IQ4 panel - all 345 sensors offline

Support
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I just replaced a dead IQ2 panel with a new IQ4 panel. Surety restored settings from a backup. Per the instructions, I tampered all the PowerG sensors. All the older 345 sensors connected through the backup.

Everything seemed to work. All sensors were recognized and showed as online.

About five hours later, all 345 sensors went “offline.” I woke up to the panel beeping with question marks next to all the 345 sensors.

I checked the antenna in the back of the unit. It is properly unraveled and sits inside the wall (exactly like the old panel, which never had a problem with the 345 sensors).

Added: also ran daughter card test. All cards (power G, z-wave, 345) pass.

I tampered some of the sensors. I opened/closed windows and doors. I re-booted the panel. Nothing. Panel continues to beep and all the 345 sensors are offline.

Qolsys has it out for me. This company is one big headache…

Is there any solution?

Added: …and how to stop the annoying beeping from the panel? I acknowledged the trouble conditions, but it won’t’ stop.

More information:
I deleted one of the 345 window sensors from the panel (looks like a Honeywell series 5800). I then reset the sensor (remove battery, replace battery while holding the tamper switch down).

I then tried to re-enroll that sensor into the panel; Auto-enroll does NOT work. I entered the information manually. System accepted it, but it apparently does not work. Open/close window and tamper shows nothing on the panel. I am betting that in a few hours it will also show as “offline.”

Also unchecked every box for the panel beep. That does nothing. The only way to shut it up is to lower the volume to zero.

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I’m guessing support is closed today in observance of “National Asparagus Day.”

1 Like
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I’m sorry for the frustrating experience.

In my opinion, the 345 MHz sensors were probably never working with the new panel. Even though they showed as OK initially, it just took some time before the panel realized they aren’t working and started to complain.

I’ve sent a few troubleshooting commands to your panel but almost all the 345 MHz sensors still show malfunction. One of them (MB front window) currently shows Closed but I’m not sure that will last. If you open and close that window does the panel see the status change?

There are a few things we can try.

First, let’s update to the latest firmware.

If that doesn’t help, could you move one of the sensors close (about 5-10ft) from the panel and see whether it starts communicating? Either open & close or tamper it when near by. That wouldn’t solve the problem but it might tell us whether the 345 MHz card is “working” but not receiving signals well enough, or not working at all.

If that doesn’t work, then let’s try powering down the panel, disconnecting wall power and the battery, waiting a few minutes, then reconnecting battery, reconnecting wall power, and letting it boot back up.

If that doesn’t help then we would need to wait until Tuesday and get Qolsys to help us. I suspect they may have us power down, remove the daughter card, re-seat it, and power back up.

If that doesn’t help then I suspect we would need to just send you a new panel under warranty (assuming you bought the IQ Panel 4 from Surety) as there is probably something wrong with the 345 MHz daughter card, even though the diagnostics test passed.

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RE: 345 sensors never working with the new panel… pretty apparent at this point.

MB Front window is the sensor I deleted, initialized, and re-installed. Auto-enroll did NOT work, it was re-connected manually. Open/close, tamper - no response on the panel. Panel acts like it connected and closed. Alarm.com shows unable to determine status.

Update to latest firmware::
Current software is 4.4.1. Panel is connected to WiFi/Internet with valid IP and strong signal.
I have tried both “iqpanel4.5.1” and “patch iqpanel 4.5.1” (unclear from your instructions what the exact command is). Nothing happens. Still at 4.4.1.

Did a power down via panel. Then disconnected power and battery (who is the sadist that put the battery cable connection in an impossible to reach location?) Waited 10+ minutes. Reconnected and powered up.

Panel went through the motions as if it were new (select language, select network, system tests, etc). I skipped all steps. Panel returned to where it was originally - none of the 345 sensors are working.

I can’t move most sensors closer to the panel. They are all glued to the windows/doors and not easily removable.

I did try with a smoke detector. No luck. There is also a side door 345 sensor about 4ft away from the panel. This did not come in with the backup restore. I tried to reset and then enroll it - again, auto-enroll does not work. Manual inclusion yields same results as the window sensor: It shows up in panel but doesn’t work (always closed, despite actual status).

Unfortunately, Tuesday doesn’t work. This is a remote location and I came up here earlier in the week just to resolve this issue. I do not know when I can return here. I have already wasted too much time on this piece of junk.

Surety is unable to ship anything in an expedited manner. I purchased the panel from a supplier who could ship overnight. Hopefully, they offer refunds.

Between my old IQ2 panel that failed due to a “known defect” and this new piece of useless plastic, I have been without any monitoring for the majority of the past seven months. It has already cost me >$1000 in bills due to a problem that occurred during the last panel outage. In my experience, Qolsys is highly unreliable.

