I currently have a 2Gig GC2 based system, and we are getting frustrated with this panel’s inaccurate touch screen (that often stops responding in the middle of inputing disarm code during entry count down that has resulted in more than 1 false alarm, including dispatch of police for a house sitter).
Since 2Gig in their infinite wisdom decided to make the GC3 incompatible with my remote panels (TS1) I may as well switch to a Qolsys set as it appears to be more user friendly and technology forward. I am curious what options Surety offers to help ease the transition, I would install a repeater/translator as part of the installation in order to takeover my existing sensors (other than the 2 life sensors).
Can Surety pre-enroll the sensors into the Qolsys panel, or does the repeater/translator get in the mix and changes the sensor ID’s such that pre-enrollment can’t occur?
If switching from the 2GIG Panel to the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 +, there are a couple options open to you.
First up, would be the IQ Panel 2 + QS9201-1208-840 (from here on out IQ2+) with the 319.5MHz radio. This version allows for communication with legacy 319.5MHz sensors (Qolsys/GE) as well as the encrypted S-Line sensors and PowerG. Should you go this route, you would need a translator, like the RE524X Translator/Repeater to convert your existing 2GIG/Honeywell 345 MHz sensors. You would also need to replace your 345MHz life safety devices.
Can Surety pre-enroll the sensors into the Qolsys panel, or does the repeater/translator get in the mix and changes the sensor ID’s such that pre-enrollment can’t occur?
We would be unable to pre-program existing sensors, programming of existing sensors would need to occur locally. More information on how the RE524X mentioned above works, please see the video here.
On the other hand, there is the IQ2+ with the 345Mhz radio. This version communicates with PowerG AND 2GIG/HoneyWell 345MHz sensors. This way you can utilize all of your existing 345 sensors including life safety devices and no translator would be required. You would be unable to use S-Line sensors however.
we are getting frustrated with this panel’s inaccurate touch screen
Have you tried using the Calibrate Screen tool in the panel? This feature can be found via the Home screen → Security → Menu → Toolbox → Calibrate Touch Screen. Any change?
I had been looking at the QS9201-1208-840 as it does have the forward compatibility with the S-Line sensors, I had also looked at the QS9201-5208-840 which has internal legacy 345MHz support for the 2Gig sensors…however it lacks S-Line, as I take it S-Line is 319MHz and the 345 radio replaces the 319.
I am trying to decide between having the option of using the more secure S-Line in the future or having the simplicity of adopting my legacy 2Gig 345MHz sensors. I only have 2 life safety sensors, so losing those isn’t much of an issue for me personally…though I am evaluating the list of sensors available in S-Line and PowerG to help decide if the loss of S-Line is concerning, there seems to be more DSC PowerG sensors than Qolsys S-Line. PowerG and S-Line both seem to offer similar encryption capabilities.
Have you tried using the Calibrate Screen tool in the panel? This feature can be found via the Home screen -> Security -> Menu -> Toolbox -> Calibrate Touch Screen. Any change?
It isn’t just a case of “accuracy”, it is also that resistive touch screens are inherently inaccurate…and people with “fat fingers” have a harder time, as the “point” of a finger may actually not fit explicitly within the area of the numerical entry to disarm. Further, we have had many incidents where the panel “freezes” during text input…a numerical button stays depressed on screen and the panel stops responding. You then have to use one of the physical buttons to try and get it to clear and allow inputting the disarm code again.
It isn’t just a case of “accuracy”, it is also that resistive touch screens are inherently inaccurate…and people with “fat fingers” have a harder time, as the “point” of a finger may actually not fit explicitly within the area of the numerical entry to disarm
This is definitely a big advantage of a capacitive touchscreen. I run into this myself from time to time on my own GC2.
I am trying to decide between having the option of using the more secure S-Line in the future or having the simplicity of adopting my legacy 2Gig 345MHz sensors. I only have 2 life safety sensors, so losing those isn’t much of an issue for me personally…though I am evaluating the list of sensors available in S-Line and PowerG to help decide if the loss of S-Line is concerning, there seems to be more DSC PowerG sensors than Qolsys S-Line. PowerG and S-Line both seem to offer similar encryption capabilities.
There is a bit wider variety of Power G sensors, at least currently, and Power G has greatly improved range (and frequency hopping) and it is generally the gold standard for wireless sensors at the moment.
S-line are more cost effective and fully encrypted. They have roughly the same range that you would expect out of 2GIG sensors.
