Pyronixs enforcer - Siren wireless poll fail on a regular basis.

[Chris41]

Hi,

Less than a year ago I installed a pyronix enforcer into my house, with a few sensors and a wireless siren externally. Recently, the alarm has been randomly sounding internally with an alert to say that "Wrls Poll Fail - Siren 1".

The siren hasn't sounded for any long periods of time over the past 9 months and the battery was brand new when it was installed. Could this possibly be a battery issue? Or could it potentially be having trouble communicating through the brick wall?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[sparkymarka]

Could be either .... does your bell module have the external psu connections ? As I’ve found less issues when powered ...

 

[Chris41]

Im not sure it does...

Do you know if there is any way to check the signal or battery life from the main panel?

 

[sparkymarka]

Engineering battery test ( bellbox ) will count down from 300s

 

[Digirunt]

There is a issue know to Pyronix with the wireless bell box picking up interference from street lights that use radio communication which causes the battery to run down much quicker than it should. Do any of the street lights close to your home have small radio antennas on the top?

 

[sparkymarka]

At a year old it will be dual frequency model so it should be ok with the street lights

 

[Digirunt]

On the older single frequency models the street light issues caused a jamming issue whereby it blocked the frequency altogether. On the newer dual frequency models it causes the bell box to wake up from sleep mode and switch frequency regularly which causes the batteries to run down quicker and in some cases this can be only a couple of months.

 

[steveo44]

On the older single frequency models the street light issues caused a jamming issue whereby it blocked the frequency altogether. On the newer dual frequency models it causes the bell box to wake up from sleep mode and switch frequency regularly which causes the batteries to run down quicker and in some cases this can be only a couple of months.

Very interesting. You have a document to back this theory up please?

 

[Digirunt]

I don't have a document to hand that I can share but I work for a Pyronix distributor and Pyronix themselves provided this information recently. Apparently in some areas the issue was significant enough to prompt the council to change the frequency used by the street lights. Their advice is usually that the customer installs a dummy on the front (or affected part of the property) and moves the live bell further away from the source of interference but I can't comment on how effective that would be given the range of the devices. If you are a registered installer and you contact Pyronix tech support they will confirm that they are aware of this issue.

 

[sparkymarka]

If that was the case the transmitting of the street lights would only be ... on and off in every 24 hrs ...can’t see that draining the battery ...

 

[Digirunt]

Apart from just controlling the lights the radio link is also used for health and efficiency monitoring of the lighting network which means the lights can transmit more often and for a sustained period in some cases. As this FOI request shows, the lights use the same 868 MHz frequency as the Pyronix alarms. While this doesn't seem to be an issue for devices inside a house because of the low transmit power of the lights, Pyronix have verified that it is is causing an issue with some external bell boxes by causing them to frequently switch channels which in turn reduces the battery life.

 

[Chris41]

That's interesting, as there is a street light directly in front of the bellbox.

Do you think pyronix would correct this problem with the battery drain? or will I need to install the box in a different location?

 

[Digirunt]

They don't have a technical solution yet as the whole system relies on the 868 MHz frequency so if it turns out that this is the case moving it might be the best option. The output power from the street lights is very low so it doesn't penetrate walls etc so moving to a different face of the building could help if this doesn't put the bell box too far from the panel.

Does the street light have a small radio antenna on it? Typically it's the newer LED street lights that have these.

Alternatively as sparkymarka pointed out if you may be able to power the bell box from an external power supply and this would also solve the problem.

 

[steveo44]

If the new devices are dual frequency what are the two frequencies? 868 and ???

 

[bernardgreen]

Recently, the alarm has been randomly sounding internally with an alert to say that "Wrls Poll Fail - Siren 1".

Could this possibly be a battery issue?

Unlikely, if it were a battery problem then it would not be random fails, instead once the battery was depleted all polls would fail to get a reply from the siren. ( unless the siren has a solar panel to re-charge the battery )

I would suggest that the transmissions from the street lighting are blocking the receiver in the siren and thus the siren is unaware that it is being polled and does not reply to the panel.

Alternatively as sparkymarka pointed out if you may be able to power the bell box from an external power supply and this would also solve the problem.

If the problem is a blocked receiver then improving the power supply will not solve the problem. A solution that would work is to separate the receiver from the siren and locate the receiver in a location where the signal from the street lights is low enough to not block the receiver. Then connect the trigger from the receiver to the siren via a cable, and supply power on the same cable to avoid the need to ever change the battery. This would be a design change.