DSC 1864 install opinions wanted

SpacecoastBill

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Im building a new home, and bought a new DSC 1864 system.

Im basically duplicating what I had in my previous house.

Im looking for help making sure I get the appropriate amount of items in the cabinet.

Can I get some opinions on which items to put in each cabinet? I need to try to get the wires split for the cabinets because drywall goes up in a few days.

I am using 2 cabinets, and have these zones:

1 Front door
2 East windows
3 Bedroom East Windows
4 Garage roll up doors
5 Garage Entry door
6 Garage Utility door
7 K motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
8 Bedroom window
9 Bedroom window
10 Bathroom window
11 other door
12 glass break detectors (2) AC100
13 T Motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
14 Bedroom W windows
15 Bedroom Motion Detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
16 Bedroom South Window
17 Phone line tamper

Also using:

3 PK5501 keypads and
2 PTK5507 keypads
LED strobe light (9-15 VDC needed)
Outdoor 30 watt siresn
Indoor 15 Watt siren

PC5108 zone expander
PC 5204 Power supply module
Eyez On Evisilink 4 EVL-4EZ
 

Jayordon

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Honestly, that's a lot of power draw and even with a PC5204 power supply, that's cutting it close to the limit. But assuming that both sirens draw 350ma and the strobe draws 150ma, here is the best way to split it up.

Cabinet 1:
PC1864, Outdoor Siren, Strobe, Envisalink, 1 PK5501, and 1 PTK5507.
This will all be powered off of the panel. If you wire up the strobe and siren both to the bell circuit, you will be using 70% of the available current for that circuit. Everything else in this cabinet will use 90% of the available current for the data bus and aux circuit.

Cabinet 2:
PC5204, Indoor siren, PC5108, 2 PK5501's, and 1 PTK5507.
This will all be powered off of the PC5204 obviously. You will use 93% of the available current.

It's recommended to leave at least a 10% buffer for current. So your bell circuit is good, but I didn't take into account the power draw from the motions and glassbreaks. After you take those into account, your other circuits will both be below that 10% (your second cabinet already is below 10%).

If possible, I would try to eliminate one keypad. Preferably from cabinet 2. Then you can free up enough current for all of your motions and glassbreaks to wire up in cabinet 2.

If you can't eliminate a keypad, I'd recommend getting another power supply.

If you would rather just try making it all work with what you have, definitely power all of the glassbreaks and motions off of the panel.
 

Jayordon

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For reference, here is a list of the current draw for each device and how much current the power supply and panel offer.

PTK5507 - 250ma X 2
PK5501 - 150ma X 3
Envisalink - 65ma
PC5108 - 30ma
PC5204 - 30ma

PC1864 - 550ma on the aux/data bus circuit and 700ma on the bell circuit
Power Supply - 1000ma
 
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I like having 3 - 6 Bosch Gen 2 pet immunity PIR's all around. Outside and inside.
And for added security benefits, get Home Assistant home automation software. DSC does MQTT to it with the net card. Auto turn on outdoor lights or smart tv's with UI3 outdoor camera group in 2 seconds upon any DSC alert.
 
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SpacecoastBill

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Honestly, that's a lot of power draw and even with a PC5204 power supply, that's cutting it close to the limit. But assuming that both sirens draw 350ma and the strobe draws 150ma, here is the best way to split it up.

Cabinet 1:
PC1864, Outdoor Siren, Strobe, Envisalink, 1 PK5501, and 1 PTK5507.
This will all be powered off of the panel. If you wire up the strobe and siren both to the bell circuit, you will be using 70% of the available current for that circuit. Everything else in this cabinet will use 90% of the available current for the data bus and aux circuit.

Cabinet 2:
PC5204, Indoor siren, PC5108, 2 PK5501's, and 1 PTK5507.
This will all be powered off of the PC5204 obviously. You will use 93% of the available current.

It's recommended to leave at least a 10% buffer for current. So your bell circuit is good, but I didn't take into account the power draw from the motions and glassbreaks. After you take those into account, your other circuits will both be below that 10% (your second cabinet already is below 10%).

If possible, I would try to eliminate one keypad. Preferably from cabinet 2. Then you can free up enough current for all of your motions and glassbreaks to wire up in cabinet 2.

If you can't eliminate a keypad, I'd recommend getting another power supply.

If you would rather just try making it all work with what you have, definitely power all of the glassbreaks and motions off of the panel.

Thanks for your input.

I guess I can add another PC5204 power supply module as well to supplement the available power.

