Trouble Shooting

Revision as of 13:47, 12 December 2013 by 204.10.16.29 (Talk)


First make sure you have watched the videos about configuring your system for the AlarmDecoder.


This video discusses panel configuration as well as physical connection to the alarm system.


This video discusses connecting your AlarmDecoder to a PC.


This video discusses connecting your AlarmDecoder to a Mac.



Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Does the AlarmDecoder have power?
    • Make sure the LED on the AlarmDecoder device is flashing about once per second.
    • Check your power connections if you do not see the LED flashing.
  2. Does the connected computer show an attached device?
    • Windows: Confirm the device is present in the Device Manager.
      • On some installs of windows it is necessary to enable the VCP option for the driver.
    • OSX/Linux: Check your syslog and look in /dev.
  3. Can you communicate with the device with a terminal program?
    1. Open the device with your favorite terminal program. We suggest one of the following:
      • Windows: PuTTY
        1. Select the Serial option.
        2. Enter the COM port number. You can look this up in Device Manager.
        3. Enter the speed.
          • AD2USB & AD2Pi: 115200
          • AD2Serial: 19200
        4. Click Open
      • OSX/Linux: screen
        1. Open a terminal
        2. Locate your device by checking syslog or your /dev directory
        3. Execute screen [device] [baudrate]
          • Baudrate:
            • AD2USB & AD2Pi: 115200
            • AD2Serial: 19200
    2. Confirm that you can reboot your Alarm Decoder by typing: =
    3. Make sure you cleanly exit your terminal program.
      • PuTTY: Click the X
      • screen: Ctrl + A + K