Warning: I almost gave up on a stubborn old DSC panel until I tried this one thing

Had a 2008 DSC PowerSeries PC1832 in a big old house that kept dropping its zone 3, a perimeter door. Replaced the contact, checked the wire run, nothing. Out of ideas, I pulled the main board and hit the solder joints for the zone input with a rework station for like 10 seconds each. Let it cool, powered it back up, and the zone has been solid for two weeks now. Has anyone else fixed a flaky zone by just reflowing the board?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel4701mo ago

Didn't lead-free solder start around 2006?

keithbutler1mo ago

Ever think about just cleaning the zone terminals before you reflow? I've seen tarnish on those older screw terminals cause a high resistance fault that acts just like a bad joint.

hollyl451mo ago

That 2008 board is right at the age where lead-free solder became common. Those joints can get brittle and form micro cracks you can't even see. I had a similar issue with a PC1616 where reflowing the transformer connections stopped a random power cycling problem. It's a cheap fix if you have the tools, way better than hunting for a new old stock board.