I received my IQ2+ and my RE524X, enrolling the primary/default loop of sensors is pretty straightforward. I do not see anyway of configuring “loops” on sensor enrollment within the panel though, and I am not sure how I would “open” the various loops on the sensors to force them to send a signal for auto-enrollment. Does the Qolsys auto-enroll all loops somehow? I am not sure how that would work on a D/W sensor that has a loop with glass break/shock sensors on it, so that must not be it.
Lets assume that you do have to manually trigger the other loops in order to get them to transmit for enrollment, how would one go about that on sensors that include temperature or other sensors types that aren’t necessarily easy to manually trigger?
There was nothing disclosed in the manual of the RE524X or anywhere on your site mentioning that only a single loop was supported on sensors.
GE Panels do not use the concept of loops. The RE524X manual indicates only one Loop can be used when using Honeywell/2GIG. Check under the sensors section notes on page 3.
“The translator does not support multiple loops on Honeywell sensors. Only one loop may be used, reed or external”
What model of sensors are you using? Are you referring to DW10’s with a wired input as well?
The statements about “translator does not support multiple loops” are under the Panel Enrollment section, they have nearly ZERO information on Panel Enrollment for Qolsys.
Qolsys ®
• Qolsys IQ panel uses Interlogix 319.5MHz protocol.
• DSC Touch panel made by Qolsys uses DSC 433.92MHz protocol.
There is nothing in the Qolsys section to indicate any restrictions on sensor enrollment. The loop restriction is also not sited in the 2Gig nor the Interlogix panel sections.
The manually is really poorly constructed if that is supposed to refer to the sensor vendor specific restrictions, as that should be in a “Sensor Enrollment” section (that doesn’t exist in the manual). The way the manual is written it implies that “this is how you enroll the translator into vendor’s panel”, “this is how you enroll sensors via the translator into vendor’s panel.” It does not indicate that this is how you “enroll vendor’s sensor into the panel”.
One would expect to navigate to the Panel Enrollment section, find the vendor of the panel you are enrolling and be done…you wouldn’t expect to have to read the details on every other vendor, or even the vendor of the sensor as it is illogical based on the layout of the manual.
The portion of the manual referenced in the above post is located under the Advanced Setup portion of the manual under HoneyWell -> B) Sensor Enrollment.
The sensors learned into the 2GIG GC2 panel communicate on the HoneyWell 345MHz band. As you are enrolling these sensors into the translator/panel, you will want to follow these steps in the Advanced Setup section.
What is the sensor make/model you are having trouble with?
I am aware that the quoted section “The translator does not support multiple loops on Honeywell sensors” is from the “Advanced Setup” and within section 4 of that, which is “Panel Enrollment” -> “Honeywell” with portion “A) translator enrollment” and “B) sensor enrollment”…which is anything but clear that this is referring to Honeywell sensors, and not a Honeywell panel. Regardless, it is obvious these limitations aren’t unique to Honeywell sensors as they apply to other 2Gig compatible sensors that include multiple loops.
What model of sensors are you using? Are you referring to DW10’s with a wired input as well?
Yes, currently that is the one I am referring to…however I also have the RE219 that has 3 loops present, loop2 for flood, loop3 for freeze, and loop1 for overheat. Hopefully it is loop2 that is enrolled by default.
I also have Honeywell 5898, where loop1 is pet immunity and loop2 isn’t…so hopefully loop1 is the one that is enrolled by default.
I have a RE206 tilt switch, and it is apparent that the “wrong” loop is being used as it is the opposite of what I had enrolled in my 2Gig panel and reports Open when actually closed.
How would one go about determine which loop is being monitored on a multi-loop sensor?
What options exist to replace the DW10s? Qolsys doesn’t support the Aux2 on the PG9309, and they don’t offer any sensors of their own that I could input my existing Interlogix 5150W to. The 5150W is pretty critical to us, as it is the only sensor we know that has prevented a burglary when someone “tested” our side door window at 5am. The IQ SHOCK-S isn’t a great option, as I’d have to have this wort mounted on the glass and yet another D/W to actually track door open/close state. Based on the dimensions I can find the IQ SHOCK-S is massive in comparison to the 5150W, and I could be prevented from even using it.
Yes, currently that is the one I am referring to…however I also have the RE219 that has 3 loops present, loop2 for flood, loop3 for freeze, and loop1 for overheat. Hopefully it is loop2 that is enrolled by default.
