Swapped out resistor values on a zone expander and got way cleaner readings

I used to just follow the spec sheets exactly on every panel, never questioning the resistor choice. After 6 months of chasing false alarms on a system in an old warehouse near the river, I bumped the resistor up a bit on the expander and the noise floor dropped like a rock. Anybody else tweak component values for tricky sites or do you stick to the book?

3 comments

3 Comments

margareto2617d agoTop Commenter

Oh yeah for sure! I had this old industrial site with crazy electrical noise from the motors and stuff. Followed the manual to the letter on the first pass and got nothing but junk readings every afternoon. Swapped in a 1k instead of the standard 470 on the zone expander and it cleaned right up. Sometimes the book ain't designed for the real world, you just gotta adapt.

spencer_owens5818d ago

That's exactly how it goes with older buildings. Specs are just a starting point but the real world is full of weird interference you gotta work around.

miller.rowan18d ago

Old brick buildings are the worst for this @spencer_owens58. Had a job last year where the plans said the walls were straight but they were off by nearly two inches in one corner. Had to custom cut every piece of trim just to make it look right. Ended up using a laser level as a cheat sheet and still had to shim half the baseboards. Sometimes you just gotta measure three times and work with what the building gives you.