March 2016 Archives

As a DIY friendly company we love the Honeywell LT-Cable. For those who are not familiar with the cable it is a prefabricated power supply cable with male spade connectors and a right angle DC barrel plug. The spades offer a clean and easy connection to the screw terminals of your AC transformer. The barrel plug simply plugs into the DC port on the back of your alarm panel. The best part of the device is that it offers an easy way to power cycle your alarm system without dealing with the transformer. Generally the transformer is hidden or screwed into your wall plate so the LT-Cable offers a safe way to disconnect power from the panel without the hassle of the transformer. Now, technically you can disconnect hardwired power to the screw terminals if your system was custom cabled. However we strongly caution against that since you are dealing with live power with your transformer still plugged in. Although it is only low voltage power it can damage or destroy the panel or transformer if you accidentally short it.

As you may have seen in our Honeywell Lynx Touch videos the LT-Cable plugged directly into the DC port which was great. Well unfortunately Honeywell decided to phase out the DC port which we are bummed about. However they did do us a big favor by revamping it to have a pigtail with a DC port adapter. By doing this they essentially made the cable universal. In other words, the cable now can be used as a power connection to any alarm system. Here is why.

The pigtail has two wires on one end that should be landed on the AC or DC power connections of your alarm system. Not all systems have a DC port but they all have screw terminals for custom cabling. On the back side of the pigtail there is a female DC port. This is where the right angle male DC barrel connector plugs into. Instead of removing the male DC plug from the panel now you are removing it from the back end of the pigtail in order to power down. This means a clean, safe way to reboot your system...

By adding this pigtail, the cable will work with any alarm system you want. This is not just limited to wireless self-contained panels like the LYNX Touch. You can now use the LT-Cable to connect the transformer to your wired alarm control cabinets as well! Some panels may require low voltage AC power which does not have any polarity. However on most systems it is low voltage DC so be sure to match the red wire with your positive connection and black with negative.

As a DIY outfit we just wanted to share that this potentially bad news (Honeywell stripping out the DC port on the LYNX Touch panels) really turned into great news! We are now selling the new LT-Cable on our site. The cable is still in-wall rated and remains to be 8 feet long. The photo on the product page will be updated shortly. Check out the release note for a visual on the new cable.