I bought a bunch of IQ Flood sensors but find that they only work more or less line of sight.
The ones I put upstairs in the attic, and downstairs in the basement, none of them can be heard by the panel.
Yet the panel can hear window/door sensors from much, much further away.
Can this be fixed? Or worst case: is there a different water sensor with better range?
I’ve used the DSC PowerG sensors for several years without issue— the range spans across different levels of the home.
Ok thank you! I’ll try those next, if I can’t figure out why these don’t work.
They are spec’d at six hundred feet line of sight, so I think should be able to reach twenty feet through a wood floor!
More questions:
–Where is the full manual for these things? I can only find a quick start guide. I want to try and troubleshoot communications.
–Does sensor have an “I’m transmitting” LED indication like window sensors do?
–Does it has a signal quality LED for placement assist like the DSC sensors Wayne mentioned?
–Do these sensors have a heartbeat, and can I see their status at the panel? Edit: found some sensor charts on the panel in Sensor Test menu; I can see that they do have a heartbeat, and the sensor downstairs hasn’t reported since I took it down there.
This raises the questions:
Why doesn’t the panel alert me that a sensor missed some heartbeats? Letting us know that a sensor disappeared seems essential for any security system!
I guess it’s called Sensor Test because it allows me to test the sensors, but I can only figure out how to view pings. Can I test a specific sensor with a button?
Per this discussion: Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ Panel Exit Fault Jason seems to be saying there is a plan for noticing missing heartbeats. Where do I see the online/offline status of sensors?
When I look at sensor status column in sensor list, it says “normal.” And on the home screen, when I look at the sensor list, the sensor in question has a little closed racetrack icon status, which means, I think, that the panel thinks it’s “closed” which I assume means for this sensor type, fine and present?
But again, the chart of the sensor’s pings shows it has not been hear from for hours. All very confusing…
The heartbeat you are referencing is sensor supervision.
Yes, all the sensors are supervised.
But again, the chart of the sensor’s pings shows it has not been hear from for hours. All very confusing…
The interval at which the panel reports failed supervision and offline status depends on programming and the type of sensor.
For life safety devices like smoke and CO, default supervision is 4 hours.
For non-life safety devices, default supervision is 24 hours.
You can find the supervision times and edit them under Settings > Advanced Settings > Installer Code > Installation > Installer Settings.
Does it has a signal quality LED for placement assist like the DSC sensors Wayne mentioned?
No, there is not an on-board signaling diagnostic. The panel can show signaling.
Open air range can be quickly shortened depending on the environment. Typically basements cause the most trouble as metal objects most effectively impact the RF signals. Water heaters, pipes, HVAC, duct work, nearby wiring all impact signaling.
Making sure the transmitter portion is not mounted on or close to metal is the most important. You can adjust the transmitter location to determine a good spot.
If you open the cover and the sensor reports a tamper on the panel, it can signal the panel from there, but check the signal strength reported under System Tests > Sensor Test.
Where is the full manual for these things?
The quick guide you reference is the full manual produced by Qolsys.
Thanks for all the answers!
There is not much metallic interference between the sensor location and the panel, mostly one wood floor and one plaster wall. Only about 30ft or so. Assuming the thing is still working (without an LED hard to tell for sure) tampering doesn’t reach the panel.
I am sure sorry I ordered a bunch of these before testing one. Before I spend more time struggle more with them, I’ll order one of the DSC devices Wayne suggested, sounds much better. I appreciate the info on how to change the supervision interval, these ping every hour, so four hours seems better than 24hrs.
More questions:
The panel did not report that the sensor was not reporting after 24hrs either. DOes supervision not mean “I will let you know if I don’t hear from this sensor”? What does it mean in the IQ4 panel context?
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The panel did not report that the sensor was not reporting after 24hrs either. DOes supervision not mean “I will let you know if I don’t hear from this sensor”? What does it mean in the IQ4 panel context?
This means either the panel did indeed receive supervision signals from the sensor or potentially a different issue is present, such as an incorrect sensor ID. This would mean the panel is listening for a different sensor.
If you bring the sensor close to the panel, do tamper signals get received? If not, another issue is present instead of range or attenuation.
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Is the PowerG 9985 the correct/best range sensor for my IQ4?
PowerG sensors have roughly 4 times the range of other models for the IQ Panel 4. Yes, that is the flood sensor model.