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Honeywell dialer backup surprise during a lake cabin install
Last week I put in a Vista 20P at a place near Lake George and found out the built-in dialer still needs a phone line to pass a full communicator test. I always figured the cellular module handled everything, but the panel kept showing a comm failure until I plugged in a landline just for the test. Took me an extra hour to find a working jack in that cabin because the owner had cut all the lines years ago. Anyone else run into this when doing a takeover where the old phone wiring is already dead?
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troy4391mo ago
Different take here, but that is what the test is SUPPOSED to do. The communicator test on the Vista checks the dialer path, not the cellular one. The cell module has its own separate test you can run from the keypad. I have seen guys skip the landline test on takeovers and then the panel will throw a trouble on a central station pick up because the dialer is still programmed as the primary. You got lucky it failed on site, not after you left. Next time, just jumper the telco terminals on the panel to fake a line for the test, saves you hunting for a jack. That is a standard trick, and it works fine on a 20P.
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