Detached Garage Sensor Options

Support
1

I purchased a Qolsys IQ-4 panel and several sensors and installed the panel and paired all the sensors. I (wrongly) assumed the sensors in the detached garage (2 mini D/W sensors and 1 motion sensor) would be close enough to the panel to work reliably. I cannot move the panel any closer to the detached garage. The corner of the 24x32 pole barn is about 25’ from the panel, but the structure has metal siding and roof and unless the sensors are in the closest corner, they don’t work reliably with the sensor I intended to go on the garage door itself being the furthest away. I’ve already had to add a wifi access point and z-wave hub to the garage for those things to work reliably (I ran 10G fiber between the house and the garage last month), so I know it isn’t just the wireless alarm sensors having trouble communicating with the house.

What is the best way to address this? Is there some sort of subpanel that can connect back to the main panel via WiFi or wired ethernet? Do I need a separate panel/service for the garage? I just want this to work and am willing to spend a little money so I’d rather do this the “right way” so I don’t have headaches down the road.

Thanks for any suggestions/input.

2

PowerG sensors offer an extended wireless range compared to the IQ mini sensors, which may be a better fit for your situation. There are both PowerG door/window sensors as well as a PowerG Motion Detector with a wireless signal range of 2000-2500 ft in open air.

Unfortunately, secondary panels for the Qolsys panel do not extend the communication range of RF sensors.

3

Thanks, Adam. I’ll order those and give it a shot.

4

Another option is using a Powerg to Hardwire. Some potential benefits are the ability to use wired contact sensors, smokes, siren/bell and programmable outputs. So for just over $100 for the Powerg to Hardwire you can add a bunch of hardwire sensors. Could come out cheaper than multiple Powerg sensors if you want some of the other capability.

Another option is using a PowerG contact sensor with aux and connect wired sensors to that…

They have the new PowerG Heat only sensor now to so this can work well in a barn that is dusty or is more of a garage. Those can also act as sirens and alerts.