Dropped $200 on a new panel and it fried my first install

I bought a new DSC PowerSeries Neo panel from a local supply house in Austin about 3 weeks ago. Hooked it up exactly like the manual said, but when I powered it on, the keypad just showed garbage characters. Turns out I got a bad board from the factory, and it took me two days of swapping parts to figure out it wasn't my wiring. Anyone else have a DOA panel straight out of the box that wasted your time?

2 comments

2 Comments

theagarcia9d ago

You're assuming it was a bad board (which does happen, I get it) but honestly, have you double checked your transformer and power supply? A lot of times people blame the panel when it's actually a voltage issue or a ground loop causing that garbage display. I've installed dozens of those Neo panels and never got a DOA one, so maybe look at your wiring again before assuming the worst. The manual is decent but it's easy to miss something simple like the polarity on the keypad bus or a loose connection at the battery terminals. Just saying, it's worth a second look before writing off the board completely.

charles_green9d ago

Heard this exact thing happen to a buddy in Dallas last month, he grabbed a Neo from ADI and the keypad lit up with scrambled text on first boot. He spent a whole Saturday chasing grounds and repulling wire before he finally swapped the board and it worked perfect. Sometimes you just get a bad unit, it sucks but it happens.