of the night, you could remove the leads from the battery, I reckon the system should power back up again fully for you, just be prepared for the racket.

Your own user code should stop it......ps have you contacted your installation company? Do they not have a 24 hour on call service?

irishgrafter

Hey kub, thanks for the quick reply. I tried removing the battery but it has had no affect at all. The remote keypad is still non-functional and still constantly flashing "NO RKP COMMS" and wont take any inputs. The guy who installed it was a self-employed guy I think and the No he gave me (only about 3 years ago) is disconnected, as far as I know he is in Oz now with the rest of Ireland!

irishgrafter

Hey kub, thanks for the quick reply. I tried removing the battery but it has had no affect at all. The remote keypad is still non-functional and still constantly flashing "NO RKP COMMS" and wont take any inputs. The guy who installed it was a self-employed guy I think and the No he gave me (only about 3 years ago) is disconnected, as far as I know he is in Oz now with the rest of Ireland!

Thunderbird2

No RKP comms means the keypad can't communicate with the panel .. Possibly the wire is damaged ( mice , renovations ect)

Jnealon

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

No RKP comms means the keypad can't communicate with the panel .. Possibly the wire is damaged ( mice , renovations ect)

Not likely, this usually happens when the panel crashes and any number of things could have caused it. IIRC, the led on the board in panel is on constant then it's crashed, if it's flashing then the software is running.
Like kub said it is probably the battery

fred funk }{

Power it down completely and power it back up with just the mains, no battery.

irishgrafter

Hey again,

Just wanted to give an update on my alarm. Rang an alarm company yesterday and told him over the phone the problems i've been having with the alarm (the "low panel batt" warning and then the "no RPK comms" warning and the keypad seizing up altogether). The guy said that it sounded like the keypad was knackered and suggested fitting a new one, which he could do for €400 approx, €120 for the keypad and €280 for about 3 hrs labour fitting and programming it. As the alarm system itself is only about 4 yrs old I thought it odd that the keypad should go so soon, so I asked the guy if it might just be that the battery is knackered and he said no, definitely not.

Anyway I decided to take KUB and JNealon's advice and I purchased a new battery. I just fitted it an hour ago and once I restored the mains power the fault cleared and the system is back to full working order. Thanks a million for saving me a possible €400 lads.

irishgrafter

By the way all, sorry for originally posting this in the wrong thread. Still got my training wheels on boards! Thanks again to all for the expert advice. legends all yiz!!

KoolKid

€400 and 3 hours labour to replace a keypad. Some lads a so funny..

Thunderbird2

Wow €400 to fit a keypad ? Are you sure he didn't mean a new keypad and panel ? You could fit an entire wireless system in that amount of time . I'd love to know what company this was . If you could PM me that'd be great :-)
Seriously do people actually fall for this ?
Scandalous !

kub

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

Wow €400 to fit a keypad ? Are you sure he didn't mean a new keypad and panel ? You could fit an entire wireless system in that amount of time . I'd love to know what company this was . If you could PM me that'd be great :-)
Seriously do people actually fall for this ?
Scandalous !

Thunderbird you might please Pm me with it as well. I hope it was a full panel and keypad he meant, the chap was obviously making a big deal out of a faulty battery.
Its guys like him that give the rest of us that bad image of being robbers.

KoolKid

Either way a panel replacement was not required.

irishgrafter

Hey lads,

Back again. As im only a newbie on boards I cant PM anyone until I clock up 25 posts I think. But yes €400 (or somewhere in that region) was what he said to replace the remote keypad alone and a few hours fitting & programming the new one. He reckoned this would work out cheaper than spending hours trying to find the fault in the original RKP (the fix being as suggested by you guys, power down to clear the fault and to replace the battery for the princely sum €14)

I don't want to offend anyone on a public forum, but suffice to say they are based in I think the D12 region. Being a boards.ie member saved me a bundle. Many thanks to all.

IrG

KoolKid

There is no reprogramming of the system when you replace a keypad...:eek:
What was he going to do for 3 hours. You couldn't make that job last that long if you tried.

Thunderbird2

There should be a name and shame sticky haha .

irishgrafter

Really. When replacing a keypad no re-programming is needed. It would of been interesting had I took him up on the offer to see what he'd of done for the 3 hours seeing as it's a pretty small house. Just for future reference is €120 about standard for a replacement HKC remote keypad, and roughly how much should a job like that run me(to replace and fit a new HKC keypad)? Thanks all.

IrG.

KoolKid

Price is not too far off the mark. Call outs vary a lot from company to company. It could be anywhere from €60 to €130.
Certainly never what yer man was asking.

Thunderbird2

The 8/12 HKC keypads are no more than€90 . The newest RF keypad is around €120 . It amazes me that installers are allowed charge the prices you were quoted

irishgrafter

Thanks for that, good to know. Also good to know honest tradesmen still exist being a Landscaper myself. I felt like I was in an episode of that programme rogue traders when he quoted €400 (ish). And the 'ish' prob meant another €100 or so.

altor

irishgrafter wrote: »

Hey again,

Just wanted to give an update on my alarm. Rang an alarm company yesterday and told him over the phone the problems i've been having with the alarm (the "low panel batt" warning and then the "no RPK comms" warning and the keypad seizing up altogether). The guy said that it sounded like the keypad was knackered and suggested fitting a new one, which he could do for €400 approx, €120 for the keypad and €280 for about 3 hrs labour fitting and programming it. As the alarm system itself is only about 4 yrs old I thought it odd that the keypad should go so soon, so I asked the guy if it might just be that the battery is knackered and he said no, definitely not.

Anyway I decided to take KUB and JNealon's advice and I purchased a new battery. I just fitted it an hour ago and once I restored the mains power the fault cleared and the system is back to full working order. Thanks a million for saving me a possible €400 lads.

That would be some profit, I don't know how some company's can get away with quoting prices like this. I suppose people who are unaware of the situation can only take an installers word. That is the good thing about the home security forum. Lots of information plus help for end users.

If the keypad was IDed on to the system it would be a bigger job if there was no engineer code available but nothing to justify the price you where quoted.