Summary:
This article covers the troubleshooting steps to determine and solve the cause of a problem where you may not be able to connect to a panel from CTPlus using an UltraSync connection. You may be seeing either of the following messages:
error: Panel comms open connection rejected
Ultrasync Comms - error: (code: 109, message:Too many login failures, try again later); UltraSync - connection failed
NOTE: If you have a site that is running TecomC4, this can also cause this issue. If you have TecomC4 on your site, please see the section at the end titled "Sites with TecomC4".
The issue:
- Usually the panel is successfully connected to UltraSync. To confirm this, you can connect directly to the panel with CTPlus via USB or Ethernet, and right click on the panel in the Status & control tree, and choose Diagnostics > Diagnostics... , then at the bottom choose the "Diagnostics type:" of "UltraSync". You should see that for the "Ethernet link status", it should either say "Non provisioned", or "Registered", which both mean the panel is successfully connected to UltraSync (if this is not the case, you may need to troubleshoot your network settings, or any network restrictions that may be preventing the panel from reaching the UltraSync servers).
- We also usually see in the Live Events window that CTPlus is successfully reaching out and connecting to the UltraSync servers, with the following message:
UltraSync - successfully authenticated
- However after that, we see that panel then rejects the connection, with:
error: Panel comms open connection rejected
This rejection is from the panel itself, so the task is then working out why the panel is rejecting the connection.
The panel can reject the connection from CTPlus or the app, for the reasons listed below:
Reasons for "error: Panel comms open connection rejected":
- Incorrect PIN code for the user being used for the connection
- The user being used for the connection does not have "Remote access" ticked in their alarm group under the "Options" tab
- The panel may have, for one reason or another (sometimes being that the site is running on TecomC4, and user numbers have changed, or other management software that may make changes, etc), not have the correct the alarm group, PIN, or other settings for the user that is being used, or the alarm group may not have correct options/permissions in the panel itself (as CTPlus may not be showing what is actually currently in the panel).
While it is worth re-checking reasons 1 & 2 here, reason 3 is definitely worth looking into as well, with the following troubleshooting:
IMPORTANT NOTE while testing:
If at any point when testing the steps below, you are receiving an error like:
Ultrasync Comms - error: (code: 109, message:Too many login failures, try again later); UltraSync - connection failed
This means you are now locked out of connecting via UltraSync for a period due to too many incorrect passcode / PIN login attempts. At this point you will need to stop testing for a period, and try again later.
The period may be anywhere from 1 hour if you only had a few failed attempts, to 24 hours if you had many repeated attempts over a longer period.
You will know that this lockout is cleared when you no longer receive this too many login failures message.
NOTE: If this message does not clear after 24 hours, you may need to check and ensure that there are no devices anywhere with any users of the system that may be trying to connect to this panel via UltraSync (either with the TecomPlus Mobile App, or CTPlus) with incorrect credentials in place, that could be causing it to be locked out.
Test A - Retrieving user programming from the panel:
Sometimes if something has been changed in the panel, for whatever reason (for example a site also having a TecomC4 or other management software connection), CTPlus may not be showing what is actually in the panel currently.
While you can do a full re-retrieval of programming from the panel into CTPlus, if you prefer to avoid this, you can also, in CTPlus, while connected to the panel directly, via either USB, or Ethernet (not UltraSync) go to the user that is being used to connect with UltraSync, and retrieving the programming for that user using the "Retrieve from panel" button:
And then checking that the user does indeed have the correct Alarm group, and that that alarm group does have "Remote access" ticked under the Options tab, and that the PIN number matches what you are using as well.
Test B - Trying the Master TECOM user 50
Try using the master user 50, and PIN for that user (as long as user 50 is still in the panel, this may not work if you are using Forcefield or TecomC4, and that user doesn't exist). It is also worth checking that user 50 does have the Alarm group "3 CH 1 Master code access" assigned by once again reading in this value from the panel to ensure it is there.
Test C - Defaulting user 50 using the TST-1 jumper
This test is important if the tests above have still failed, as it sets user 50 back to defaults. To do this, install the TST-1 jumper on the Challenger panel, and on the RAS keypad, press the "* MENU" button. You should see a message on the screen "Remove TST-1 and TST-2. Press ENTER".
At this point, remote the TST-1 jumper from the panel, and press ENTER on the RAS keypad. User 50 should now be defaulted.
- Now in CTPlus, go to user 50, and read this user back in to CTPlus, and you should see that they correctly have Alarm group "3 CH 1 Master code access" (as shown in the screenshot above in Test B.
- Now in CTPlus, try connecting via UltraSync again, using User 50, and the defaulted passcode 4346
Test D - Defaulting the panel (last resort)
If the above tests have not resolved the issue, then there is one final test to try here, in case there are corruptions in the programming for this panel that are causing it to reject the connection. This is to fully default the panel (procedure below), and before loading any programming again, set only it's network settings so it can connect to the UltraSync servers, and then test to see if you can then connect to it using CTPlus, and the default user 50, and PIN code 4346.
If this works, then you can try loading the programming for the site again, and then seeing if it works again after this. If it stops working after loading the site programming, then there is a corruption somewhere in the programming for the site.
Steps to default the panel:
- Power the panel down
- Fit TST-1 jumper on the panel
- Power the panel back up again
- Wait around 30 seconds until you see the red heartbeat LED labelled "L1" (next to the TST-1 jumper) start flashing fast
- Then immediately pull the TST-1 jumper off again. The panel will now be defaulted.
Testing UltraSync connection with no programming:
Now just set up the panel's Comms Device settings for the network, so that it can access the UltraSync servers, and ensure UltraSync is enabled (and possibly set the UltraSync Passcode to something you know for a test, like 01234567), and then create a new system in CTPlus, and try connecting to the panel with the default settings - User 50, and PIN 4346, and the Passcode as you have set it above (eg 01234567).
This should now work.
Sites with TecomC4
This issue can occur on sites using TecomC4:
On sites using TecomC4 - this issue can be experienced when using an UltraSync connection to the panel. This is because TecomC4 manages the users automatically, and can move the position number of users around in the panel without warning.
However an UltraSync connection to the panel from CTPlus or the TecomPlus Mobile app requires using the same user number.
This means that whenever TecomC4 decides to automatically move the user positions (which can happen when a sync is done), the user used by UltraSync is no longer the correct user, and will have changed access, and PIN number, etc, so UltraSync may either not work, or be limited to that new user's access.
A way to work around this for sites with TecomC4:
If your site has, for example 5000 users, then what you can do, is use CTPlus to create a user with a much higher number, for example 9000, and give that user the UltraSync permissions. Then when a sync is done, even if the user number positions change, there is a very low chance that it will change the higher user number used for UltraSync.
There is still a risk if the site grows of course, but should improve the reliability.
Further assistance
If none of the troubleshooting above works, then there may be another issue, and you may need to reach out to your Distributor or support contact for further assistance.