Pg 9935 shock sensor

any suggestions for safely creating a window in the outer casing of the 9945 where the auxiliary wires exit, without causing damage to the rest of the casing? without a window, the wires exit from the bottom of the sensor so that the sensor can’t lay perfectly flat on its mounting surface…would have been nice of they had manufactured it with an easy breakout

If you take a look at the outer housing of the sensor there where the wires come out, at the end of the sensor the wall of the housing is actually notched out and thinner than the rest of the housing.

You can simply take needle nose pliers and pull off the plastic there to make an opening.

what is the purpose/function of the sensitivity setting (high/medium/low) for the PG9935 on the IQ2+ programming screen, and how does it relate to the numeric number chosen during local calibration of the sensor?

With these sensors, Qolsys recommends following the sensitivity settings during programming when being paired with the Qolsys panel and not the onboard sensitivity settings.

The onboard settings are largely meant for use when being paired to a DSC PowerSeries Neo panel.

Sorry, to be clear what you’re referring to - so do you mean select a sensitivity at the panel (high, medium, or low), and by onboard do you mean the number chosen on the sensor itself? Does it then matter what number is chosen on the sensor?

Thanks

Sensitivity settings on the sensor are not used when being paired with a Qolsys panel, settings should be chosen through panel programming.

The sensors onboard setup for sensitivity is only used when being used with DSC panels

Got it. As I did not realize this when installing, I did perform the local calibration test per instructions, and set the sensitivity to 1. Will this have any effect on the function of the sensor, or does the panel just ignore this? Do I need to erase the settings I made on the sensor?

Qolsys techs state that the onboard sensitivity settings on the sensor are not used when being paired with a Qolsys panel, so they should have no impact .

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with local testing, it seems to me that the “low” sensitivity setting on the panel actually results in the lightest shock triggering an alarm (rather than “high” sensitivity setting), which is the opposite I’d expect based on my assumption of the meanings of high and low sensitvity. does this sound right?

does the sensitivity setting programmed at the panel change what level of shock causes the red LED to illuminate with local testing? or does the programmed sensitivity only determine what the panel will report as an alarm, and doesn’t actually change what is sensed locally at the sensor and cause the red LED to illuminate?

is tapping the window locally and looking for the red LED to illuminate an accurate method of testing?

with local testing, it seems to me that the “low” sensitivity setting on the panel actually results in the lightest shock triggering an alarm (rather than “high” sensitivity setting), which is the opposite …

The lower the threshold, the higher the sensitivity. If the Low setting is too sensitive change it and test until you find the best one of the three (Low, Medium and High).

…is tapping the window locally and looking for the red LED to illuminate an accurate method of testing?

DSC recommends gently striking the surface that the sensor is mounted on and gradually increasing pressure until the sensor triggers. Localized testing with panel programmed sensitivity settings would be recommended.

While the LED should light up red for 2 seconds when shock is triggered, ultimately, you are looking for the sensor to trigger at the panel.

Do you have any recommendations for comparable alternatives to the 5150, which seems to be getting difficult to find?

Unfortuantely, with Interlogix you may run into issues sourcing products as they are no longer focusing on home security.

Coming up short on a specific alternative piezoelectric shock sensor but if I come across a specific part number ill put it up here. However any piezo shock that can be wired in should work.

on a large pane of glass, will the 5150 function better mounted at a corner, or better 1 inch from an edge but at the midpoint of that edge, so that the longest distance from sensor to farthest point of glass is shorter?

The 5150W should be mounted 1" from the frame towards the corner. Test by striking the far opposite corner of the glass .

Several weeks ago I installed multiple of these sensors. Even though the onboard settings per above supposedly have no effect when enrolled with a qolsys panel, I nevertheless did set the sensitivity to 1 and “A” to 0. I set the sensitivity at the panel to low. Following installation they were all functioning correctly, ie tapping the window triggered the alarm.

Yesterday when performing local testing, all but one of these sensors were not functioning, ie tapping the window did not trigger the alarm. One of them was functioning correctly. All remained enrolled and reporting normal status at the panel.

When I opened the non functioning sensors, I went through the onboard programming process and the sensitivities of all of them were at 14 (not 1 as originally programmed). I set them back to 1 (and the “A” value to 1 this time), closed the sensors, and they are all now functioning correctly again, ie tapping window triggers alarm.

Why did the all but one of the sensors stop functioning? Why was no malfunction notification received at the panel, and this was only identified through random local testing? Why did the onboard sensitivity setting spontaneously change from its programmed value of 1 to 14?

Thanks

Why did the all but one of the sensors stop functioning?

Because the sensitivity was changed to require a higher threshold of impact.

Why was no malfunction notification received at the panel, and this was only identified through random local testing?

A settings change is not a malfunction.

Why did the onboard sensitivity setting spontaneously change from its programmed value of 1 to 14?

This is the big question, but I think we can test and work it out. I think there may be some confusion going on about the sensitivity.

Qolsys is not going to be setting a separate sensitivity. The panel is not deciding what threshold is accepted as an actual alarm after something is detected by the sensor here, the panel is simply setting a sensitivity level in the sensor using its onboard levels and 3 preset values for low, medium, and high. If it is doing anything other than that I will eat at least one hat.

The sensor sensitivity ranges from 1-19. The higher the number the lower the sensitivity (the higher number means a harder hit is required)

14 sounds like a reasonable value preset for low sensitivity. The other two sensitivity options at the panel would be other presets. My guess would be that after you manually set those sensors to have a sensitivity threshold of 1 they synced with the panel and were set to the “Low” threshold.

