DSC GS3055-I Radio

I've started playing with one and have the System II receiver for the signals, unfortunatly I don't know much about it yet

IMHO, the design and the technology is the best among all the backup devices. Takes less than an hour to install on site, will work with any panel but works best with CID capable panel. Connect 24 will automatically overwrite the LC# of the IP receiver so there is no need for a second account number setup in the CS automation system.

Pro :

1. No dedicated programmer needed
2. No power supply needed
3. Fast install time
4. Detailed zone reporting from panel using CID
5. Excellent RF circuitry comparing to 7845GSM and Uplink AnyNet.

Con :

1. Onboard inputs cannot be customised, not that I know of anyway.
2. Needs 24 hours for activation, so it's best to activate the radio and leave powered up for 24 hours before installing.
3. CS will have to creat a profile for each of their dealers for ANI purpose.
4. TLM does not differenciate true dial tone or just line voltage.
5. No pulse detection circuit, pretty much have to use active low pgm output from control panel to drive burg and fire seperately.

24 hour wait for activation? Yech

We have a System III Receiver with 2 IP cards on two separate internet connections. So far so good. We configured our MLR2000 to have a profile with the same "Line#" as the IP Linecards on the System III so the dialup signals (to the MLR2000) and the IP signals (weather from GSM or a T-Link to the System III) hit the same account number in Automation. The Automation knows which Receiver the signals came from so it can indicate weather it came in via dialup or IP when you are viewing the Account Activity. One Account number, one account to pay for, but two paths of communication with TEST supervision on both.

Looks like we are monitoring just over 70 of them right now. I haven't heard of any problems except for the phone-line-interface isn't always voltage-level compatible with some alarm panels (only heard about it with a Destiny panel so far though). Typically I've heard of this problem with DSC and Firelite panels when they off-hook voltage drops below 5 volts. They still dial and communicate, but don't hear the kissoff, so they keep repeating the signal over and over (8 times or so).

The major selling point here is there is no Third-Party involved between the signal getting from the Radio to the Central Station like with Uplink and AlarmNet and many others. You use Connect 24 simply to activate the SIM card which also sends a message to the GSM Radio to tell it the Receivers IP Addresses and such. From that point on, Connect 24 isn't involved in the signal handling, the signals go directly to the Central Stations Receiver via GPRS Internet connection as a UDP packet. Trip a hardwire zone and the packet is at the receiver almost INSTANTLY. Can't say that for anyone who has to relay the signal to the Central Station.

A hardwire trip on the DSC GSM Radio is THE FASTEST form of wireless communication from a customer control to the Central Station that I've seen in the 20 years I've been making this Central Station tick. AES Radios would have to be the second-fastest as they are also direct to the Central Station.

Is that with the IP receiver for the System III? I haven't messed with that yet, I'm still playing with the System II

And I don't know if it matters but I have a TL150, not the 250/300

y overwrite the LC# of the IP receiver so there is no need for a >second acc= ount number setup in the CS automation system.

If there's only one account number, how do you know if both signals came in?

Hi A.J.

I'm responding to you, but will cover a few things mentioned by others in the thread too.

Here's what I know about the unit. Some of it may be a little be off, because I installed this about a month ago and although I wrote notes on it, I don't have them with me now.

The manual is a "booklet" 10 pages long, of which two pages are hookup drawings. So with the disclamers and other non-installation information, that leaves about 6 pages with semi-useful information. Obviously, (as you'll see) there's a lot they're not telling us.

Here's some of what I had to spend about 5 telephone calls and about 2 hours total, hanging on hold with DSC, to find out. I've never had the displeasue of dealing with them before, but their tech support people seem to only answer the questions you pose and don't offer anything more. You've got to "squeeeeeze" every answer out of them.

The unit can be programed in a "primary" or "secondary" mode. You have to ask for either, when you put it on line. That is, if you even KNOW that you have the option. It doesn't mention it in the manual.

If programed in the "Secondary" mode, the unit will only always send out signals via telephone line and not via radio. To me, this presents the situation that it's possible that the radio will never be tested if you never lose your phone line. As long as the device senses a phone line it will only always try to send out via land line. The unit is shipped in the "secondary" mode. I posed the question to technical ..... what if your VoIP service goes down but your modem is still supplying a line voltage to the GS3055-I ? The answer:....... it will never transmitt via radio. Oh yummie! So even though it's a FREEKIN BACKUP DEVICE, they don't seem to think it's important enough to put that in the manual.

On the other hand, if you have them set it up in the "Primary" mode, it will only ever send signals via radio. Oh yummie again!

The answer I finally "squeezed" out of them is to have them set it up in the "Primary" mode and use outputs from the alarm panel to trip the four zone inputs to the GS3055-I ... too. This way the unit will transmit via radio simultaneous with the signal going land line. Which, in my opinion is the way it "should" be. Oh and you have to TELL them to set it up in the 24hour check- in mode too. Otherwise they don't. And if you don't, central station will never know that the unit isn't working. .( I think there are other options too, like weekly or monthly) But there is no additional cost for any check-in signals, so why not 24 hour? Jeeeeeze this is a back up device. Why wouldn't they mention this in the manual or even tell you over the telephone. I had to Puuuuulll this out of them.

When I finally figured out what the options were, they seemed like it was really out of the ordinary that someone would want to actually know that both the radio and land line were working. Exasperated, I finally said to one guy .... Isn't this supposed to be BACK- UP?????????

I haven't the faintest idea why they would want to default the unit this way and then not tell you what the consequences were and what your options are.

