Qolsys Panel 2+ External Siren

I hate those crappy Panel sirens, so I always wire up a couple of 30W Speakers. Converting over to the 2+ external siren terminals I find that the signal/contact closure is intermittent which in my opinion is useless. Anyone solved this problem or have other ideas? Thanks

The IQ Panel 2+ siren out is not an actual output but a contact closure circuit used to control a piezo siren via an external power source, not drive speakers. You would need an external third party speaker driver and power supply to make use of speakers. The IQ panel out can be used as a relay trigger.

Thanks Jason, but I have it set up as you describe. The issue is that the closure is intermittent, not constant. Anyway, that is the way it is on mine.

The external siren contact closure is not momentary, it’s a regular/constant normally-open switch. It closes when an alarm is active and then re-opens when the panel alarm is cancelled.

I see, yes if you need to drive a speaker you would need to add a separate speaker driver that can be controlled by the switch. The Qolsys panel “siren out” is intended for a 12vDC 300mA piezo siren so another option would be to replace the speaker with a piezo siren.

Have you considered using a Z-wave or Power G option for the siren? The PG9911 or PG9901 might fit the bill.

I run the Qolsys contacts thru a relay to protect the contacts. How would you unlock the locking relay?

The wiring diagrams show that you can use a speaker siren.

There are 2 aux relays in the 16f, the documentation doesn’t give you any idea how these can be used. Do you have anything?

I haven’t looked at the Z-wave or PG units as most “sirens” are for looks more than practicality. A super siren in a house going off is a great deterrent to the smash and grab.

Thanks for your knowledge.

Hopefully, they can make a firmware patch that makes the contact constant vs intermittent, or an option. That solves the issue.

How would you unlock the locking relay?

You would need a latching relay that could be programmed to activate for a period of time. I have not tried such a setup and would recommend going with Z-wave or Power G options in general.

There are 2 aux relays in the 16f, the documentation doesn’t give you any idea how these can be used. Do you have anything?

Those aren’t relays, just aux power outputs. There is a similar siren output on the Hardwire 16F that can be wirelessly activated by the panel or tripped by the panel output. It can be used with the aux power output on the Hardwire or with an external supply up to 60VDC/1A Max siren.

I haven’t looked at the Z-wave or PG units as most “sirens” are for looks more than practicality. A super siren in a house going off is a great deterrent to the smash and grab.

Dedicated Sirens, either Power G or Z-wave are very effective. I would caution against exceeding decibel ratings indoors.

Those aren’t relays, just aux power outputs. There is a similar siren output on the Hardwire 16F that can be wirelessly activated by the panel or tripped by the panel output. It can be used with the aux power output on the Hardwire or with an external supply up to 60VDC/1A Max siren.

I tried wiring the siren as shown in the 16f diagram but it didn’t seem to work. Is there something you have to set in the Panel for the wireless part to work?

I would caution against exceeding decibel ratings indoors.

Yes, you might get sued by the crook for making him go deft. :o)

You would need to pair the Hardwire Translator as a translator device in order to use the wireless siren relay. See the relevant instructions attached below.

Thanks, Jason, but I have done all that. When I wired up the siren where it would be activated wirelessly it didn’t seem to work. Other than just wiring it up is something needed to be done on the Panel.

Other than just wiring it up is something needed to be done on the Panel.

The pairing steps in the prior response are what must be done at the panel. If the Hardwire translator is not itself learned in on a unique zone (not just the hardwired sensors attached) you cannot use wireless siren activation and reset smokes.

There shouldn’t be anything else you need though, so double check your wiring. Note that the + - terminals on the terminal section labeled siren do nothing if you are activating wirelessly.

Like the panel itself the siren out is not energized naturally. You need to pass power through it as a relay.

Connect an AUX terminal to “IN” with a jumper.

“OUT” to the + siren lead, GND to the negative siren lead.

See the image attached. It would need to be wired exactly as shown.

Yes, the 16f is zone 5, it was “learned” first, then the other wired zones were then learned. I’m a tech so I’ve double checked the wiring.

The solution: If you have the 16f hardwire translator, You can wire it up as the picture shows at the bottom. I needed to add a siren driver as I only had 30W speakers. I used a 12vdc relay where they show the siren connected to drive the siren driver with its own power source so as not to exceed the current draw.

If you want to use the Alt-A wiring I found that you need to move the wire that is shown going into siren -, into the “IN” terminal with the jumper wire. I don’t know why this works but it was the only way that I could get the siren to go using Alt-A diagram.

If you don’t use a 16f, then use the wiring shown in the Panel install, but again I would use a relay between the siren and the dry contacts.

The siren output is now 7+/- sec on, 1 +/- sec off. I was told that was because the current draw was more than .300amps, but the coil is 148ohms with is .080amps.

I hate it when I screw up, but at least I caught it before someone else. When I “learned” the 16f, I had not put the EOL resistor across zone 16, which is reserved for the smokes. Therefore the smokes “alarm” worked backward, so I needed to clear memory and start over. No one told me, but you need to delete the zones on the panel too.

When that was all redone, the siren didn’t work as shown in the main diagram and it didn’t work as I stated above. The Alt-A diagram now works as shown. I have no idea why, but it does.