Fail-to-Communicate Indication

 

•"My Napco 1000-series keypad says, 'Fail to Communicate.'"  OR

•"My keypad says 'Comm Fail.'"  OR

•"My Napco 1000-series keypad has the Red, Green and Yellow lights lit and shows a "3" in the numeric display."  

•"The keypad is making a constant squeal, too.  What's wrong?"

 

These symptoms tell us that your digital dialer system tried to send a signal to the Central Station, but it failed to get the message through.  It is most often associated with an automatic test signal, but it can result from any signal, including alarms, restorals, openings and closings.  There are numerous possible causes, including:

•There's a phone line outage due to phone company repairs or downed poles; 

•Wet, pinched, rodent-eaten, bad or wrong wiring or jack causing a lack of dial tone, buzz, etc.

•A telephone repair person or handyman mis-wired or disconnected your RJ31X jack.

•A phone that is not properly wired for "line seizure" was left off-hook. 

•A damaged phone instrument, cord or telephonic device is plugged into one of your jacks.

•A snow shovel or a hunk of pipe is leaning against your terminal block in the basement;

•The RJ31X phone cord was (and could still be) unplugged for some reason.

•The dialer received repeated busy signals instead of connecting with the receiver.

•The phone network or your phone service has changed so that the dialer is now dialing an incorrect sequence of digits or an outdated access code.

•You had DSL installed and now you need a special alarm filter in the line.

•You switched your phone service to FIOS or VOIP and the dial tone is now "back fed" into one of your jacks instead of being fed into the original block.

•The dialer has been glitched or damaged by a storm, surge or static.

The system will not be happy again until it successfully sends a signal through.  After that occurs, it will behave normally again, all by itself.

You can silence the keypad sounder by performing a "Reset" function from the keypad.  

•On the Gemini and MA 2600 - 3000 Series panels, press the button marked "RESET" for a couple of seconds.  (Lower left corner)

•On the MA 1000, 1008 and 1016 Series panels, hold down the digit "9" for about five seconds.  When you first press it, there will be a response beep.  As you continue to hold it, there will be a second beep.  Then you can let go, and the system should be quiet.  

If the zones are all closed, you should get a ready light, and you will be able to set the burglar alarm.  However, you must assume that any alarms that occur may not be received by the Central Station until the underlying problem itself is rectified.  Your interior and/or exterior sirens should operate as usual.  (You can verify this by initiating a siren test from the keypad.)  The trouble indication will reappear shortly if you don't actually set the system.  It will also reappear upon disarming if the problem has not cleared up in the interim.

You next need to determine whether the system can send a signal to the Central Station.  We recommend that you conduct a manual test of the system's transmission capability.  Click here to get detailed instructions for that.  The results will suggest whether the problem has passed or is ongoing.  If a manual test fails to get through, call us for further troubleshooting assistance.  If indicated, we will schedule a service visit.  Alternatively, you may know that the signal was blocked by a specific condition or event which has since passed.  You could elect to wait until the system sends the next automatic test signal, and let the trouble clear up by itself.  If it does not clear up within 24 hours, you should conduct a manual test or have us do it for you, because an ongoing problem is likely.