Replacing Optima XM with G3

[Guest Nervous Amateur]

I've been thinking about replacing the Optima XM panel which was already installed in my house when I bought it, about 6 years ago. I'd like to be able to have a couple of remote keypads, because the panel itself is installed in a cupboard, plus the panel is pretty old anyway.

I had a look at the installation manual for the Accenta/Optima G3, and the board and connections look very similar to the XM, so I was hoping I'd be able to do a straight swap.

However, I can't understand the way the board has been connected, and because of the inaccessibility of the wiring there's no way I can trace it - I think there are a load of cable connections hidden in a partition wall behind the panel.

The puzzling point is that the strobe -ve terminal has a connection to it, but not the strobe +ve, and also the T (Tamper return?) terminal of the bell box tamper terminals, but not the A terminal. I can't see how this would work, unless the wire connected to the T terminal is tied to 0v. I've never seen the strobe working, so wouldn't be surprised if it's not connected.

Anyway, my main question is - if I wired a new G3 panel in exactly the same way is there any reason to think that it wouldn't work? I've attached a picture of the board for clarity.

[Guest dale]

Does look a bit dodgy, looks as if the external sounder hasnt been connected right as I would have thought A is the switched output to activate the sounder, but its not connected! I assume behind the blue there's a T - for negative tamper return.

Has one of the wires come out? Does your external sounder work?

Yellow is switched neg to activate Strobe,

Red (+12v) Black (-ve switched) power... not sure why there's two black wires?

Blue is negative tamper retun - as Dave correctly pointed out this is actualy hold- (although dunno why they called it A?)

D

[Service Engineer]

"A" is the bellbox hold- Dale, the Bellbox isnt Tampered .. ?

And the Bell- is the Switched negative.

The strobe+ must be bridged to the bell+ (hold+) from inside the bellbox, as it looks like its only been fed with 4 core.

[Guest dale]

You would have thought they would standardise the letter codings for SCB connections. Texecom use ABCDS, Pyronix use BA, +BS-, BT, STB. Surely it would be better if they standardised it? Then it would save engineers havin to work it out, can be quite confusing with different manufacturers.

Dale

[Guest Nervous Amateur]

There doesn't appear to be any loose wires, and the external sounder does work. I've never seen the strobe work since we've been here.

I was expecting the T & A terminals to have to be connected together?