I recently have been having issues with false tampering alerts/alarms. The latest was when I was away from home and the panel itself said it had been tampered with (it hadn’t been). My panel is powered and mounted on a wall. What could cause a tampering alarm such as this?
Is there a way to disable the tampering warnings/alarms?
This would be two separate issues in this case, I see the Panel Tamper you reference, and the prior tampers appear to be related to Zone 22, a glass break sensor.
Looks like this is referencing an IQ Panel 2. The IQ Panel 2 has a very small black tamper switch near the bottom right of the board close to where the white antenna is routed. The back-plate can be finicky, and the antenna wire can get in the way of the panel housing closing all the way if not careful.
If the switch is not fully depressed for whatever reason, just a little vibration may open the circuit. Make sure to remove and reattach the back-plate to ensure it is firmly connected.
Regarding the glass break, what model of glass break sensor is it?
Is there a way to disable the tampering warnings/alarms?
No, you cannot disable the tamper switch or tamper alarms.
Thanks. I will see if I can get the panel more tightly mounted to the wall and away from the antenna wire. You are correct the backplate is a real pain in the butt. The plastic isn’t as sturdy as the rest of the unit and bends way too much, making a clean, tight install pretty tricky.
I think I was able to address the glass break sensor. It is a quolsys unit and was mounted on the ceiling using the provided double sided tape. I think it was starting to pull off the ceiling so I remounted using screws and so far haven’t had any further issues.
I think there are a number of problems with the IQ Panel 2 rear plate that are contributing to these false tamper alerts. For example:
The type of plastic used for the plate: this plastic seems to bend and be more flimsy than the plastic used for the panel itself.
The position of the screw holes in the plate: the instructions tell you to run the antenna wire through the bottom screw hole closest to the tamper sensor. So it isn’t really viable to also use that hole for a screw. This means the plate tends to flex and deform most near the tamper sensor.
The way the plate attaches to the panel: when not installed against the wall the panel can be screwed to the plate. But when mounted against the wall the panel is designed to only snap onto the plate (which is very hard to do since the plate deforms and bends so easily). It is nearly impossible to screw the panel to the plate when mounted against the wall. I bought some special screwdrivers to do it, which came in VERY helpful (Anex 6102T Ultra Low Profile Screw Driver Handle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016VAIBI/). Without this I don’t know how anyone gets a good, snug fit between the panel and the plate when mounted to the wall.
The design of the screw holes: the screw holes at the top of the plate are the type that permit you to put a screw into the wall first, then position the plate over the top of the screws, and then push the plate downward towards the floor which causes the plate to catch the screw heads. The screw holes at the bottom of the plate are not like this; they are just holes. So, if you want to screw the panel to the plate first and then attach to the wall you can only use the two mounting holes at the top. This causes the panel to give and deflect when pushed during use. In my opinion the only way to make the panel feel professionally installed and secure is to mount it using screws at the top and bottom, which makes it nearly impossible to install the panel to the plate prior to mounting the plate to the wall.
A picture of the rear plate is attached for reference. I think I ultimately was able to address these issues but really Quolsys should consider a redesign of the rear plate so that it does not exhibit these issues! Perhaps someone could design a better version and have it 3D printed?
I too am having tamper issues with the Qolsys IQ panel 2. I just recently wall mounted the panel after having it on the table stand for 9 months. I followed Todd’s suggestion and purchased the specialized screw driver and tightened all 3 frame screws which helped get it tighter than the clips alone but I was greeted to a 4:13am tamper alarm and wake up call this Saturday when no one was near the panel.
The panel is mounted as securely as I and my electrician can get it to the wall but if I push/pull on the bottom right corner I can create a tamper very easily see attached. Is this a faulty tamper sensor or something wrong with my wall mount?
IMG-1218-1.mov (522 KB)
The panel is mounted as securely as I and my electrician can get it to the wall but if I push/pull on the bottom right corner I can create a tamper very easily see attached. Is this a faulty tamper sensor or something wrong with my wall mount?
Given the location you describe, my first thought here is where is the white antenna running? It should be pushed back into the wall. If you left it in the panel you could be blocking the lower corner from fully closing. The antenna may get pinched when closing it up, or the strain stopper may not sit where there is enough room.