Before I make too many assumptions, which sensor still worked for you when testing? What is the name of that sensor? (or the zone number) Did you check its onboard sensitivity?

What is the zone number or name of the sensors which failed testing and had a sensitivity threshold of 14?

I have quite a few PowerG sensors here but I sadly don’t have a PG9935 on hand to test the changes, but we could try a quick test on the sensors there.

Try going on the Qolsys panel to Settings > Advanced Settings > Installation > Devices > Security Sensors > Edit Sensor. Change the sensitivity on two of the PG9935 sensors. Change one to High and one to Medium.

Wait a couple minutes, then check the onboard threshold. Did they change? (Note that High may just be 1)

thanks for clarifying - I definitely did not have a full and accurate understanding of how the sensor interacts with the panel. while I did initially assume that “high” sensitivity set at the panel would require the lightest tap to activate the sensor, I interpreted this post to mean it was the opposite, ie the panel descriptions were “threshold” rather than “sensitivity”, so that “low” would require the lightest tap to activate the sensor. this misinterpretation explains what I discovered yesterday, as I did initially install and program the sensors locally to sensitivity setting 1, then changed them all to “low” at the panel after reading that post.

sensor #1 is the one that hadn’t stopped working. I can’t remember for sure, but I believe I moved this particular sensor to a different mounting position on the same window, and at that time for completeness sake I reprogrammed the sensitivity to 1 at the sensor without changing anything at the panel. this would explain why it was continuing to function, assuming that the panel does not change the setting at the sensor unless you edit the setting at the panel after programming at the sensor, even if the number set at the sensor falls outside the range of the setting at the panel.

after doing some local testing based on your explanations, it does seem that after setting a specific sensitivity between 1 and 19 at the sensor, if you then edit the sensor at the panel to low, medium, or high, it will set the sensitivity number at the sensor to 14, 8, or 4, respectively, but only if the number at the sensor falls outside of the range of the setting chosen at the panel. for example, after setting 1 at a sensor and then “high” at the panel, the sensor number remained 1 and did not go to 4. as for response time, the number at the sensor appears to change to the corresponding preset number (4, 8, or 14) pretty much immediately after setting at the panel.

a few still unanswered questions in my mind:

  1. as I mentioned above, all of these PG9935s were set awhile ago on “low” at the panel. I didn’t change this setting at the panel yesterday when re-programming the sensitivity to 1 at the sensors. I checked the onboard number of three of the sensors I re-programmed at the sensor to 1 last night (sensors #37, 39, and 40). they are still reading 1 more than 24 hours later even though I did not change the “low” setting at the panel. will the actual sensitivity required to activate the sensor remain at 1 indefinitely even though the panel is set at “low” as long as I don’t reprogram the sensitivity at the panel?

  2. what effect does the “A” setting (0 or 1) at the sensor have? does it matter when using with the IQ2+ panel? why would one ever set it to 0 (off)?

  3. if I set a specific sensitivity number at the sensor, will the sensor activate at that specific sensitivity as long as the number is within the range of the panel setting? for example, if the panel setting is “high” but the sensitivity is set at 1 at the sensor, will a “force” of 1 activate the sensor or only a (greater) “force” of 4 (assuming that the sensor setting will remain 1 per question 1 above). or are there only three (low, medium, high) rather than 19 (1-19) gradations of force that are recognized and will cause an alarm when using this sensor with the iq2+?

  4. after all this, I am wondering why does the IQ2+ even have these setting choices at the panel? it certainly appears to have the potential to cause a lot of confusion, and to cause an unintentional change in sensor behavior, and it is not clear to me what benefits it may confer?

thanks

will the actual sensitivity required to activate the sensor remain at 1 indefinitely even though the panel is set at “low” as long as I don’t reprogram the sensitivity at the panel?

I believe so, yeah. Editing and saving parameters in the panel is what sends those preset levels to the sensor, so if you reconfigure and save the sensor settings the levels will change. It is probably best to use the three presets. Does 4 capture what you need for high sensitivity?

what effect does the “A” setting (0 or 1) at the sensor have? does it matter when using with the IQ2+ panel? why would one ever set it to 0 (off)?

Looks like that is the “Accumulated shock” setting to capture weak ongoing vibration from someone trying to tamper with the window.

It is probably more prone to false alarm and can be enabled or disabled as desired.

if I set a specific sensitivity number at the sensor, will the sensor activate at that specific sensitivity as long as the number is within the range of the panel setting? for example, if the panel setting is “high” but the sensitivity is set at 1 at the sensor, will a “force” of 1 activate the sensor or only a (greater) “force” of 4 (assuming that the sensor setting will remain 1 per question 1 above). or are there only three (low, medium, high) rather than 19 (1-19) gradations of force that are recognized and will cause an alarm when using this sensor with the iq2+?

The number is arbitrary. These aren’t units of measurement and do not represent real world impacts. It is an arbitrary scale to determine most to least sensitivity.

The lower the number the more sensitive. 1 is as sensitive as you can get, and 19 requires the heaviest impacts.

If Qolsys presets are at 14, 8, and 4, that means using the Qolsys presets, the sensor can detect lighter impacts than the preset High allows.

The sensor can ignore more impacts than the preset Low allows.

  1. after all this, I am wondering why does the IQ2+ even have these setting choices at the panel? it certainly appears to have the potential to cause a lot of confusion, and to cause an unintentional change in sensor behavior, and it is not clear to me what benefits it may confer?

They simplify the installation to High Medium and Low settings for ease of installation, and those are reasonable presets that should work in basically all scenarios.

Thanks