But I did change one thing, instead of doing 2 boxes, Im going to use a 28 inch single cabinet and put everything in there. I have 2 batteries as well....

And I forgot to mention the eight 2 wire smoke detectors.
 

Jayordon

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Thanks for your input.

I guess I can add another PC5204 power supply module as well to supplement the available power.

But I did change one thing, instead of doing 2 boxes, Im going to use a 28 inch single cabinet and put everything in there. I have 2 batteries as well....

And I forgot to mention the eight 2 wire smoke detectors.
Yeah, you'll definitely want a battery for the panel and one for each power supply. After putting smoke detectors in, you'll definitely need a second 5204.
 

SpacecoastBill

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Yeah, you'll definitely want a battery for the panel and one for each power supply. After putting smoke detectors in, you'll definitely need a second 5204.
OK, I got a second 5204 on the way... guess I need a 3rd battery too.

If you dont mind helping me... I may have several questions.

Ive changed to a single cabinet,, and will definitely have resistor questions. Im going to use the DLS5 software to program the system.

Im just need your opinion on which boards to add what zones and where the resisters should go.
 
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Thanks for your input.

I guess I can add another PC5204 power supply module as well to supplement the available power.

But I did change one thing, instead of doing 2 boxes, Im going to use a 28 inch single cabinet and put everything in there. I have 2 batteries as well....

And I forgot to mention the eight 2 wire smoke detectors.
Hmph... it never occured to me to put smoke detectors into my DSC. Didn't know that was possible, actually. I did purchase First Alert battery-operated Z-Wave smoke detectors I have yet to install but those will be monitored by Home Assistant. The smoke detectors that came with the house are the standard hard-wired and battery operated ones. Now, you guys got me thinking of moving the hard-wired into the DSC instead (which is also monitored by Home Assistant via Envysion network card & MQTT). Great... #58 on my todo list.
 

ludshed

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Im just need your opinion on which boards to add what zones and where the resisters should go.
Not an expert with dsc but I do know they call them EoL resistors for a reason. Can’t tell you how many cabinets of any brand I’ve opened to find all resistors right there on the board.
 
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All my resistors are inserted right before sensors. There are good YouTube videos about EOL resistors out there.
 

Jayordon

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OK, I got a second 5204 on the way... guess I need a 3rd battery too.

If you dont mind helping me... I may have several questions.

Ive changed to a single cabinet,, and will definitely have resistor questions. Im going to use the DLS5 software to program the system.

Im just need your opinion on which boards to add what zones and where the resisters should go.
The resistors are optional. The benefit of having resistors is that the wire is supervised, so the system will know the difference between a short in your wire versus a closed circuit. I personally never use resistors. I just program the panel not to look for EOL resistors. If you do decide to use resistors, they are supposed to be wired at each device. Many installers just wire them at the panel, but that defeats the whole purpose of them.

As for which zone to put each device on, it doesn't really matter. As long as you're power is spread out fairly evenly, you should be good.
 

SpacecoastBill

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I changed the setup a bit, and am going to try to use a single cabinet. I got a 28inch long cabinet and I think it will work.

I changed some of the compponents.

1 Front door
2 East windows
3 Bedroom East Windows
4 Garage roll up doors
5 Garage Entry door
6 Garage Utility door
7 K motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
8 Bedroom window
9 Bedroom window
10 Bathroom window
11 other door
12 glass break detectors (2) AC500
13 T Motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
14 Bedroom W windows
15 Bedroom Motion Detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
16 Bedroom South Window
17 Phone line tamper

Also using:

3 PK5501 keypads and
3 PTK5507 keypads
LED strobe light (9-15 VDC needed)
Outdoor 30 watt siren
Indoor 15 Watt siren

(2) PC5108 zone expander
(2)PC 5204 Power supply module
Eyez On Evisilink 4 EVL-4EZ

I have 2 transformers, and 2 batteries.

(8) 2 wire smoke detectors (havent found which ones to get yet)


I havent opened the main board yet, but it says :

PC1864 PCBPOR V4.72 Brazil POR

That isnt for use in Brazil, just made there right? The date on the container is 5/2022


What do you think with those changes?
 

Jayordon

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I changed the setup a bit, and am going to try to use a single cabinet. I got a 28inch long cabinet and I think it will work.

I changed some of the compponents.

