Napco 3200

Digger01

I own an american alarm system Napco Gem 3200.
Get a low battery status message E02:00 sys trouble.
Now alarm backup battery is 10 years old and voltage reads 13.2 V so
is it safe to assume battery is good ?
I have checked fuses and there is nothing blown.
About 5 years ago I soldered a replacement fus on to control panel board
as I accidently it messing around with board, so I thinking now that I might have a dry joint across this fuse . But I checked continuity across where
both legs of fuse are soldered onto board and there is continuity.
So I suppose my question is ,should I replace the battery as first port of call even though it obviously is charging if it reads 13.2 V or could it be a dry joint after 5 years.???

Redshift

Wrong Forum BTW, check out the home security Forum.
I'm amazed you got 10 years out a standby battery these are good for around 5 years and after 10 you can be pretty much sure it's toast and you will probably find the 13.2 volt reading will halve in seconds under any kind of load

Digger01

Yeah it's amazing it's 10 years old ,but what's more confusing is the voltage
is still perfect 13.2 V, from reading around, the alarm logs an error if the battery drops to below 11v ,so thats what is confusing ?? I think I might just
buy a new battery but I'm not confident it's going to fix problem.

Redshift

I've seen it many times, A battery will read the correct voltage but as soon as you pull the mains supply the system powers down and the battery reads 5 or 6 volts.
Try measuring the battery voltage with the mains supply disconnected assusing your system stays powered how quickly is the voltage dropping?

I can promise you at 10 years old you should change it out regardless.

altor

When the battery drops to this level you will get the low battery warning. If you disconnect the mains going to the panel do you still get the 13.2v ? If the battery starts to discharge when no mains is present then replacing the battery should solve the issue.

Digger01

Sorry I didn't make myself clear , the battery is reading 13.2 V disconnected from the system. It is a 12v 7amp battery. installed in early 2001........ Now what I may do is leave the battery disconnected for an hour or 2 and check the voltage again on it.

altor

Digger01 wrote: »

Sorry I didn't make myself clear , the battery is reading 13.2 V disconnected from the system. It is a 12v 7amp battery. installed in early 2001........ Now what I may do is leave the battery disconnected for an hour or 2 and check the voltage again on it.

It has lasted well. What you should do is disconnect the mains and see how long before the battery drops below the 11v level.

Digger01

Right I took some interesting readings,

With the alarm power disconnected and running on backup battery
the battery reads 2.6V
Then measured Aux power terminals and it read 2.6V
As before with battery disconnected from system altogether 13.2V
So it looks like any load on the battery and she drops to 2.6V
So going to get a replacement battery and will report back if this fixed problem.I'm a bit more optimistic that a new battery will solve problem.

altor

The battery needs to be replaced, this will sort the low battery issue your having.