I also have Honeywell 5898, where loop1 is pet immunity and loop2 isn’t…so hopefully loop1 is the one that is enrolled by default.
I have a RE206 tilt switch, and it is apparent that the “wrong” loop is being used as it is the opposite of what I had enrolled in my 2Gig panel and reports Open when actually closed.
How would one go about determine which loop is being monitored on a multi-loop sensor?
The Loop used should be the one which was tripped in order to learn the zone. Tamper should result in Loop 1. Opening a reed switch should result in loop 2.
What options exist to replace the DW10s? Qolsys doesn’t support the Aux2 on the PG9309, and they don’t offer any sensors of their own that I could input my existing Interlogix 5150W to.
The QS1137-840 actually does have internal wired inputs for secondary sensors. You can find info on it here. I’m double checking with QOlsys to make sure it can handle both internal and external contacts at once. Will confirm in reply here.
Thanks, I didn’t notice that the “Extended” D/W had auxiliary input when I reviewed the short list of Qolsys sensors. I have ordered 2 of these to replace my DW10s, I also ordered a new tilt sensor.
I was sad to discover that the Qolsys panel doesn’t support the Z-wave sirens that I had, even though ADC detects them as alarms the panel sees them as something else (e.g. water valve in the case of the Utilitech TSE07-1). Curious if anyone has tried the Linear WA105DBZ with the Qolsys, I haven’t been able to unenroll it from the GC2 to verify yet.
I’m double checking with QOlsys to make sure it can handle both internal and external contacts at once. Will confirm in reply here.
Well, unfortunately Qolsys has replied that at this time the Extended sensor can only use one or the other: the internal switch or the wired input. Not both at the same time.
We’ve made a request for this functionality (as it is clearly a benefit to have that sort of flexibility)
Curious if anyone has tried the Linear WA105DBZ with the Qolsys, I haven’t been able to unenroll it from the GC2 to verify yet.
We cannot confirm that at this time. The only siren officially supported is the Aeon Labs/branded Qolsys one, but that of course just means that is the only model tested and confirmed by Qolsys. It may be that others could work, just no guarantee.
Well, unfortunately Qolsys has replied that at this time the Extended sensor can only use one or the other: the internal switch or the wired input. Not both at the same time
This is beyond disappointing, it is mind blowing to me that Qolsys can’t even support their own sensor with 2 “loops”. So glad to be tossing money away on their sensors with zero confidence in them working, especially since they give zero disclosures about not being able to use “primary” and “secondary” inputs concurrently. Code outputs: tamper, tamper restore, alarm (primary open), alarm restore (primary close), external alarm (secondary wired open), external restore (secondary wired closed), low battery.
Even their sensor compatibility guide doesn’t say anything about this restriction, though it does for other brands of sensors.
This is beyond disappointing, it is mind blowing to me that Qolsys can’t even support their own sensor with 2 “loops”.
I’m with you in this case, it should be listed. The Radio type does not make use of loops, there is no concept of loops with GE sensor transmission, but there are multifunction sensor types which use multiple IDs, so hopefully in time this can be corrected.
I’m checking to see if there is any news on the possibility with that model or if there are any other models which might support it now or soon.
I can confirm that the newly purchased QS1137-840 cannot support both the magnetic sensor and the auxiliary input, they enroll together and either “trigger” trips the same sensor entity. Really disappointing, but I guess I’ve already sunk the $ into these so I will add them to cover the 2 existing 5150W on high target doors. I will just have to make sure that the sensor body isn’t too close to the existing D/W magnet as to cause interference.
Thus far I am not able to get the QS1137-840 to work with the 5150, it reads it as “open”. Qolsys provides nearly zero details on using this aux input on the sensor, perhaps the 5150 doesn’t provide enough resistance to register as “closed”?
The Aux is programmed into the panel the same way you learn in the internal reed switch. Wire up the terminals and trip the sensor to learn in. Some additional info:
You can only use the reed switch or the aux terminals, not both
Max length is 3 feet of wire. No resister is needed
So far I have been unable to get the 5150 to trigger any events with the QS1137-480. I have smacked it pretty hard and nothing seems to register, tamper registers reliably…as would the magnetic reed switch, but not the aux input.
Aha, I think I see what is wrong here. The manual does not indicate this, but both zones are active at once. The panel will receive the open from either one, but the reed switch needs to be closed for the wired input to open, which means the sensor’s magnet must be closing the reed switch. Any luck with that?
You cannot use it as two separate zones, it just acts as a single zone.