Aritech CS350 external bell not working but internal bell/strobe do work.

GBSII

I had a bell tamper open zone error when attempting to set the alarm; up the ladder to check the bell box ( ear plugs in); found a loose connection on the tamper switch that came away in my hand.

The bell was going so I disconnected one of the bell wires to kill the alarm; managed to lever out the tamper switch. Opened up the cabinet box; cancelled the internal alarm; luckily, I found a 4K7 resistor in the box, left by the installer back in the day. Removed the yellow wire from terminal 17 ; connected the 4K7 resistor between terminals 16 and 17, leaving the black wire connected to terminal 16 (bell hold off).

Back up the ladder to reconnect the external bell wire to its post; tested the alarm. Got the internal bell and strobe going only (strobe in the external bell box) but not a peep out of the external bell.

I have a multi-meter to check voltage. Has anybody any ideas to fix this?
Regards, Brian

KoolKid

If you meter between Bell + & Aux - are you getting 13 vdc?
Are you triggering a dull alarm to activate the external bell?

GBSII

Koolkid, I measured 13.87V across Bell + and Aux -.
I am taking terminal 4 to be Bell + and terminal 3 to be Aux - (As per diagram on it the inside of the cabinet box cover).
I am not sure what a “dull alarm” is, but this is what I did to trigger the alarm.
Set the alarm.
Leave the house and lock door.
Wait for timeout to finish.
Bang on the front window to trigger.
This resulted in the internal bell to sound and external strobe to flash.
But nothing from the external ball.
I measured 1.24V across Bell - (terminal 5) and Bell +. Is this to be expected?

KoolKid

Dull should be full alarm.. ðŸ˜
What voltage are you getting across the bell + & Bell - when you trigger the alarm?
Can you try trying to trigger a panic alarm?
If you connect bell - to aux - does the external bell sound?

GBSII

I triggered the alarm and measured 13.54V across Bell + and Bell -.

GBSII

I connected Aux - and Bell -. Did not hear the external bell.

GBSII

I measured zero volts across the external bell terminals, with the alarm triggered (internal bell and external bell going).
I have removed the tamper switch in the external box (4K7 resistor across terms. 16 and 17 in the cabinet box), leaving the tamper switch terminals disconnected.

GBSII

So I have 13.54V across Bell + and Bell - in the cabinet box, but zero volts across the bell terminals in the external box, when the alarm is sounding.

KoolKid

If you disconnect the cables at the bell box & measure the voltage are you getting 13.5 on the cable when the alarm triggers.?
Are you sure the speaker cables are not disconnected in the bell box?

GBSII

Thanks Koolkid, I will check this out in daylight tomorrow.

GBSII

I measured ZERO volts across the SIREN (bell) terminals on the siren box PCB (HKC Siren) with the bell wires disconnected and the alarm triggered.
The bell looked well connected to the two terminals before I removed them to measure the voltage.

I measured 13.5V across the SUPPLY terminals on the board.

KoolKid

Sounds like a cable problem.
Disconnect all connections on that cable & check continuity across all cores.

GBSII

Koolkid, I can report success! The external bell now sounds on a full alarm trigger (in addition to the internal bell and the external strobe light)!
As per your advice I checked the wiring and retraced the steps in my mind as to what I had changed.
1. Initially, I had an open zone “Bell tamper” message on the LCD panel when attempting to trigger the alarm.
2. I checked the bell box and found the tamper switch (otehall ZERO PLUS, 383/25/10 ZD60) with rusted terminals that came away in my hand. This explained the”Bell tamper” message.
3. In the cabinet box, I disconnected the yellow wire from terminal 17 and connected a 4k7 ohm resistors across terminal 16 and 17.
4. This brought me to a stage where the alarm armed, but on trigger only sounded the internal bell and external stobe. With not a peep out of the external bell!
5. So I looked at the wiring in the bell box. I saw the two terminals hanging loose that had been connected to the tamper switch. I reckoned that with the tamper switch in place and the bell box cover on, these two wires would be connected. So I wired in a jumper wire between the TAMPER SWITCH terminals on the bell box printed circuit board.
6. On triggering the alarm, the external bell now sounded!

KoolKid

Thanks for the update. Glad you got it all sorted.