Hi all

OK so I got a Texecom Excel panel earlier in the year and the transformer
has started humming/buzzing loudly.
The supplier has sent a replacement transformer for me to fit.
The question is, can anyone see a problem with doing this (semi) live?
To avoid disarming the bell box etc., I was considering simply turning off
the mains and running the system on battery in "engineer mode" while I swap
out the transformer.
Providing I am careful not to short anything, am I taking any risks here?
Also, if I do turn the whole thing off and disconnect the battery, will I
lose programs etc.?

TIA

Phil

TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

OK so I got a Texecom Excel panel earlier in the year and the
transformer has started humming/buzzing loudly.
The supplier has sent a replacement transformer for me to fit.
The question is, can anyone see a problem with doing this (semi) live?
To avoid disarming the bell box etc., I was considering simply
turning off the mains and running the system on battery in "engineer
mode" while I swap out the transformer.
Providing I am careful not to short anything, am I taking any risks
here? Also, if I do turn the whole thing off and disconnect the
battery, will I lose programs etc.?

TIA

Phil

As long as you don't short anything you shouldn't, then the panel will just
see it as a power failure.

Make sure you turn off the mains first though!

You may find you need to remove the panel from the wall, if the transformer
is bolted from behind though.

If you power the system down totally, you will need to go up a ladder and
open the the bell box and disconnect it's battery.
Powering the panel down should not mean you loose any settings, otherwise an
extended power failure would do the same, the programming should be in non
volatile memory.

Toby...

"Toby" wrote


As long as you don't short anything you shouldn't, then the panel will
just see it as a power failure.

Make sure you turn off the mains first though!

You may find you need to remove the panel from the wall, if the
transformer is bolted from behind though.

If you power the system down totally, you will need to go up a ladder and
open the the bell box and disconnect it's battery.
Powering the panel down should not mean you loose any settings, otherwise
an extended power failure would do the same, the programming should be in
non volatile memory.

Toby...
Thanks Toby
I will check the transformer mounting.
Looked last night and it seems accessible - the securing screws are cross
heads but may have nuts on the rear of the panel.
Hopefully not - I would rather not have to demount the panel and risk
disturbing all the zone wiring.
Although I am happy with the operation of the Texecom alarm and keypads, the
panel box is a bit "waffy". Annoying that costs are cut so close that the
rigidity of the panel casing is affected.

Phil

I will check the transformer mounting.
Looked last night and it seems accessible - the securing screws are cross
heads but may have nuts on the rear of the panel.
Hopefully not - I would rather not have to demount the panel and risk
disturbing all the zone wiring.
Although I am happy with the operation of the Texecom alarm and keypads,
the panel box is a bit "waffy". Annoying that costs are cut so close that
the rigidity of the panel casing is affected.

Phil

Texecom transformers are notoriously short lived, that having been said I've
never had an issue with any of their other kit. The mounting screws on the
plastic case Excels don't have back nuts. A metal cased version of the panel
is available for about another £30.

Neil

"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all

OK so I got a Texecom Excel panel earlier in the year and the transformer
has started humming/buzzing loudly.
The supplier has sent a replacement transformer for me to fit.
The question is, can anyone see a problem with doing this (semi) live?
To avoid disarming the bell box etc., I was considering simply turning off
the mains and running the system on battery in "engineer mode" while I
swap out the transformer.
Providing I am careful not to short anything, am I taking any risks here?
Also, if I do turn the whole thing off and disconnect the battery, will I
lose programs etc.?

TIA

Phil


You can do it viajust the battery connected but as you said be careful.
Disconnect the mains and take out the protection fuse to the transformers
output side.

On Oct 1, 8:27*am, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

OK so I got a Texecom Excel panel earlier in the year and the transformer
has started humming/buzzing loudly.
The supplier has sent a replacement transformer for me to fit.
The question is, can anyone see a problem with doing this (semi) live?
To avoid disarming the bell box etc., I was considering simply turning off
the mains and running the system on battery in "engineer mode" while I swap
out the transformer.
Providing I am careful not to short anything, am I taking any risks here?
Also, if I do turn the whole thing off and disconnect the battery, will I
lose programs etc.?

TIA

Phil

Blutak pressed into the screwheads should reduce the chance of
dropping a screw into the circuitry. Its always a risk though


NT

"Toby" wrote in message
...
TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

OK so I got a Texecom Excel panel earlier in the year and the
transformer has started humming/buzzing loudly.
The supplier has sent a replacement transformer for me to fit.
The question is, can anyone see a problem with doing this (semi) live?
To avoid disarming the bell box etc., I was considering simply
turning off the mains and running the system on battery in "engineer
mode" while I swap out the transformer.
Providing I am careful not to short anything, am I taking any risks
here? Also, if I do turn the whole thing off and disconnect the
battery, will I lose programs etc.?

TIA

Phil

As long as you don't short anything you shouldn't, then the panel will
just see it as a power failure.

Make sure you turn off the mains first though!

You may find you need to remove the panel from the wall, if the
transformer is bolted from behind though.

