Autona (UK) burglar alarm unit: any leads?

T

Terry Pinnell

Guest
Bit of a longshot, but does anyone in UK have any suggestions as to how I
might locate the circuit diagram for an Autona Series 200, model 2250
microprocessor control unit please?

As per my parallel thread, the re-entry delay on mine has failed. Rather
than the hassle of installing a new unit of a different type I'd like to
attempt either fixing it or adding a supplementary circuit of my own.

Web searches for Autona Limited lead to a phone number 01844 345740 that
is unrecognised.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
Terry Pinnell <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> wrote in message
news:ca7pr79g54t4pk24dljm6glbcgvmgfo0nl@4ax.com...
Bit of a longshot, but does anyone in UK have any suggestions as to how I
might locate the circuit diagram for an Autona Series 200, model 2250
microprocessor control unit please?

As per my parallel thread, the re-entry delay on mine has failed. Rather
than the hassle of installing a new unit of a different type I'd like to
attempt either fixing it or adding a supplementary circuit of my own.

Web searches for Autona Limited lead to a phone number 01844 345740 that
is unrecognised.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
Click to expand...

You have to hope it is a rebadged sonething else, take a few distinctive
numbers off the chippery and google them
 
"Terry Pinnell" <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> wrote in message
news:ca7pr79g54t4pk24dljm6glbcgvmgfo0nl@4ax.com...
Bit of a longshot, but does anyone in UK have any suggestions as to how I
might locate the circuit diagram for an Autona Series 200, model 2250
microprocessor control unit please?

As per my parallel thread, the re-entry delay on mine has failed. Rather
than the hassle of installing a new unit of a different type I'd like to
attempt either fixing it or adding a supplementary circuit of my own.

Web searches for Autona Limited lead to a phone number 01844 345740 that
is unrecognised.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
Click to expand...
Terry

When I needed a manual for my daughter's alarm panel, I posted on an alarms
group. Can't remember what it was called now, but I seem to recall that I
just did a search on the whole list of newsgroups using "alarm" as the
search word, and found a UK group. Some kind soul on there came back to me
very quickly with a pdf of the complete manual. It's been a few years now,
but I guess that the group is probably still there.

Arfa
 
On May 23, 1:24 am, Terry Pinnell <terrypi...@DELETEgmail.com> wrote:
Bit of a longshot, but does anyone in UK have any suggestions as to how I
might locate the circuit diagram for an Autona Series 200, model 2250
microprocessor control unit please?

As per my parallel thread, the re-entry delay on mine has failed. Rather
than the hassle of installing a new unit of a different type I'd like to
attempt either fixing it or adding a supplementary circuit of my own.

Web searches for Autona Limited lead to a phone number 01844 345740 that
is unrecognised.
Click to expand...
Googling their street address shows they dissolved quite recently.
Also dissolved at the same address is Riscomp LTD. But Chiltern
Circuits still exists -- apparently all three firms shared directors.

There appears to be some current interest in using Autona amplifier
modules -- perhaps ask your question on a diy audio or guitar forum,
and someone would know where to find Autona schematics.

I'm thinking, too, that the circuit would have been documented in the
electronics magazines of that day. Or, that a similar circuit might
have been written up. I don't know if you have access to any circa
1990 electronics hobbyist magazines.

But, considering this is 20 year old technology, perhaps you'd like to
upgrade anyway?
 
spamtrap1888 <spamtrap1888@gmail.com> wrote:

On May 23, 1:24 am, Terry Pinnell <terrypi...@DELETEgmail.com> wrote:
Bit of a longshot, but does anyone in UK have any suggestions as to how I
might locate the circuit diagram for an Autona Series 200, model 2250
microprocessor control unit please?

As per my parallel thread, the re-entry delay on mine has failed. Rather
than the hassle of installing a new unit of a different type I'd like to
attempt either fixing it or adding a supplementary circuit of my own.

Web searches for Autona Limited lead to a phone number 01844 345740 that
is unrecognised.

Googling their street address shows they dissolved quite recently.
Also dissolved at the same address is Riscomp LTD. But Chiltern
Circuits still exists -- apparently all three firms shared directors.

There appears to be some current interest in using Autona amplifier
modules -- perhaps ask your question on a diy audio or guitar forum,
and someone would know where to find Autona schematics.

I'm thinking, too, that the circuit would have been documented in the
electronics magazines of that day. Or, that a similar circuit might
have been written up. I don't know if you have access to any circa
1990 electronics hobbyist magazines.

But, considering this is 20 year old technology, perhaps you'd like to
upgrade anyway?
Click to expand...
Thanks both, good ideas which I'll follow up.

My motivation for sticking with this admittedly very old box is that it
avoids all re-installation hassle (changed connections, new rawlplug
positions, etc). And it goes against the grain to ditch it when all but
the re-entry works perfectly

Meanwhile today I'm going to dust off my shed workbench and breadboard an
add-on. That will hopefully regain the re-entry functionality, albeit at
the cost of adding an extra small case.

