Openai/69724e33-29b0-8006-ac22-cbee12c0cc8a

This conversation was exported from ChatGPT

gpt-5-2

User: Morning everyone!!!

Morning everyone!!! Has anyone seen this before? Doors/motions/glass breaks (hardwired) are on partition 1

Duress buttons (wireless) are on partition 2

The 2 keypads for partition 2 are working fine.

The ONE keypad for partition 1 is showing this and does not respond to any commands….any idea?

Assistant: Yep — this is a known alarm-panel behavior, and the symptoms you described narrow it down pretty well.

Yep — this is a known alarm-panel behavior, and the symptoms you described narrow it down pretty well.

Based on the display style and wording, this looks like a DSC PowerSeries keypad (or a rebranded version).

What “SYSTEM 12” means

System Trouble 12 = Keypad Lockout / Keypad Communication Issue

It usually appears when that specific keypad is no longer properly communicating with the panel.

That explains why:

• Only one keypad is affected
• It’s on partition 1
• It doesn’t respond to commands
• Partition 2 keypads work fine

Most likely causes (in order of probability)

1. Keypad lost its partition assignment

This is extremely common after:

• Power outages
• Battery failures
• Panel reboots
• Wiring glitches

If the keypad is no longer assigned to partition 1, it will show trouble and ignore commands.

2. Keypad address conflict

Two keypads accidentally sharing the same address = one will go stupid.

This happens when:

• A keypad was replaced
• Programming was done recently
• DIP switches / address programming changed

3. Wiring issue (most common in hardwired keypads)

Loose or failing:

• Red (12V)
• Black (ground)
• Yellow/green (data)

Even a slightly loose data wire can cause exactly this symptom.

4. Keypad is locked out

DSC will lock a keypad after too many bad code attempts. It looks “dead” but is actually just ignored by the panel.

5. Keypad is failing

Less common, but old LCD keypads do go bad — especially if it’s the only one on that partition.

What to try (in order)

Step 1 – Full power reset (very often fixes this)

1. Unplug AC transformer
2. Disconnect panel battery
3. Wait 2–3 minutes
4. Reconnect battery
5. Plug AC back in

Step 2 – Check keypad wiring

At the keypad and at the panel:

• R → Red
• B → Black
• Y → Yellow
• G → Green

Make sure they’re tight, not corroded, not swapped

Step 3 – Reassign keypad to Partition 1

At that keypad:

[*][8][Installer Code]
[000]

Then:

[11] = Keypad Partition Assignment

Set it to:

1

Exit programming.

Step 4 – Check keypad address

Default should be 01, 02, 03, etc. If two are the same, one will fail.

Programming:

[*][8][Installer Code]
[000]
[20]–[27] (keypad slots)

Step 5 – Swap keypads

If you plug a working partition 2 keypad into that wire run:

• If it works → bad keypad
• If it doesn’t → wiring or panel issue

TL;DR

This is almost certainly a keypad assignment or communication problem, not a zone or partition issue. Power cycle + reassign keypad fixes this 80% of the time.

If you want, tell me:

• Panel model (DSC 1616 / 1832 / 1864 etc.)
• Keypad model
• Installer code status (if you have it)

…and I can give you exact button presses.