Radionics D5200 Programmer Assistance

[LeeBur]

Looking for a technician with a D5200 in the Los Angeles area that can assist with updating the program on a Radionics D2212B alarm system. The system works fine but the installer's business, now sold to a monitoring-only company that will not provide service since the system has never been monitored. The installer locked out the LCD keypad so that is not an option. I simply want to add testing and external relay functionality. I have all the default and user passwords and have already installed the DS134 relay module.

 

[ChosunOne]

LeeBur, Radionics panels sold after mid- 1992--which I'm pretty sure the D2212 Control Panel was---was encoded in firmware such that any D5200 programmer had to contain a dealer-specific code to access panel programming. In other words, only D5200 programmers once owned by your installing company are able to access your panel's programming. Just any tech with a programmer can't help you, This is by design, to give dealers a vendor lock-in, i.e., some other vendor/dealer can't "pirate" your business. In other words, if you use Radionics, even though you own the equipment outright, you don't get to change dealers for service and maintenance, without your installing dealer's consent and cooperation. This is each time you need to access programming. The original dealer can't just switch a panel over to accept another dealer's code. As far as I have been able to tell, that seems to be legal. Your original installation company effectively owns (owned) your account unless you never need to access the panel's programming.

Radionics (now Bosch) systems are not just not-DIY-friendly, they're downright DIY-hostile.

Having said all that, I haven't worked daily with Radionics systems since 1992, so I _could_ be mistaken about there being no way to access your programming. If you'll re-post our question on this --> DIY forum specifically for alarm systems, you might find someone who has a different answer that I'm not aware of.
https://www.doityourself.com/forum/electronic-home-security-systems-alarms-devices-87/

I'll be interested in hearing about it if there is.

 

[LeeBur]

Thank you ChosunOne, for your reply and advice regarding potential passcode issues using the D5200 programmer on my previously installed Radionics D2212B intrusion system. Not one to be easily discouraged, I purchased what appeared to be a new or newly refurbished D5200 on eBay. It had no Password installed, however, it appears that the Password is only used to prevent unauthorized use of the D5200 programmer, and the absence of the password did not prevent access to the programmer’s full functionality. The Radionics D5200 Programmer Operations Manual provides details of the individual functions, but does not cover the overall flow of a system update process. Fortunately, the installer left the D2000 Program Entry Guide with the system that contained all of the necessary parameters and a D2000 record sheet with pre-printed default installer code and passcode. After some trial and error I successfully updated the RELAYS parameters and the system is now capable of utilizing D134 external relays that I use for texting and emailing upon the alarm being triggered. Hope this might help others.

 

[ChosunOne]

Thanks for posting back with that info, LeeBur. My expertise with Radionics was extensive up to 1992, especially with the now-antiquated D4112, D6112, and D8112 Panels, all of which were programmed with the D5100 Programmer. In mid-1992, (just before my company sold its assets and left all service techs high & dry), Radionics starting its vendor lock-out with the panels and programmer, as I described above. So my real expertise in the programming protocols and hardware is nearly 30 years out of date.

As I recall, the D2212B Panel and D5200 Programmer came out a couple of years later, sometime in the mid-90s, and I did work with a few of them briefly, but not long enough to gain real expertise. I never had occasion (that I recall) to run into a lockout situation, but I assumed that Radionics continued that with their later panels. From what you tell me here, that assumption might have been unfounded. I still suspect that Radionics may have kept some lockout protocol, but they may have made it optional at the dealer's level. IIRC, I believe you have the option to program that panel through the keypad, a new innovation (at the time) for Radionics.

Again, thanks for updating me.

 

[LeeBur]

Thanks for posting back with that info, LeeBur. My expertise with Radionics was extensive up to 1992, especially with the now-antiquated D4112, D6112, and D8112 Panels, all of which were programmed with the D5100 Programmer. In mid-1992, (just before my company sold its assets and left all service techs high & dry), Radionics starting its vendor lock-out with the panels and programmer, as I described above. So my real expertise in the programming protocols and hardware is nearly 30 years out of date.

As I recall, the D2212B Panel and D5200 Programmer came out a couple of years later, sometime in the mid-90s, and I did work with a few of them briefly, but not long enough to gain real expertise. I never had occasion (that I recall) to run into a lockout situation, but I assumed that Radionics continued that with their later panels. From what you tell me here, that assumption might have been unfounded. I still suspect that Radionics may have kept some lockout protocol, but they may have made it optional at the dealer's level. IIRC, I believe you have the option to program that panel through the keypad, a new innovation (at the time) for Radionics.

Again, thanks for updating me.

In my case, the installer used the default lockcode to prevent programming from the keypad, but that is OK for me. The only feature I plan to incorporate is to allow testing of the battery from the keypad, which I can now accomplish with the D5200.