I would connect it to a phone line, but I would have it programmed to call my home ONLY…
Thank you! Now I know!
Well, I’m sure that wouldn’t matter…
My schedule is pretty tight, so I won’t be able to get one, besides… Like some people were telling me… “…Do it right!..” So I need to get a 7AH battery…
Well, unless y’know what your’e doing, then you’re able to make a fire alarm. Believe me, I should know… I never tried it before, but I see it working…
Oh, thank you for pointing that out!
Does the polarity matter?
If that question is about the bell circuit, the answer is yes, polarity matters.
The drawings below are from Silent Knight 5104B Installation and Operations Manual number 151053-L8 which is available on line.
I meant when fooling the panel into thinking it has a working phone line… If confusion occurs, I hate it when that happens…
Telephone circuits use the terminology TIP and RING for the wires in phone lines. The TIP is the positive terminal and the RING is negative. Historically phones were all negative with respect to ground.
But what is it going to do when it calls your home? Again, this panel is designed to communicate to a central station receiver only. It cannot work properly calling a standard phone number. In fact nothing will happen. Some panels do have what is called a “Pager” format where it can call a standard number and broadcast a series of tones without needing any sort or acknowledgment that the signal was received, but this panel does not have that format. Section 7.1 in the manual explains the different reporting formats the panel uses to dial out. The “Pager” format is not one of them.
Here is a link to what a central station receiver looks like - this is what your panel is trying to report to:
Yes, you NEED a 7AH battery for a listed system to work with the proper battery calculations. But if you are just looking to power up your system and clear the battery trouble, a 4AH battery will work just fine and cause no problems with your panel. The only advantage a larger battery will give you more operating time during a power outage. A 4AH battery may only be around $20, a 7AH battery may be around $35. If you wanted to be resourceful, go to a local mom and pop alarm company and ask them if they will sell you a battery that’s a couple years old but still has a good charge, you might be able to pick one up for under $10. Just tell them you need it for a science project.
Back in the day, telephone polarity did matter. Today, not so much. And the panel probably doesn’t care. In fact, if you were to meter your incoming phone line at the d-mark, there’s a good chance the phone company is giving you voltage with a reversed polarity anyway!
Sweet! Thank you for the helpful hint! 
Should I leave the resistor to the zone connected? When fooling the panel into thinking the phone line works? :?:
A resistor is not required for the phone line power. Don’t let the fact that you have to place a resistor across terminals 5 & 6 confuse you. Terminals 6, 9, 11, 28 are all interconnected anyway within the board. You can verify this by powering down the panel and meter between 6 and 9 then 9 and 11 - you should get 0 ohms (or really close). You will only need a resistor when connecting a device (such as a pull station) for zone 2 across terminals 5 & 6.
I’ve attached a diagram to help you visualize what I am talking about. Blue line are zone connections, red lines are +12V, black lines are grounds. To the right of the terminal block, I’ve shown how they are connected internally on the circuit board and eventually go to the 5104 internal power supply. In theory, you could connect zone 2 across terminals 5 & 28 and the system will still work properly. Zones 5 & 6 share terminal 28 for both zones. This is common for control panels, some will share one terminal for power for several zones only to have a single terminal for the zone “return” itself.
You should be able to just wire directly between the power terminals and phone line terminals with no resistors required. The phone connections don’t pull any amount of current that I am aware of. The panel is just monitoring for phone line voltage.
I recommend “NFPA Pocket Guide To Fire Alarm And Signaling System Installation”, the newer versions cost more but for the purposes of learning general fire alarm stuff you can find older ones for cheap probably. It’s a lot easier to read then the straight code book, and has a lot of good info.
Off topic real quick: It does register as reversed polarity! Is it because when the phone rings it reverses it?
Note: my iPad is broken, and I won’t be able to get it back, so my responses will be very delayed… I wish thefirepanelforums was compatible with consoles… But it’s not… So my responses will be delayed…
Any telephone made within the last 30 years doesn’t care about polarity. They are designed to accept it either way and will function just fine. If you had an older rotary phone in your house, I guess the issue with the reversed polarity is that you are unable to dial the number properly. As far as the phone ringing, it is actually a 90VAC signal that makes the phone ring. If you are touching the bare phone wires when someone calls your house, you will get a little tingle. Happened to me a couple times when working on customers phone lines!
Update on my panel: I still get a Dialer Fault even if I tricked the panel into thinking it has a working phone. Additionally, when I start it up, after a few seconds, the relays click REALLY fast, is that normal?
Is it a few rapid clicks that occur every once in a great while? if so this is usually normal as it is the panel opening the phone lines temporarily to look for a dial tone, then closing them again.
If it’s a bunch of rapid clicks that go on nonstop then that means something got damaged.
No, it only happens once in a while… Thank you for telling me.
I’m not gonna lie dude, you’ll learn a lot about this if you read the manual for the things you got. If you want other literature to read and learn, I’d recommend the firelite panel manuals.
The reason why you got a dialer fault is because there is no device for it to talk to and communicate the issues as well as get the “kissoff” to acknowledge everything. The video below will show how the Ademco Contact ID method of reporting works.
Are there any other LEDs illuminated on the panel? Specifically the “L6” and “L7” LEDs?
This sure sounds like the dialer is attempting to contact a central station to send in a report.
The first click is the relay for the panel to go “off hook” like you picking up a telephone - the old kind.
The fast series of clicks is probably pulse dialing. The relay makes and breaks the line to the telephone exchange. The number of clicks tells the equipment at the telephone exchange what number is being dialed. Like an old style telephone being dialed in an old movie.
The dialer will make a certain number of attempts to make the call. After it has made all attempts it will create a dialer fault to indicate the calls did not reach the central station.
If this is what is going on the unit does have a program in it’s memory. DO NOT connect this unit to a live phone line! It could call in and send the fire department in some city anywhere in the country to a building on a false report.