1 Front door
2 East windows
3 Bedroom East Windows
4 Garage roll up doors
5 Garage Entry door
6 Garage Utility door
7 K motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
8 Bedroom window
9 Bedroom window
10 Bathroom window
11 other door
12 glass break detectors (2) AC500
13 T Motion detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
14 Bedroom W windows
15 Bedroom Motion Detector (Bravo 3 BV300DP)
16 Bedroom South Window
17 Phone line tamper

Also using:

3 PK5501 keypads and
3 PTK5507 keypads
LED strobe light (9-15 VDC needed)
Outdoor 30 watt siren
Indoor 15 Watt siren

(2) PC5108 zone expander
(2)PC 5204 Power supply module
Eyez On Evisilink 4 EVL-4EZ

I have 2 transformers, and 2 batteries.

(8) 2 wire smoke detectors (havent found which ones to get yet)


I havent opened the main board yet, but it says :

PC1864 PCBPOR V4.72 Brazil POR

That isnt for use in Brazil, just made there right? The date on the container is 5/2022


What do you think with those changes?
Looks good to me. Again, just make sure to split power up as evenly as possible, but those power supplies should give you enough power for everything now. The panel might not come with a transformer or battery. You might need to get another one of each. I know that the Neo series panels don't include them, but I'm not sure about the 1800 series.
 

SpacecoastBill

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Looks good to me. Again, just make sure to split power up as evenly as possible, but those power supplies should give you enough power for everything now. The panel might not come with a transformer or battery. You might need to get another one of each. I know that the Neo series panels don't include them, but I'm not sure about the 1800 series.














No, it does not include them. If I need a third one of each I might have to work on a space for that battery.

I also am still looking for the 2 wire smoke detectors.
 

SpacecoastBill

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The resistors are optional. The benefit of having resistors is that the wire is supervised, so the system will know the difference between a short in your wire versus a closed circuit. I personally never use resistors. I just program the panel not to look for EOL resistors. If you do decide to use resistors, they are supposed to be wired at each device. Many installers just wire them at the panel, but that defeats the whole purpose of them.

As for which zone to put each device on, it doesn't really matter. As long as you're power is spread out fairly evenly, you should be good.

Unfortunately there isnt room to put them on the window contacts. My previous 1864 was wired by a company and the resisters are at the board..... so thats what I was going to do. My fault for not asking sooner.

Im assuming the resisters are for each zone..... but not for keypads and sirens? Everything else gets one...including motions, and glass breaks?

Im also adding a phone line tamper...... basically just creating a loop at the far end of the wire by connecting the green and white wires......
 

Jayordon

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Unfortunately there isnt room to put them on the window contacts. My previous 1864 was wired by a company and the resisters are at the board..... so thats what I was going to do. My fault for not asking sooner.

Im assuming the resisters are for each zone..... but not for keypads and sirens? Everything else gets one...including motions, and glass breaks?

Im also adding a phone line tamper...... basically just creating a loop at the far end of the wire by connecting the green and white wires......
Correct, resistors are just for each zone. Installing them at the panel makes them essentially useless, but it might be easier than programming those zones to be NC Loops. But yeah, keypads and sirens don't need a resistor.
 

SpacecoastBill

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Hi... almost in the new house so I can get this programmed.

What do you think of this?


Im adding a tamper switch to my system so that if a wire is cut, the alarm instantly triggers.

Do I need to put a resistor on the 2 wires I will use or just tie them together?

(so if I am using the green and white wires for the zone and common wires, the resistor or attaching the wires together would be at the far end of the wire.
 

SpacecoastBill

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All my resistors are inserted right before sensors. There are good YouTube videos about EOL resistors out there.
Do you happen to have the link?

Im finding a lot of info on EOL resistors, but Im not sure what ones to use? A certain size resistor??
 
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Do you happen to have the link?

Im finding a lot of info on EOL resistors, but Im not sure what ones to use? A certain size resistor??
Your installation manual will specifiy what resistors to use. I, of course, never read manuals very well and relied on YouTube DSC installation vids to tell me what resistors to use. Of course, at the time, I was learning about EOL resistors and learning the do's and don'ts...so that is where I learned what OHM resistor to work with. Something tickles the foggy memory of a 4K resistor at the window/door sensor unit....and NOT at the alarm panel itself.
 

ThomasCamFan

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Im finding a lot of info on EOL resistors, but Im not sure what ones to use? A certain size resistor??
I just moved into a new home and started setting up a new DSC PC1864 in it. Was previously using a PC1832 in the old home.

DSC PowerSeries panel installations use 5600 ohm 1/2 W for wired zones (single or double EOL configurations) . Very low current bells/sirens will need a 1K across the bell output terminals (install only if bell trouble is reported on panel). The FSA200 series 2-wire smoke detectors use a 2200 ohm 1/2 Watt.

All is explained in the manual:
- Thomas
 
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