I discovered that in programing it, as above, that it's helpful to have the central set up two account numbers. Because, since both the GS3055-I and the panel send CID if all the signals come in on one account number, there's no way for you to know what the source of the signal is. So it's just another way to know that both devices are working and it helps in troubleshooting after an event too.

This is how I wired the unit other than telephone and power connections.

Outputs:

1 telephone line loss (not used) 2 GSM or Network (not used) 3 Unit battery or Power supply trouble (not used) 4 General trouble to panel zone reporting as "cellular failure"

Inputs"

1 Fire (wired to panel) 2 Panic (wired to panel) 3 Burg (wired to panel) 4 System trouble (wired to panel activated by telephone line failure and interpreted at Central station as same.

I don't like the fact that you only get a single go or no-go LED indication, as far as network signal strength is concerned. There's no way to tell if you're getting 1bar or 5.

If you choose the 120ma power option using the aux output of the alarm panel and the GS3055-1's battery is weak or goes, the unit wont be able to transmit

The outputs CAN be reprogrammed but it can only be done by Connect 24 when you're setting it up. They don't tell you this in the manual either. I'd thought about changing the codes so that it would be a little more obvious what the source of the signals were, but thought it might cause confusion at the central.

With regard to the 24 hoursin advance set up time. The signal strength LED will give and indication whether the unit is able to communicate or not, even if the unit isn't set up with Connect 24 yet. I was fortunate in the first installation that I had a few days worth or other work to do, so the 24 hour thing didn't affect me. But thinking about it later, I don't see any reason why you couldn't set the unit up from any good location the day before you intend to install it and if ..... when you get to the job and find that it doesn't work, .... just take it off line.

Oh yeah, there are additional charges for signals in excess of some quantity they've given as a quota. I've forgotten what it is. I think there's some forgiveness during the initial setup. You'll have to check on that.

That's all I know about it or at least think I know about it, as of now. If you've got any other info or corrections, let me know.

All in all, considering the inadequacies with DSC, Connect 24 and the unit itself, it seems to be working pretty good so far. I'll wait a little longer before I try another. Perhaps they'll make some revisions in the unit, in the future. Although, I doubt their Tech support will ever see any improvement.

But default, the signal always come from the onboard dialer over the land line, only one set of signal. Following is the description for GSM3055 in action.

1. Line cut
2. GSM3055 sends line cut signal thru wireless.
3. GSM3055 cuts over all communication path to wireless.
4. Main control in alarm.
5. GSM3055 senses panel DTMF dialing, then provide a handshake signal.
6. GSM3055 captures CID transmission from panel and send them out thru wireless.
7. Network conversion
8. GSM3055 sends kiss off to control panel.
9. Land line restore.
10. GSM3055 cuts signal path back to landline.

Meaning, as far as the control panel is concern, the phone line was never dropped and the GSM3055 acts like a switch between landline and wireless network. Just like the other poster mentioned earlier, the signal is fast, lightning fast. The only way to defeat the unit is to cut the antenna before the alarm is tripped, or using a cell blocker.

One thing you have to watch out for is, when subscriber cancels phone service, the line voltage does not drop for a couple of months if not longer so the GSM3055 will never switch comm path to wireless network. So it is very important to trip one of the onboard inputs with the main control panel bell output for backup signal transmission. The 4 onboard zones send unique CID codes so you won't mix them up with the regular CID signal from the digital dialer.

If there's only one account number, how do you know if both signals came in?

Yes, System III with IP Line card.

Caller ID from the land line?

I would never power a cell backup by the panel anyway

The lengthy activation time makes no sense when everyone else registers in under 2 hours

I don't see much advantage over a TelGuard TG-4, and the TG-4 has an advantage of supporting more formats

Whats the price of the unit?

I set the system up in Secondary mode and tripped the wireless with outputs from the panel, where both the wireless and panel send signals to central every time the panel goes into alarm. (ie. checks transmission capability of each device every time sends a signal) But, if it's set up the way they default the unit .......... and you don't have seperate account numbers, if one of the transmission paths goes down, you DO get an alarm signal but you don't know what the souce of the CID is, so you don't know if one is not working.

I had it set up that way at first and when I checked with central they couldn't tell me the source of all the signals because some were the same as the panel. These are the outputs from the GS3055-I E110 fire zone 001 991 restore E120 Panic Alarm zone 002 992 restore E130 burglary zone 003 993 restore etc There's no way to tell them apart from the panels CID

I didn't/wouldn't either, but some would and even more might do it, not realizing the consequenses, since it's not in the manual..

I think that if you pressed them for a quicker time they'd do it. I think the Two hour thing is an "agreement" between DSC and Connect 24. In other words, I think the 24hour thing is coming from DSC, not Connect 24. Connect 24's Tech Support has a much more helpful attitude than DSC has, that's fer sure.

I know! Doesn't it seem a little silly to have a "BACKUP" device that's never even tested until some unknow time in the future,( like maybe a couple of years) when the land line goes down?

If you just went by the installation instructions and the default settings, that's exactly what would happen. The manual doesn't tell you a damn thing about alternatives and consequenses.

I think that's kind of dumb, don't ya think? Why wouldn't you want to know that the telephone line went down? I know there are ways to detect it, but the manual doesn't give you any details or suggestions to do it.

You just KNOW that someone out there is going to intall these things, out of the box, thinking that they've actually got a backup device and all they've got is a dumb, re-transmission device, with no notification of failure or verification that the system is acutally working.

ue CID codes so you won't mix them up with the regular CID signal >from the = digital dialer.

No they aren't unique. See my other post with some of the codes the unit sends.