The idea is to use the N/C door sensor to trigger a 20 s monostable. That
in turn will enable an astable to give me a warning beep of around 2 Hz.
(Unfortunately, without the circuit diagram I can't confidently use the
existing 'sounder' for this.) When the mono ends it will trigger a short
pulse to a small relay (perhaps a reed type). A loop through the relay's
N/C contact to the original delay entry inputs of the CU will trigger the
alarm if it hasn't been disabled within the warning period (because these
inputs now act immediately, like the other loop inputs).

Apart from my general rustiness, I expect the main challenge will be to
ensure no problems arise with spurious triggering of the mono, such as
when power is applied, such as after a mains power cut. I plan to use CMOS
4001 and/or 4011, a few Rs and Cs and probably a transistor or two.

There's one other longshot approach I'm trying in parallel. By removing 4
screws I was able to get a good look at the circuit board. Its main active
component is a PIC16FC4. I know virtually nothing about PICs, but just in
case that *has* become faulty I thought it worth dropping in a
replacement. I couldn't find that specific one in stock anywhere so I've
taken a gamble and ordered a PIC16C54-XTI/P (8BIT CMOS MCU, 16C54, DIP18)
at Ł3.64.

Does all that sound reasonable?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
Terry Pinnell <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> writes:

Its main active component is a PIC16FC4.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's a valid part number -- sure it's not a PIC16F84?
You need to make sure you've got the right one; different chips in that
range have very different sets of internal features (timers, IO pins,
etc.).

As noted elsewhere in the thread, you will need to program the right
firmware into the flash memory inside the chip; a blank PIC won't do
anything useful. If your existing one just has a fried input pin or
similar -- and doesn't have the protection fuse set -- then you may be
able to read out the existing code using a PIC programmer.

If you can't get the code, then it may be less effort just to replace it
with a more modern microcontroller... assuming it's really the
microcontroller that's dead. If some of it's still working fine then I'd
be inclined to suspect almost everything else first!

--
Adam Sampson <ats@offog.org> <http://offog.org/>
 
On May 24, 12:06 am, Terry Pinnell <terrypi...@DELETEgmail.com> wrote:

There's one other longshot approach I'm trying in parallel. By removing 4
screws I was able to get a good look at the circuit board. Its main active
component is a PIC16FC4. I know virtually nothing about PICs, but just in
case that *has* become faulty I thought it worth dropping in a
replacement. I couldn't find that specific one in stock anywhere so I've
taken a gamble and ordered a PIC16C54-XTI/P  (8BIT CMOS MCU, 16C54, DIP18)
at Ł3.64.
Click to expand...
Even assuming you got hold of the program Autona used, how would you
program the PIC?
 
Adam Sampson <ats@offog.org> wrote:

Terry Pinnell <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> writes:

Its main active component is a PIC16FC4.

I don't think that's a valid part number -- sure it's not a PIC16F84?
You need to make sure you've got the right one; different chips in that
range have very different sets of internal features (timers, IO pins,
etc.).

As noted elsewhere in the thread, you will need to program the right
firmware into the flash memory inside the chip; a blank PIC won't do
anything useful. If your existing one just has a fried input pin or
similar -- and doesn't have the protection fuse set -- then you may be
able to read out the existing code using a PIC programmer.

If you can't get the code, then it may be less effort just to replace it
with a more modern microcontroller... assuming it's really the
microcontroller that's dead. If some of it's still working fine then I'd
be inclined to suspect almost everything else first!
Click to expand...

The part number is valid
http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets_pdf/P/I/C/1/PIC16C54.shtml,
but yes, that was dumb. I realised my mistake shortly after getting CPC's
order confirmation yesterday!

And that wasn't the only dumb thing I did. Part way through breadboarding
my proposed add-in, I decided to test a few voltages and resistances at
the CU connections. (Because the circuit would have to be more complex
than I described, to maintain the EXIT delay.) In the course of doing that
I discovered the cause of the problem: I'd swapped the anti-tamper loop
and delay loop!

So, much wasted time but a happy ending ;-)

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
En el artículo <h7nrr7dkkddh8o719rrc0t5r2ks526gvic@4ax.com>, Terry
Pinnell <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> escribió:

Its main active
component is a PIC16FC4. I know virtually nothing about PICs, but just in
case that *has* become faulty I thought it worth dropping in a
replacement. I couldn't find that specific one in stock anywhere so I've
taken a gamble and ordered a PIC16C54-XTI/P (8BIT CMOS MCU, 16C54, DIP18)
at Ł3.64.
Click to expand...
You lost your bet - PICs are programmable. How are you going to get the
program from the old PIC into the new one?

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
Mike Tomlinson <mike@jasper.org.uk> wrote:

En el artículo <h7nrr7dkkddh8o719rrc0t5r2ks526gvic@4ax.com>, Terry
Pinnell <terrypingm@DELETEgmail.com> escribió:

Its main active
component is a PIC16FC4. I know virtually nothing about PICs, but just in
case that *has* become faulty I thought it worth dropping in a
replacement. I couldn't find that specific one in stock anywhere so I've
taken a gamble and ordered a PIC16C54-XTI/P (8BIT CMOS MCU, 16C54, DIP18)
at Ł3.64.

You lost your bet - PICs are programmable. How are you going to get the
program from the old PIC into the new one?
Click to expand...
See my post yesterday evening.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
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