Panel swap turned into a disaster in an attic in Tucson

I was upgrading an old DSC panel to a new Qolsys IQ4 last Tuesday. The homeowner's attic was a nightmare, 115 degrees and I kept hitting my head on the trusses. Halfway through pulling the old panel, I accidentally snipped the main 12V power wire with my wire cutters and heard a loud pop. Turns out the backup battery was still connected and I blew a fuse on the new panel before I even powered it up. Has anyone else fried a panel because they forgot to disconnect the battery first?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan_young1mo ago

Dude @charlienelson actually had smoke coming out of his panel? I would have just walked off the job right there. That's next level bad luck.

charlienelson1mo ago

Done that exact same thing. Fried a brand new Vista panel because I forgot the battery was still hooked up. Felt like a complete idiot standing in a hot attic with smoke coming out of my brand new equipment. You're definitely not alone on this one.