I drilled a 1/16" hole into the wall in the bottom right oval mounting hole to feed the wire into the wall. Perhaps it didn’t “feed” all the way into the wall and is bunching up/getting pinched?
Perhaps it didn’t “feed” all the way into the wall and is bunching up/getting pinched?
This is possible. The wire is very thin and pliable. Make sure it is not getting pinched as the panel closes.
Thread bump. Just curious, did ya’ll come to a resolvable condition on your wall mounted IQ2 Wall installs ?
I haven’t yet but mostly because I haven’t had time to tinker with it. Using the Anex low profile screw drivers to secure the back plate to the panel is challenging (but definitely worthwhile) and I’m not looking forward to doing it again. I haven’t had a tamper in some time but I also have purposely avoided touching the lower right hand corner of the panel.
I too just started to experience the false tamper alarm. The panel is Not mounted to the wall. It seems to have started after the most recent update. This could be coincidental. I will try to re seat the back panel and see if that helps. Will report back my findings. TIA
I too just started to experience the false tamper alarm. The panel is Not mounted to the wall. It seems to have started after the most recent update. This could be coincidental.
This is likely coincidental. All prior posts are before 2.1.1 release.
We’re checking with Qolsys for any updates in general, but cases of this will typically be physical in nature. Have you done any work/added any hardware such as the Image sensor daughterboard or had other occasion to open the panel recently?
I’m again having tamper issues. I had a false alarm last night approximately 33 minutes after my wife armed the panel at the panel. I couldn’t even get the panel to accept my user code to deactivate the alarm because of the tamper. It woke me and my very pregnant wife up from a dead sleep. I’m beyond annoyed now. I just don’t trust the this panel. No matter how I attempt to mount the panel to the plate I can cause a tamper by pushing at the bottom of the frame or even the the lower right quarter of the screen. I’m not pushing particularly hard. Definitely not as hard as I would press in a panic situation.
I have/had the panel wall mounted and screwed to the back plate with the two top screws (using the special screw drivers mentioned by Todd in an attempt to get a tight seal) and the bottom set screw. The antenna wire is carefully routed into the wall through a separate hole. Is there some part of the panel switch I’m missing? I saw reference to a spring in the original qolsys panel. All I see is a small black hard plastic rocker switch. I took the panel off tonight to take this picture to see if I’m missing something. The only recent change was an update to 2.3.0 on Jan 17. Not sure if that update changed any tamper behavior?I’m at a loss for what to do now but I’m really not happy.
I seemed to have fixed my tamper problems with a simple piece of foam tape on the bracket post to ensure good contact with the tamper switch.
We’ll see if it results in any more fun 2am alarms.
Interesting. Looking at the panel we have in the office, the pit of plastic that depresses the panel tamper switch has a piece of black foam on it, not unlike your fix. Let us know if this fixes the issue.
I ended up using some foam too which seems to have solved it. Note, I think the more recent firmware updates also include an option to disable the panel tamper switch. For good measure I also have done that.
Tyler, could you take/post a picture of the panel in the office? Close-up would be helpful. I’m just using some Scotch foam mounting tape I could find at 2:00a but I’d like to get something the approx thickness of the OEM foam pad installed before I screw everything back together.
Todd was your panel missing the foam all together? I have a very early IQ panel (June 2017) and I’m wondering if it was possibly a manufacturing defect/error from that time?
My panel had no foam. The back plastic panel would make direct contact with the small black lever detent on the circuit board.
Apologies for the confusion, the panel I am using is the IQP2+ not the IQP2. while the hardware is more or less the same the back-plate is a tad different. I can say the foam is small, about 1mm thick. See pic below
I can confirm that my older IQP2 does not have foam on the post that depresses the tamper switch. I do believe that this may have been a running change.
You can indeed turn off tamper from Settings → Advanced Settings → Installation → Security and Arming
Tyler this is perfect. Thank you!. I suspect as Todd and I have learned the hard way some small soft buffer to make positive contact with the tamper switch goes a long way to eliminate these false tampers. This would definitely explain the revision on the back plate design in the IQP2+.
Todd thanks for confirming on your end and thanks again for the link to the low profile screw drivers.
