Hoping someone could chime in on this. I did a retrofit of an old PAD-2 (shocking, I know) and replaced it with a Potter PSN-64. Once I turned on the breaker, all outputs from the new panel were energized. Metering the trigger, I had just shy of 12vdc. I am assuming the monitoring voltage was enough to trigger the panel? There are 6 boosters in total, daisy chain from trigger to trigger. This should be an easy polarity swap? I appreciate the input in advance.
I’ve installed the PSN-106 before, that panel’s bigger brother. Did you make sure all the DIP switches are set right? Also did you check to make sure there’s no faults on the wiring? If it is getting triggered then it does sound to me like the polarity on your input is backwards.
The trigger on those Potters are 8vdc and up, and only 15ma. takes almost nothing to set them off and you can do it using polarity reversal or constant voltage.
Thanks for the input guys.
Your correct, those things are touchy little devils. Another thing I found odd was the fact that if an output is triggered or in fault, it shows the flashing amber light regardless.
Since the post, I’ve installed a number of PSN-64’s and PSN-106’s at 2 different customer sites. However, both sites are MXL panels. The site I was originally questioning is looping the trigger from booster to booster. The other is firing each booster from another’s output. We’ve been able to remove quite a few PAD-2’s. They are failing at a very high rate. I’ve got a huge stack of dead ones in the shop.
why not put in pad-3’s or pad-4’s which are direct replacements?
i don’t think pad-2’s have been manufactured since the 90s.
The main reason is we are not Siemens distributors. Previously, we were installing Silent Knight 5495’s. We had a bunch of failures out of the box. So we changed to using the Potter products. So far, so good. Having all the sync protocol built in is a huge plus as well. We’ve deleted many unnecessary sync modules.
SK5495 Is the DIRECT replacement for the PAD-2. A PAD-3 & PAD-4 are NOT direct replacements for the PAD-2. The EOLR’s are different. The PAD-3 & PAD-4 use 24k ohm EOLR’s. The PAD-2 (Which is a 5495) uses 4.7k ohm resistors. The SK5495 panels have been reliable. Set the DIP switches correctly!!!
PAD-2 MUST be replaced if the AC power LED is off & the AC (120vac) is on.