Home› AMX User Forum› AMXForums Archive Threads› Residential Forum
Options

Napco Gemin 9600

ClingpeachClingpeach Posts: 156
in Residential Forum
I am an end user and my programmer (who resides in South Africa, speaks only Afrikaans) is having major issues with this security system. It appears to be a "handshaking" issue. Works for a variable amount of time... then the messages stop going out to the Napco. The code is exactly the code that is on AMX.com
DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY INSIGHT INTO THIS PROBLEM..

Comments

  • Options
    DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    I'm not sure how helpful this is, but I have one that has been running steady for a few years. The only thing is, I didn't use the AMX UI module, just the COMM module. I whipped up my own for the UI, and, as I recall, didn't spend very much time on it.
  • Options
    ipssheldonipssheldon Posts: 106
    I have recently done a considerable amount of testing of an AMX control system with a Napco 9600, with assistance from AMX Tech Support. There are several issues that could be causing the problems.

    1) The cabling must be a 5-wire configuration (TX, RX, RTS, CTS, and Ground). TX and RX are 2 and 3, RTS and CTS are 7 and 8. Ground is 5. Your programmer should be able to get the exact pinout from the AMX website.

    2) AMX found that there is a version of firmware on the Napco that is not compatible with AMX's hardware. We had to roll the firmware version back to what Napco refers to as the 20b version on their hardware. I am not a Napco security person, so I can't tell you much more about that.

    3) With the above changes, almost all functionality worked with AMX's standard comm module. I used the AMX UI module as well, but with some slight modifications for Arming in a Home and Away modes. (Napco doesn't support an Arm Home mode. You have to create this in code.)

    4) However, even with these changes, there was still a situation that caused the Napco to lock up its communications back to AMX. If the alarm was triggered and the siren came on, the Napco's buffering became overloaded. And either the AMX or Napco had to be re-booted. Rebooting the AMX would clear the problem because changes in RTS/CTS would clear out the Napco as well. AMX engineering proved this was an issue with Napco and Napco engineers at one point, agreed as well.

    But before we could get Napco to provide a definitive fix, the security company came on-site and did some re-programming to the actual system in the home and the problem went away. Unfortunately, they don't know what they did or at least we haven't gotten any more details from them on what they changed. But now all works well.

    But the cabling and chip version were also issues that had to be resolved first for the commuications to even begin to work. AMX has a sample program that I strongly suggest your programmer use to verify that the hardware and cabling are correct. Then he can incorporate the sample program into your program to get everything running, assuming that you have the correct firmware chip.

    You also have to define the master security code in the program that allows the AMX to talk to the Napco. This is not the security password that you use to arm/disarm the system. It is a communications password that the software must use to enable it to send a command to the Napco.

    Hope this helps.

    Sheldon Samuels
    IPS Resources LLC
Sign In or Register to comment.