This is a 20P with the expansion board and cellular communication installed in 2019. Flawless since install. It has started reporting trouble once or twice a week (randomly). Monitor station is reporting the "timestamp - - NZ". Can not find any references for this. Assuming the NZ is no zone but not sure. Does anyone recognize this report?
Honeywell Ademco Vista 20P - reports trouble but no codes
- Thread starter khays
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Delta Prime
- Jul 29, 2020
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The Vista 20P is also compatible with numerous devices and services so that you can control it remotely. These services give you features such as ability to arm and disarm remotely, change user codes, and get notifications for alarm and other events. So why do you expect us to guess your security set up.you have to tell us how & why it worked flawlessly!
Yeah, I recognize this report. It means no zone. How did you program it? How many zones do you have? Any batteries on the board that may need replaced maybe a button cell or something?
Delta Prime
- Jul 29, 2020
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I have a better idea ; @ChosunOne Help.Please. 
Welcome to the forum, Khays.
My first thought was that if your monitoring center is receiving an undefined signal, the original installer(s) forgot something in the original paperwork. The monitoring center can only ID a signal by what the installer tells them it is at the time of installation. What’s the status of your original installing company (or person)? I can understand your not wanting to pay for a service call to fix it, but if they’re still in business, they should at least be willing to tell you whether they used Contact ID (AKA Ademco Contact ID) as the signal format.
The vast majority of alarm companies have used Contact ID for the last few decades (There used to be a lot of different formats used, but that’s irrelevant unless [unlikely] your installer used one of them), certainly before 2019, so it’s a good bet that’s how the signal in question is being transmitted and received, whether it’s physically using Telco, cellular, or internet. Contact ID reports a 3-digit code for every signal in the system, whether alarm, trouble, reset, or whatever—the monitoring people never see the 3-digit code because the signal gets digested by a computer (i.e., special receiver made for this) and displays an English-language display for the humans at the monitoring center. There should be at least one person on staff who knows how to dig into the receiver records and see what 3-digit code got translated as “"timestamp - - NZ". Once you know that code, it’s going to be a lot easier to figure out what it’s trying to tell you.
If there is no 3-digit code to be found (still assuming Contact ID Format is being used), then I would suspect there is a problem outside the Vista-20P alarm system itself, i.e., the cellular communicator used.
You didn't mention what kind of Keypad(s) or Touchpad(s) you have, but something should have been displayed when the system sent the signal. Were you home and awake when it happened; and did you check the Keypad/Touchpad display?
Have you replaced your V-20P’s battery? They should be replaced every 3-to-5 years, which is often overlooked because most systems don’t have problems when the battery gets a little old–but when a battery starts to get weak, it can cause unpredictable glitches. If you haven’t replaced the battery since installation, I strongly recommend you do so. You can find a 12 Volt, 7 Amp-hr battery in your local Batteries Plus,
Battery Warehouse, or equivalent. (I don’t buy batteries off the internet: Never sure how long they were on the shelf.)
If your system uses more that one 12V 7AH battery, this would be the time to mention it.
Please post back and let us know if this was helpful.
My first thought was that if your monitoring center is receiving an undefined signal, the original installer(s) forgot something in the original paperwork. The monitoring center can only ID a signal by what the installer tells them it is at the time of installation. What’s the status of your original installing company (or person)? I can understand your not wanting to pay for a service call to fix it, but if they’re still in business, they should at least be willing to tell you whether they used Contact ID (AKA Ademco Contact ID) as the signal format.
The vast majority of alarm companies have used Contact ID for the last few decades (There used to be a lot of different formats used, but that’s irrelevant unless [unlikely] your installer used one of them), certainly before 2019, so it’s a good bet that’s how the signal in question is being transmitted and received, whether it’s physically using Telco, cellular, or internet. Contact ID reports a 3-digit code for every signal in the system, whether alarm, trouble, reset, or whatever—the monitoring people never see the 3-digit code because the signal gets digested by a computer (i.e., special receiver made for this) and displays an English-language display for the humans at the monitoring center. There should be at least one person on staff who knows how to dig into the receiver records and see what 3-digit code got translated as “"timestamp - - NZ". Once you know that code, it’s going to be a lot easier to figure out what it’s trying to tell you.
If there is no 3-digit code to be found (still assuming Contact ID Format is being used), then I would suspect there is a problem outside the Vista-20P alarm system itself, i.e., the cellular communicator used.
You didn't mention what kind of Keypad(s) or Touchpad(s) you have, but something should have been displayed when the system sent the signal. Were you home and awake when it happened; and did you check the Keypad/Touchpad display?
Have you replaced your V-20P’s battery? They should be replaced every 3-to-5 years, which is often overlooked because most systems don’t have problems when the battery gets a little old–but when a battery starts to get weak, it can cause unpredictable glitches. If you haven’t replaced the battery since installation, I strongly recommend you do so. You can find a 12 Volt, 7 Amp-hr battery in your local Batteries Plus,
Battery Warehouse, or equivalent. (I don’t buy batteries off the internet: Never sure how long they were on the shelf.)
If your system uses more that one 12V 7AH battery, this would be the time to mention it.
Please post back and let us know if this was helpful.
Last edited:
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