Thanks for the info. I wish Qolsys had clarified their statement that the bluetooth speaker would REPLACE the main panel sounds.
I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and purchase one (leaning toward the A3108) and see what happens. I’ll report back here when I know. Thanks for your help.
Further investigation has shown that BOTH Anker bluetooth speakers, being battery powered, automatically shut off after about 10 minutes to preserve the battery. OK, that makes sense.
BUT, according to the three responses I’ve gotten from folks on Amazon who have purchased one of these speakers, they don’t turn back on again when receiving a bluetooth audio signal; they must be manually turned back on in preparation to receive the audio signal.
So, with Qolsys saying one of these speakers would work fine and with Anker owners saying the documentation says the speakers turn off after 10 minutes and must be manually turned back on again, I don’t see HOW they would work. These two pieces of information seem contradictory and can’t both be correct.
I would really prefer to get a wireless Bluetooth speaker as opposed to the PowerG siren, but don’t really see how the speakers could possibly work unless the main alarm panel outputs a silent signal every five minutes to keep the speaker awake, thereby running the battery down.
Agreed, shutting off like that with the inability to turn on remotely would be next to useless in this scenario.
Qolsys techs suggest that the A3108 and A3109 speakers work with the panel with no issues, unfortunately I am unable to test this. If you do attempt to use one of the speakers, I would ensure you can return the device for a full refund should it not work as anticipated.
FWIW:
I decided that the Anker bluetooth speaker option was sufficiently un-clear that I ordered a PowerG WiFi siren off of eBay. It will be here tomorrow.
Having said that, my lovely bride just showed me a small Ecoxgear bluetooth speaker that her brother had given her and I immediately tested it to see if it would pair with our Qolsys 2+ panel. I found Bluetooth pairing in the “setup wizard” menu; if there is an easier way to get to that pairing function, please let me know.
After pairing the speaker to the panel, the speaker emitted all the sounds that normally come from the panel even when the speaker was 40 feet away from the panel. Unfortunately, the main panel sounds were completely muted, so that wouldn’t work for me even if the other issues such as auto-shutoff to save battery, etc. weren’t present.
Still, it was fun to learn something new. If I ever stumble across an appropriate Anker speaker, I’ll test that but I’m not looking anymore.
Interesting. Since its Bluetooth, its possible any speaker can connect but how it functions is anyone’s guess since its not officially tested/supported.
Bluetooth pairing is found outside the Setup Wizard via Settings > Adv Settings > Installation > Devices > Bluetooth Devices
OK, DSC PowerG 9901 indoor siren arrived and I stumbled through the install process by pushing buttons and menus until it was installed as a sensor; the included instructions seemed to be for a DSC alarm panel so they had no bearing on the Qolsys panel.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that while the indoor siren did emit a piercing squawk when a door/window was opened, it did not have the voice annunciation telling us WHICH door/window that we get from the main panel and our one secondary panel.
I’ll have to see if my spouse can live with this. Or I’ll have to try one of the Anker speakers to see if it doesn’t shut off automatically and doesn’t mute the main panel. Or I’ll have to bite the bullet and purchase another Qolsys secondary remote panel.
I purchased a used Secondary Panel of off eBay and it has arrived and is doing everything we wished. Of course, it was the most expensive option, but the other options didn’t do what we wanted. That’s Life!