If you power the system down totally, you will need to go up a ladder and
open the the bell box and disconnect it's battery.
Powering the panel down should not mean you loose any settings, otherwise
an extended power failure would do the same, the programming should be in
non volatile memory.

I had a panel that lost its settings when the power went, they were quite
common types and lots of places sold them.
The current one doesn't.

I didn't take the bell box battery out, I used the 12V battery as a dummy
panel while doing the swap.

In article ,
dennis@home wrote:
I had a panel that lost its settings when the power went, they were
quite common types and lots of places sold them.

Older technology.

The current one doesn't.

Newer technology.

I didn't take the bell box battery out, I used the 12V battery as a
dummy panel while doing the swap.

Personally I'd let the bell box ring. Good opportunity to check its
internal battery still works ok. No one will take any notice anyway.

--
*My designated driver drove me to drink

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...

"Toby" wrote


As long as you don't short anything you shouldn't, then the panel will
just see it as a power failure.

Make sure you turn off the mains first though!

You may find you need to remove the panel from the wall, if the
transformer is bolted from behind though.

If you power the system down totally, you will need to go up a ladder and
open the the bell box and disconnect it's battery.
Powering the panel down should not mean you loose any settings, otherwise
an extended power failure would do the same, the programming should be in
non volatile memory.

Toby...
Thanks Toby
I will check the transformer mounting.
Looked last night and it seems accessible - the securing screws are cross
heads but may have nuts on the rear of the panel.

No nuts on the rear of the panel.

Power down both then mains supply and the battery and let the bell box ring
while you do the work. 5 minutes work at most.

Adam

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:

Personally I'd let the bell box ring. Good opportunity to check its
internal battery still works ok. No one will take any notice anyway.

Well, at least they certainly won't _next_ time.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:

Personally I'd let the bell box ring. Good opportunity to check its
internal battery still works ok. No one will take any notice anyway.

Well, at least they certainly won't _next_ time.

Inform the neighbours (if they're in). As I said others will ignore it.
Unless you live in the sticks. There's alarms going off round here
regularly. The vast majority through faults - or at least not due to a
break in.
One main offender is the house on the corner at the end of this road -
appears to have two alarms judging by the different makes of bell boxes.
They are away frequently and you can near bet it will go off. If they were
all break ins the house would be a shell. ;-) I've spoken to the owner
about it and he says he reports all these faults.

--
*If you lived in your car, you'd be home by now *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"TheScullster" wrote

Thanks to all respondents.
Job done last night - just turned off mains and did a careful swap.
That buzzing/humming noise from the original was getting annoying.

Anyone know what a replacement costs when the panel is out of warranty?
Is there an alternative better quality item that will slot straight in?

TIA

Phil

In article ,
TheScullster wrote:

"TheScullster" wrote

Thanks to all respondents.
Job done last night - just turned off mains and did a careful swap.
That buzzing/humming noise from the original was getting annoying.

Anyone know what a replacement costs when the panel is out of warranty?
Is there an alternative better quality item that will slot straight in?

If the transformer still works ok but is simply noisy, checking the way
the laminations are held together may show some way of tightening them.
Also potting in epoxy, etc can work.

Other way might be to substitute a toroidal type - but that might not be
physically possible due to space.

All the big electronics suppliers have a fair range of standard
transformers - and most have data sheets with dimensions, etc. RS, CPC,
Rapid, Maplin, etc.

TIA

Phil

--
*I started out with nothing... and I still have most of it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"TheScullster" writes:

"TheScullster" wrote

Thanks to all respondents.
Job done last night - just turned off mains and did a careful swap.
That buzzing/humming noise from the original was getting annoying.

That can come from either the transformer, or be due to the way
it's mounted.

Anyone know what a replacement costs when the panel is out of warranty?

ISTR a replacement transformer for my panel (not Texecom) is about
£50 from a distributor. A similarly rated one from Maplin or CPC
would be under a tenner, but the mounting holes might not be in the
right place. If I ever needed to replace it, I would go to Maplin
or CPC or similar. I might even drop in a SMPSU nowadays, although
that might mean more modifications.

Is there an alternative better quality item that will slot straight in?

It's actually quite difficult to find good quality ones nowadays.
Noise isn't normally a problem (that's easily avoided by vacuum
varnishing the built transformer), but finding efficient transformers
is now much harder as they're mostly all made in china and as cheaply
as possible, and that isn't consistent with being efficient.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...

"TheScullster" wrote

Thanks to all respondents.
Job done last night - just turned off mains and did a careful swap.
That buzzing/humming noise from the original was getting annoying.

Anyone know what a replacement costs when the panel is out of warranty?

The same cost as a new panel :-)

Adam

"David R" wrote

For future reference, if you're using a texecom bellbox there's a
special mode that you can set by switching the strobe input on and off
3 times within 30 seconds (most panels have a test feature to do
this). After this you can power down the panel entirely and save
possible shock therapy!

David

Good call David
Now you mention it I do remember the "hold off" mode.
Very convenient when setting up the bell box in the first place.

Phil