I was thinking of using the PG9945 as a flood sensor by hooking up a passive water sensor (such as this) to the aux terminal function as normally open. I was wondering if something like this would work – it visually looks like the PowerG 9985 flood sensor is basically the same door sensor with DSC’s own water accessory.
If something along those lines would work, I was wondering if you know what the max resistance of the aux sensor in a normally open configuration can be in order to trigger the alarm once the contact is closed. The instructions for the PG9945 don’t have any details.
I don’t believe this is possible on a PowerG sensor if you wish to use it for water/flood alarms, the IQ Panel Will only allow door/window related sensor groups to be chosen.
That said, if you just want it to act as a notification sensor you could do this and set it up as a sensor group 25. This will never result in an alarm locally, but you can create Alarm.com notifications for it.
From the manual:
If the auxiliary input of the is defined as a Normally Open
(N.O.) type, parallel connected N.O. sensor contacts must be
used exclusively. An E.O.L. resistor will not be required.
You won’t need to add a specific resistor, so the accepted range is likely wide.
Got it, thanks. More generally, is there a sensor (PowerG or S line) that has an aux connection I can use more generally to hook up random things and program them into my panel as whatever I want? I’m thinking of something like a single explosive gas detector with a relay output (as an example). Getting a full take over box seems over kill for something like that.
The limitation is PowerG specific. The first three digits of a PowerG sensor transmit ID are specific to the model of sensor, and this auto-populates appropriate group options in programming.
A 319.5 sensor lacks this specificity and your group options are limited instead by the equipment type you select, letting you program it as you like.
To circle back here, I added a water sensor using the external contacts to the PG9945. The Qolsys panel did at first recognize it at first as a Door/Window sensor, but there was an option on the screen to use the aux contact rather than the reed switch. Once I selected the aux contact, the panel let me categorize the PG9945 as anything I wanted – including a flood sensor.
Aha, wonderful, that may have been updated in the past, I don’t originally recall that on the 9945. I could be mistaken, but in either case that should work well for you then.
Hi…the PG9945 sensor works with a magnet yet I can’t get it to work utilizing the terminals.
Ive attempted a 47K resistor in series and equal as in the guidance sheet and afterward tried by shorting across or with a resistor in series yet no reaction. However, consistently the magnet works. What am I fouling up?
You need to have a zone added to use the aux input in the panel sensor programming.
I’m not seeing a Surety subscription related to this question so I can’t confirm programming, but if you only have a zone with the default reed switch selected, only the reed switch and magnet would register and would explain what you are seeing.