Unless some miracle solution arrives by tomorrow, I will send this panel back (hopefully) for a refund. Then I will look to start from scratch using a system that is more reliable. IMO, anything has to be more reliable than Qolsys.

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It’s iqpanel4.5.2, press OK and then press Upgrade Using Network.

IQ Panel 4.5.2 Patch Tag
IQ Panel 4.5.2 Patch Tag2048×1564 337 KB

I have no idea why they make us do this to update software. :grimacing:

It makes sense that auto-enroll doesn’t work if the card isn’t able to receive sensor signals.

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If upgrading via network doesn’t work (it should work) there is also a way to upgrade firmware via access point described in the instructions I linked to above. Upgrading via network is easier and recommended but upgrading via access point is an alternative.

Basically you download the update file to a local computer or phone, connect to the Wi-Fi network created by the IQ Panel 4, and then upload the update file.

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Typo in my previous post. I did enter iqpanel4.5.2 (not .1). Old version is 4.4.1, Lost track in the back and forth between computer screen and panel screen.

I did get the update to finally work. Am now running 4.5.2. Unfortunately, that didn’t fix the problem. 345 sensors still dead.

The only thing left is to re-seat the 345 daughter card. Will have to try that tonight.

“I have no idea whey they make us do this to update software.”

My suspicion is that they hire drunk train engineers instead of sober software engineers. That’s the only logical explanation.

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Powered down, unplugged power and battery. Re-seated 345 card. System test still shows card ask “ok.”

No luck. All 345 sensors offline.

Sorry, but I can’t believe I had an IQ2 that was one of the bad ones and then just happened to get one of the “few” IQ4s that were bad. Qolsys (IMO) is cheap crap programmed by monkeys with TBI. Panel is going back. If I can’t get a refund, I’ll get some minor satisfaction by taking a hammer to it.

I’m done with this. Many hours and $$$ wasted. Time to move to a reliable system. I don’t know how you can recommend this cheap crap.

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I disagree with your assessment but if they won’t let you return it I recommend making the seller replace it under warranty and then sell the replacement online. You can probably get a few hundred bucks for it.

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Good point, but is it ethical to take money from someone for this junk?

A bit frustrated right now having spent many hours spinning my wheels on problem solving.

I’m sure the seller will, at the very least, replace the defective unit. Even it that was an option for me, I would be unable to test a replacement any time in the near future. I guess unloading it on some unsuspecting person is an option. At the moment, a hammer seems much more satisfying.

I’m curious… your site states support hours are 10-2 on Saturday. I kept checking all morning and no response. Then, responses from support started at 2pm and here you are still responding at almost 8pm.

I do appreciate it, but what are the actual hours for support?

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Those are the listed hour and questions are answered in the order they are received. However we may respond after hours, depending on availability.

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Just to be clear…

If you are closed for the weekend, that’s fine. If you are bogged down with a high rate of support requests, I understand. It is more of a communication issue than an availability issue.

My original request was sent several hours before your posted Saturday support hours. I waited from 10am to 2pm for any response. None came. With no other information available, I could only conclude that there was no support available that day, and I had wasted four hours waiting for a response.

If things are crazy busy and response time is >4 hours (or not coming during normal hours because you are so backed up), then a simple response (or auto response) to that effect would make sense.

Likewise, if you are closed for the weekend, a similar post or notice to that effect would save people time and aggravation.

Instead, I receive an email stating the regular support hours and the assurance that someone will respond “shortly.”

I don’t expect, but do appreciate someone responding after regular hours. That’s a good thing. I’m simply stating it would make more sense for your “auto-response” (email/forum/PM) to be something like “we are closed today” or “response time is longer than usual. Don’t expect a response during normal hours.”

The lack of communication made a bad situation worse and wasted quite a bit of time.

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I do apologize for the inconvenience. We have limited hours on Saturday and Sunday, from 10 AM to 2 PM EST. Questions are handled in the order they are received. While we strive to answer as many questions as possible, we may not be able to answer every ticket that comes through during that time.

Typically we have a banner of some kind regarding when the office is closed on holidays but it looks like one was not able to be set up this past Monday. I have let our IT team know to get that resolved in the future and to see what adjustments can be made to the automatic replies regarding holiday hours.

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Part of our tech support team had severe thunderstorms and a power outage that morning which caused support requests to get backed up. It would have been smart to say so in the auto-responder. In the moment we were just trying to catch up. I’m sorry for the frustration. It’s not normally like that.

We weren’t closed over the weekend. We were only closed on Memorial Day which was posted on the forum.