Legacy honeywell system has wires running back to a traditional panel for power. Original plan had been to use those wires to power the IQ Panel 4 and the IQ Panel Remote. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they are different voltages (seems like a serious engineering oversight). New thought is to provide 12v on the line as required by the IQ remote and use a buck converter to step down to 7v as required by the panel 4 at the panel 4 by adding a box behind it in wall.
Any thoughts on this or buck converters folks have had better success with than others (my experience with buck converters is mostly in the higher voltage ranges of 72v and 48v coming down to 12v and 5v).
Any thoughts on this or buck converters folks have had better success with than others (my experience with buck converters is mostly in the higher voltage ranges of 72v and 48v coming down to 12v and 5v).
No, be sure to never do this. Existing keypad wiring running between the old panel and keypad can be reused typically, but the wire must be disconnected from the old panel and connected to the provided plug in power supplies shipped with the IQ Panel and Remote. Do not use the old panel’s aux output.
Generally keypad wiring is 22AWG, so it is likely necessary to double up the conductors, use two for + and two for -
The IQ Panel 4 supports up to 98.5 feet on 18AWG. Doubled up 22AWG is effectively a bit thinner than that but if your keypad wire is less than 70 feet or so it should be fine.
Given that the panel 4 requires 7VDC and the remote requires 12VDC what is the best way to accomplish this? I’ve got a fluke and can get the exact length of the wires. Running new wire to the panels isn’t a practical option.
Given that the panel 4 requires 7VDC and the remote requires 12VDC what is the best way to accomplish this?
Can you clarify what you mean? The IQ Panel 4 and the IQ Remote each come with their own plug in power supply with appropriate specs for the device. They are powered independently.
You can reuse the existing wiring almost always, except in cases where the distance is very far. In a typical home this won’t be an issue. Double up the conductors to limit voltage drop.
I am having the exact same problem as Vandi. Vandi, could you share the solution you came up with?
Jason, yes the units each come with their own power adaptors but it’s ugly / sloppy / unprofessional to have wires hanging out of your wall mounted panels running to nearby outlets.
Like Vandi, I have existing wires running through my walls from my panel and remote locations to a central location (from a legacy system). There is only 1 wire though, so I have to choose either 12v or 7v to run on that wire…but obviously that can’t power both the Panel (7v) and the Remotes (12v). So what do I do?
It is common for a Qolsys system to replace an existing wired system with my configuration. So what Vandi and I are asking is what is the typical solution for our configuration, what must be a common problem.
I got lucky, turns out I had 2 sets of wires, one to each location so I just used 2 power supplies.
My gameplan had been to run a higher voltage transformer (24v) to help overcome voltage drop then use buck converters to step down the voltage in a box behind the panels. Based on the reply from support it’s apparent they don’t have a solid understanding of DC power….
(I’m not support - just another customer)
Just for clarity - so both your IQ Panel and the Remote is in the same location sharing the same pair of wires for power? I must be misunderstanding somehow. I would assume that typically those are in different locations, each with their own pair of power wires, that go somewhere no?
On your previous system, where was the “other side” of those wires getting their power? Or were your previous system keypad daisy chained and not home runs back to the old central alarm can location?
For any clean install no one really has the wire hanging out of the panel running to an outlet, and I wouldn’t suggest it.
Typically we would use existing wire (or run new) from the back of the panel, through the walls, etc to a remote location where it terminates into the supplied power supply. In my home’s case, for instance, all my existing wiring ran from each panel/keypad location and terminated into a alarm can (from an old Vista system). But the power for Vista was in the crawlspace. I simply ran a short wire (18/4) from the closet where the Vista can is to the crawlspace and connected the supplied power bricks to each pair on the 18/4, then cross-spliced them inside the old Vista can into the existing wires running to each IQ panel location. Done, out of sight, and used the provided power supplies as well as used existing wires to the keypad/panel locations.
Correct, good installers don’t do that. A common solution I’ve seen is to mount the panel 5-6ft above an outlet, run the wire down inside the wall and pop it out right at the outlet to plug in. Some even go so far as to install a recessed outlet so the wall wart is in the wall.
Many do reuse existing keypad wire as well. As long as it’s short/thick enough, that works great.
My preference is to not wall mount the control panel and use the back stand instead. There’s no security benefit in wall mounting it and it’s easier to maintain when it’s mobile.
It’s not as common (from what I’ve seen) for multiple keypad locations to share the same wires. It’s more common for each location to run back to the control panel directly.
We have a sufficient understanding of DC power. But we have to support these panels at scale. Most people don’t understand power and voltage drop as well as you apparently do. Qolsys’ own support takes a very conservative approach on this and our techs usually follow their lead to avoid suggesting people do things that damage their panel and/or void the warranty. If we (and Qolsys) were supporting professional engineers we would take a different approach.
That being said, electrons are electrons and power is power. Your IQ Panel can’t tell whether it’s coming from the manufacturer’s supplied transformer or your step down converter. If you know what you’re doing and are willing to assume the risk then you should be fine.
Vandi, that is good luck. What I don’t like about the buck converters is that when they fail they often pass the input voltage to the output and I’m afraid of frying my panel with 12 (or 24) volts.
GetOffMyLawn, my panels were essentially wired in series, so wire goes to panel 1, then to panel 2, then to panel 3.
Ryan, yes I wish they were all homeruns. What I’ll probably do is a hybrid. Send 12 v through the old wires to power my 2 remotes. For the main panel I want it by a door but there are no outlets by my doors and I don’t want to open up walls for this project. I do have an unfinished space near one door I can probably utilize to my advantage though.